- Joined
- Feb 3, 2020
- Messages
- 91
Warning long post!
2022 has been a year full of a lot of changes for me and family. The most impactful to my knife making (or lack thereof!) was the purchase of a new house and starting a business. We purchased a house this spring that needed a fair amount of attention before I could even think of setting up shop. I also went out full time as an independent structural engineer. Both have been great blessings to us but they stole most of my time this year so knife making went on the back burner. However I managed to finish a couple and thought I would share them, and do a brief recap of a knife class I took this spring.
This spring I was fortunate enough to go down to Tucson and take a chef's knife class from Don Nguyen and Sam (his knife making partner). If you haven't heard of Don look up his knives and his YouTube videos. He is a master at his craft. It was a four day class where we started with a heat treated blank and took it through completion. There were eight of us in the class so there was plenty of one on one instruction as well as a group learning.
I thought the class was very well done and learned a lot. There were a few main takeaways for me. The first was watching Don and Sam use the push stick method for grinding the knives. I had started using that method last fall but to see them in person and have them watch me really accelerated my ability with that method. Another big take away was how they approach convexing their knives. I hadn't done a convex grind yet and that was my biggest goal going into the class. Seeing how they do it took a lot of the mystery out of it.
Third, they grind their edges to zero and seem to have no issues with how they perform. It was good to hear it first hand from someone like Don. I had been doing that on my knives but have been nervous about whether or not they will hold up. Time could obviously tell me that, but observing Don doing that gave me confidence moving forward. Lastly, and this is perhaps a more abstract take away, but it was beneficial to see Don and Sam's approach to the whole process. As a fairly new maker I was approaching every part of the process with extreme caution and care. Watching Don and Sam work, kind of helped demystify the whole process, grinding in particular. Watching someone with that much experience is truly eye opening to how aggressive you can actually be on the grinder.
The fit and finish, while far from perfect, ended up better than I expected going into a time constrained class.
So overall I am very grateful I got to take the class and would recommend it for anyone looking to get in front of a high level maker. Plus I ended up with a 8" laser under the guidance of Don Nyguen!
I just finished the following knife (my first since Don's class). I managed my first independent convex grind and its a machine chopping potatoes! 26C3 at 65 hrc. The edge measures 0.0000" - 0.0005". Vietnamese Rosewood with Micarta bolster and spacer. Looking forward to Thanksgiving meal prep!
Lastly I can't help but mention, to top 2022 off, my wife and I have been blessed with another baby on the way. Due in March so I better get a few knives done before then!
Happy Thanksgiving All!
2022 has been a year full of a lot of changes for me and family. The most impactful to my knife making (or lack thereof!) was the purchase of a new house and starting a business. We purchased a house this spring that needed a fair amount of attention before I could even think of setting up shop. I also went out full time as an independent structural engineer. Both have been great blessings to us but they stole most of my time this year so knife making went on the back burner. However I managed to finish a couple and thought I would share them, and do a brief recap of a knife class I took this spring.
This spring I was fortunate enough to go down to Tucson and take a chef's knife class from Don Nguyen and Sam (his knife making partner). If you haven't heard of Don look up his knives and his YouTube videos. He is a master at his craft. It was a four day class where we started with a heat treated blank and took it through completion. There were eight of us in the class so there was plenty of one on one instruction as well as a group learning.
I thought the class was very well done and learned a lot. There were a few main takeaways for me. The first was watching Don and Sam use the push stick method for grinding the knives. I had started using that method last fall but to see them in person and have them watch me really accelerated my ability with that method. Another big take away was how they approach convexing their knives. I hadn't done a convex grind yet and that was my biggest goal going into the class. Seeing how they do it took a lot of the mystery out of it.
Third, they grind their edges to zero and seem to have no issues with how they perform. It was good to hear it first hand from someone like Don. I had been doing that on my knives but have been nervous about whether or not they will hold up. Time could obviously tell me that, but observing Don doing that gave me confidence moving forward. Lastly, and this is perhaps a more abstract take away, but it was beneficial to see Don and Sam's approach to the whole process. As a fairly new maker I was approaching every part of the process with extreme caution and care. Watching Don and Sam work, kind of helped demystify the whole process, grinding in particular. Watching someone with that much experience is truly eye opening to how aggressive you can actually be on the grinder.
The fit and finish, while far from perfect, ended up better than I expected going into a time constrained class.
So overall I am very grateful I got to take the class and would recommend it for anyone looking to get in front of a high level maker. Plus I ended up with a 8" laser under the guidance of Don Nyguen!
I just finished the following knife (my first since Don's class). I managed my first independent convex grind and its a machine chopping potatoes! 26C3 at 65 hrc. The edge measures 0.0000" - 0.0005". Vietnamese Rosewood with Micarta bolster and spacer. Looking forward to Thanksgiving meal prep!
Lastly I can't help but mention, to top 2022 off, my wife and I have been blessed with another baby on the way. Due in March so I better get a few knives done before then!
Happy Thanksgiving All!
