This is the second new we've been working on for a long time. I've been wanting to do a series of knives that are more accessible for people to buy for years. The pursuit of this was way more tricky than expected, because of existing work flow, expectations, requirements, life shit, etc. This is only gen 1 of my new Design Series; they're all still completely hand made. These are:
52100 boning knives (carbon)
Etched blasted satin finish
Texturized G10 handles
The goal is to make small batches of knives that cut and feel just as good as any of our customs, has nine tenths comparable fit and finish, and is one third the price. The new signature represents a team effort in our shop - I'm not the overarching hand micromanaging every step. Hopefully this is something that will represent something bigger than just the individuals.
These boning knives were particularly tricky because of a couple of reasons. One, they have curves. Curves always increase the amount of time in shaping and finishing by about 3x. I tried my best to come up with a handle shape that was dynamic, comfortable, aesthetically pleasing, and repeatable. The guard and that birds beak in the back of the handle make that process very tricky, so some of it is just done the hard way. The second problem is grip and texture. Boning knives, especially in professional environments, need to be grippy. Most of my usual finishes are fairly clean and shiny, which….. are not grippy. This whole batch of knives actually had rubberized G10 for handles to start with, but the rubber would rub off a little too easily - amazing texture, great looks, but too flawed for my personal tastes.
Lastly, this newest batch has all hollow ground blades. The biggest problem with boning knives is that they are pretty much disposable. They’re narrow, and they get used hard, and they get sharpened frequently. That also means that when they get sharpened up, their edge thickness very quickly gets substantial. The hollow grind helps with that, such that over time over repeated sharpenings, the edge thickness will stay manageable over a longer period of time. This increases the complexity a lot, but is worth the work.
This is the second new we've been working on for a long time. I've been wanting to do a series of knives that are more accessible for people to buy for years. The pursuit of this was way more tricky than expected, because of existing work flow, expectations, requirements, life shit, etc. This is only gen 1 of my new Design Series; they're all still completely hand made. These are:
52100 boning knives (carbon)
Etched blasted satin finish
Texturized G10 handles
The goal is to make small batches of knives that cut and feel just as good as any of our customs, has nine tenths comparable fit and finish, and is one third the price. The new signature represents a team effort in our shop - I'm not the overarching hand micromanaging every step. Hopefully this is something that will represent something bigger than just the individuals.
These boning knives were particularly tricky because of a couple of reasons. One, they have curves. Curves always increase the amount of time in shaping and finishing by about 3x. I tried my best to come up with a handle shape that was dynamic, comfortable, aesthetically pleasing, and repeatable. The guard and that birds beak in the back of the handle make that process very tricky, so some of it is just done the hard way. The second problem is grip and texture. Boning knives, especially in professional environments, need to be grippy. Most of my usual finishes are fairly clean and shiny, which….. are not grippy. This whole batch of knives actually had rubberized G10 for handles to start with, but the rubber would rub off a little too easily - amazing texture, great looks, but too flawed for my personal tastes.
Lastly, this newest batch has all hollow ground blades. The biggest problem with boning knives is that they are pretty much disposable. They’re narrow, and they get used hard, and they get sharpened frequently. That also means that when they get sharpened up, their edge thickness very quickly gets substantial. The hollow grind helps with that, such that over time over repeated sharpenings, the edge thickness will stay manageable over a longer period of time. This increases the complexity a lot, but is worth the work.