The collaboration between myself and Chris Grant has culminated with this beautiful and practical carving knife.
Chris Grant has surpassed himself with a skilfully crafted knife.
The story of the knife
Chris had seen me mulling over a Japanese laminated axe & asked if I had ever used a Japanese laminated blade or knife. Coincidentally, Chris had just made a blade from an off cut, and had seen that I had made my own knife before.....
We briefly discussed this blade before deciding to design something from scratch, as I had specific ideas/specs that I wanted to realise. Also at this point Chris decided to put the handle on the knife as a complete job so it would be ready to use. I supplied Chris with a pre-fab knife blade in cardboard, as well as a roughed out handle blank.
The brief of the knife:
- The main design feature worth noting is the tapering point, this was designed specifically for chip carving.
- Approx 3mm thick blade, not too wide to hinder carving, not too thin to be uncomfortable when thumb pressure is applied.
- Simple carbon steel for the blade; easy to sharpen, tough and capable of a fine edge.
- A strong, narrowed tang to allow for the pressure of power cuts.
- A well designed one-piece warm wooden handle.
Details:
- The prototype was made in laminated CS80, but needed refining, another version was made in laminated shiro gami 2 (white steel) for comparison purposes. Chris hopes one day to finish both these knives, so a full comparison can be made.
- The first full working knife was made from 15N20, band saw steel, with 2% nickel, very sharp, with great toughness, it was decided that this would be an ideal steel for a blade with a very fine tip.
- The blade was heat treated in a computer controlled furnace, to ensure maximum performance from the steel and then quenched in reclaimed whale oil.
- Jon carved the final handle himself, to ensure that it would be exactly as he wished.
- The blade was secured in the handle with super strong two part JB weld epoxy.To finish the handling, the tang was peened over the end of the handle.
- The sheath was made to be hung on a shoulder sling, but can adapt to belt carry. The sheath is stitched with two rows of thread with an extra thick welt 8mm to allow for the blade's sharpness & fine point.
Specs:
Overall length: 230 mm
Handle length: 127 mm Blade length: 100 mm
Blade thickness: 3mm- Sheath: Oil tanned leather, sealed with beeswax & gum traganth, sewn with white waxed linen..
Handle: Hand carved Birch with Walnut ferrule.
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And view his Photobucket for more examples of his work...
Coming soon....
The Bushcraft version of the MaChris....
ENJOY...
