Recent content by BHolcombe

Oh look-y here, you can make a thing from yellow cedar; :p

8 microns, which I cut, is a fairly heavy shaving by comparison to current record, which is 2 microns. That shaving is 2" wide and 8' long unbroken and un-split. Assuming all sort of implications is where you go wrong. It's a fun event, everyone who participates realizes that it is just that...

Haha thanks Derek! No chance of 8 micron shavings in most hardwoods...,,err most woods. Yellow cedar is a timber framer or shoji maker's wood, so there is practical purpose for the insanity, once it is backed off a few notches.

Kees, that kitchen is beautifully done and I like the style. I may have a kitchen project coming up, with a bit of free reign WRT my design decisions, so if I get the job I'll likely blog about it. I'll probably build it by stacking; Plinth on floor, frame above which supports plywood...

Nice work gents! Chippy I like the style of that kitchen quite a bit. David, coming along beautifully, and you're certain to have the only kitchen with hand cut dovetailed drawers in the area. My major gripe with stone counters are those awful round-overs, when I do my kitchen, if I'm...

I'm curious to see how that goes, I always find ebony to be a PITA to work for that reason. I'd assume it very similar to cocobolo, but maybe easier to plane. Seal up the ends well, the stuff likes to crack. My local yard bought two logs of ebony about 10" diameter and you wouldn't be able...

Looking good David! Ebony is interesting in that the surface will still look nice and smooth after the ugliest fracturing shaving.

It reduces carbon loss in extremely high carbon steels, that combined with a capable smith makes for a glass hard carbon steel blade the does not chip. They do need to keep the heat range very tight. I actually enjoy using both old Western laminated blades and new Japanese laminated blades...

Kiridashi are everyday utensils in Japan; marking knife but also carving knife, gardeners use them as grafting knives, etc etc. I would imagine Henkles makes their money back quickly, those knives are sold in practically every store that sells cutlery in the Western world,

Hah, when I see the few people actually adding to the work I wonder why they haven't been replaced by machines.

That is an excellent video David! I bet if one were able to peer into the shops of top smiths like Konobu they would look very similar to that of shigfusa. Not so much giant batches and punched everything out in a hurry, and more detail oriented work.

I am sure that the reality of it is somewhere between our two extremes. I'm certain they work in batches but I'm highly suspect that we're talking such large batches so quickly. Many (probably nearly all of them) are using trip hammers but that which is a huge dividing line is the gas forge...

Better is subjective and by application, I have white steel 1 tools that hold their edges for an incredibly long time, even through work in hardwoods. The reason they do so is because the blacksmith knew what he was doing. The annual planing competition, in which the contestants are now...

It doesn't bother me at all, and in fact it's more than I would spend for a kiridashi but I can admire it and the work involved. I also admire thrift!