Grinding urasuki and a DIY wood radius platen

[FredyCro]

Stacy - turns out that a package that recently came had some small pieces of rather stiff foam (not closed .... but nice and stiff) - it worked really well! thanks I did need to do some focused "thumb pressure" work ... but not too bad. Here is what the result came out as:
View attachment 1501334

Freddy - I am actually thinking of keeping everything as the 400 grit satin. with a polished finish on the bevel, I would be concerned about sliced food not releasing easily with a polish.... Besides, I have nasty habit of occasionally wiping a blade lengthwise with a 3M green scrubby when I wash them (please dont yell at me .... the green scrubbies just happen to be what we have at the sink to get grunge off of plates before they go into the dishwasher......). That is part of the incentive for the lengthwise scratch pattern .... with that my abuse at the sink should just kind of blend in

Handle - Wa, D shaped. right now am thinking African Blackwood bolster with a figured dark tropical, and a copper spacer between. then again ... I do have some Kingwood I have been looking for an excuse to use.... I could do something more extravagant, but dont really feel like it.... Do you have thoughts / preferences???

All satin is king. I am not gonna get upset with you, you should see what my carbon kitchen knife is going through with my girlfriend. I am not even upset anymore when I see it all caked up in the morning with rust and black oxide from cutting though lemons and oranges. She like cutting with it because it light and very thin (I had to thin 2.4 to 1.6 on the spine to get all my mistakes out ). I like to think of it as a character building for the knife, but it is clearly a case of domestic violence

I am asking about the handle because I am so indecisive myself. I like classic black-white in all the classic shapes, I also like one color with a subtle metal spacer and I also like the wild combinations with burl and colored spacers. As you can see I am very indecisive. For my personal nakiri-gyuto set I am going with stabilized poplar, mycarta rasta spacer (red-yellow-green) and non stabilized African black wood. I have the pieces cut out but I have no idea how it is going to look once finished. The pieces (body, bolster/ferrule) are gonna be inverted on these two.

Looking forward to your finished yanagiba, I am sure it's going to be awesome.

 

[Cushing H.]

Freddy - I feel for you. different people just really have totally different takes on how to use (or abuse) a knife. Despite what I said about the green scrubby - I really do take pretty good care of my knives. My oldest knives are carbon non-stainless blades:

most of these are 35 years old. My parents, on the other hand, had TWO separate knives like the second one from the top. They would use them, throw them in the sink, and leave them there overnight. I said TWO, because the first one simply rusted away to nothing ..... and then so did the second one! The rust did not phase them. I have a friend whose wife, very much to his frustration, does the same thing - uses a knife and tosses it into the sink. I have made him three knives, and they operate under the agreement that she does not touch those three (the other ones he has just given up on .... and she uses them as she sees fit to .....). Maybe you could negotiate some similar deal (domestic tranquility being such a beneficial thing!).

There are so many ways to think about and arrange handles, you would likely just need to try it to find out. One thing about stabilized wood is that when taken to a fine grit finish (1200-2000), when you put wax on them they develop almost a translucent appearance which is really cool. Some of the really expensive handles coming out of Japan are really colorful .... but in my mind almost a little gaudy.... If you are making Wa handles, you can assemble the handle and try it on the blades without gluing in place to get an idea of how they will look??

Now that you mention it .... I also have some stabilized cherry burl I have not used yet. Maybe I should use that? Gee .... thanks.....

 

[FredyCro]

Freddy - I feel for you. different people just really have totally different takes on how to use (or abuse) a knife. Despite what I said about the green scrubby - I really do take pretty good care of my knives. My oldest knives are carbon non-stainless blades:
View attachment 1501426
most of these are 35 years old. My parents, on the other hand, had TWO separate knives like the second one from the top. They would use them, throw them in the sink, and leave them there overnight. I said TWO, because the first one simply rusted away to nothing ..... and then so did the second one! The rust did not phase them. I have a friend whose wife, very much to his frustration, does the same thing - uses a knife and tosses it into the sink. I have made him three knives, and they operate under the agreement that she does not touch those three (the other ones he has just given up on .... and she uses them as she sees fit to .....). Maybe you could negotiate some similar deal (domestic tranquility being such a beneficial thing!).

There are so many ways to think about and arrange handles, you would likely just need to try it to find out. One thing about stabilized wood is that when taken to a fine grit finish (1200-2000), when you put wax on them they develop almost a translucent appearance which is really cool. Some of the really expensive handles coming out of Japan are really colorful .... but in my mind almost a little gaudy.... If you are making Wa handles, you can assemble the handle and try it on the blades without gluing in place to get an idea of how they will look??

Now that you mention it .... I also have some stabilized cherry burl I have not used yet. Maybe I should use that? Gee .... thanks.....

Sorry for off-topic. We had an education hour, but you know how it goes.. I just scrub the gunk off in the morning, and the heavy etch i gave seems to protect it from any pitting or heavier damage. I prefer stainless though.

Regarding the handle. I have an idea how its going to turn out, but you have to finish it to really know. Keep us posted with pics (I feel for you with the choice of wood, I stacked up heavily on wood, and it is always cool to try to finish a new species and learn something new).

 

[Noel Laflamme]

I am so glad to find this thread, I hope it isnt too old to resurrect. I was thinking of trying to make a wood radiused platten to see if i liked using them over a contact wheel and it sounds like for light use it should work. One idea I had was to maybe try putting one of those graphite pads that some grinders use to reduce friction and just replace once worn down, any reason that shouldnt work?
Also how did the wood hold up over time? Did you ever use it again?

 

[Cushing H.]

I am so glad to find this thread, I hope it isnt too old to resurrect. I was thinking of trying to make a wood radiused platten to see if i liked using them over a contact wheel and it sounds like for light use it should work. One idea I had was to maybe try putting one of those graphite pads that some grinders use to reduce friction and just replace once worn down, any reason that shouldnt work?
Also how did the wood hold up over time? Did you ever use it again?

Not really all that old, as I am STILL waiting to get the time to glue the handle up onto that knife . I’ve only used the radius platen once ... but it is still sitting there calling to me .. and there is no indication at all of wear on it from that initial usage...

 

[Bill DeShivs]

Several supply houses and Grizzly sell graphite sheeting that you can glue to a platen. It slightly softens the metal platens and it lasts a long time, while reducing friction tremendously.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

Lignum vitae would be a very good wood to use for platens, but anything hard will work with the graphite overlay.

 

[Noel Laflamme]

I actually have a few sheets of that graphite from my old grizzly, and a piece of lignum, but i would rather use the wood for a handle considering how expensive it was haha
I cant wait to try this out after work today and see how it goes.... I love using a hollow grind on my 18in wheel for chefs knives but that has its compromises so this may be exactly what i need!

 

[Cushing H.]

I actually have a few sheets of that graphite from my old grizzly, and a piece of lignum, but i would rather use the wood for a handle considering how expensive it was haha
I cant wait to try this out after work today and see how it goes.... I love using a hollow grind on my 18in wheel for chefs knives but that has its compromises so this may be exactly what i need!

I was pleasantly surprised at how “easy” it was to grind a ura. A little challenging toward the tip of the blade though…