Paring Knife
Very similar to my straight knives for wood carving - my special double forged process, high carbon steel, fully hardened, finely beveled, razor sharp.
The blade is "gun blued", a chemical process that turns the surface of the steel a light blue/grey patina, which does an impressive job of preventing
rust. The Cherry wood handle is given a satin varnish finish, to make it stand up to kitchen use.
Blade is 3 inches long, handle is 5 inches long. PN $85.00
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Kitchen Cutlery Knives
These knives are "one-offs". Each one is different, from the size and shape of the blade, to the details of the handle.
When someone buys one, it is gone. I offer them in this way so my customers can choose a truly individual and unique knife for their kitchen.
About the Blades:
Besides their very different appearance, these knives are unlike normally available cutlery in several other ways:
- Virtually all other cutlery is cut and ground from flat sheets of steel. These knives are forged from round bars of very high carbon steel,
called "O-1". It is the same steel I use for all my wood carving knives, with a little bit of
chromium to help ward off rusting.
- Forging these blades is the most difficult part because they are forged to a fine taper both in length and width. I do this partly so that very little
grinding needs to be done. It is a real challenge. The forging marks are left on the blades, except at the very edge where
they are sharpened.
- Most other cutlery has a bevel of at least 25 degrees. These knives have the same bevel as my wood carving knives of about 16 degrees,
so they will cut through things much easier.
- The blades are differentially hardened, so that they are very hard at the edge, yet tough along the back so they can't break. During this step in the
heat treatment, the blade is heated to glowing red and just the edge is dipped into a tray of oil to quickly cool and
harden it.
- The beautiful coloration on the blades is a result of the last step in the heat treating, called "tempering". The parts of the blade that are
the hardest are straw colored, the softer and tougher parts are purple and blue. I purposely avoid grinding these
colors away, as they also add a bit of rust resistance.
- After the edges have been sharpened and honed razor sharp, they are gun blued. This is a simple procedure and does a great deal to prevent rusting
(that's why it is used on gun barrels).
- From forging, through heat treating, to final honing, I make these knives the same as my wood carving knives which do a great
job of slicing through hard woods. As Cutlery they perform incredibly well.
Blade Protection:
Each of the paring knifes come with a plastic blade protector. It is reusable and offers some protection to the blade.
But it will not last a very long time. I strongly recommend the use of a counter top wood knife block or a magnetic knife holder that mounts on a wall.
For most of the chef's knives, I offer individually made and fitted wooden sheaths (see below).
About the Handle Wood:
Over the years, customers and friends have given me some of their special woods, sometimes intending them as handles for custom tools. They all have a story (some of them I remember!).
Walter Henderson, a master carver on Orcas Island, has welcomed me to take many of his vast special wood scraps hiding in all corners of his shop.
Bruce Harvie of Orcas Island Tonewoods has given me a great deal
of "unusable wood" from his incredible stash of fine woods for musical instruments. These are the woods I use for my cutlery knives. Strangely, I have paid
money for none of this wood, yet I value them as my most prized possessions, and am glad to use them here.
The woods are epoxied and brass riveted onto the handles. After final hand sanding with "0000" steel wool (that is the finest steel wool,
used in fine woodworking for the ultimate luster), they are sealed with penetrating epoxy to make them
waterproof. A final coat of wax is buffed on. |
