This is what can be accomplished detail wise, with recycled cast steel and a decent and planned ferric chloride bath. The pooling of the cast steel leaves amazing patterns that are just dying to be revealed with some decent polishing and a lot of patience.
Anyway, to the actual photos of the project progress. First off we cut the basic shape from the hay knife that we are repurposing and clean off as much of the rust as we can. This is laborious but I knew the end product was going to be well worth it.
At this point, the metal should start to look like a knife, even if it looks like a crude and abused one.
Next, we clean up a lot of that pitting that years of sitting around rusting in someones shed left it with. I left some of the patina on the knife so not all of its history is erased. What we don't want is a pristine knife with no character. If I wanted that then I'd just buy bar stock.
I decided to use up the last of the 'Gangi-maki' leather. It's quite posh, takes a nice shine, its a pity to leat it go to waste and it really works. I made wooden scales for it and then did the wrap over the top.
I also chose to make a wooden saya (sheath), somewhat in the style of the Japanese Gyuto saya; which is fitting as the knife itself is reminiscent of that style of knife.
A picture of the knife is direct sunlight. This is going to be a mean slicer/chopper in the kitchen. I'm really looking forward to using this beauty. I'm rarely completely happy with my work, always a skeptic, but with this knife I'm almost there. Considering it's made out of someone elses discarded rubbish, I'm happy to give it a new lease of life
The saya and peg design is quite traditional for this style of knife in Japan.
This was a lot of fun to make and I'm really happy. It's going to be a gift to my mother and step-father as I know they like to cook. I have no idea if it will ever get used in the kitchen or if it will just get stored as 'that thing that Shad made', (lol!) but whatever they choose to do with it, I'm happy it turned out well. If you're going to use so called mystery metal, you could do far worse than old antique hay knives.
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