Well, folks, I’ve been working on some knives on the side when I get the time. I would almost call these knives the pre-protos for the next limited edition knives. I’m not releasing any knives with that blade profile yet, but these knives were made with the same steel that I will use for the next limited edition knives, and the wooden handles may be an option for the handle material for the next knife. That will be up to the stakeholders – I’ll let you know when I’m ready to tackle that decision.

But back to these knives. There’s a couple of new profiles here and of course the new stainless steel, which I have found to be very durable. Last month I took one of them and spent all day processing chickens with it. I deliberately left blood on the steel all afternoon and left it in the sun and the heat, which is a huge no-no with high-carbon steels like the O1 tool steel. At the end of the day I washed it off, and the blade was almost unchanged. There might have been a tiny, tiny bit of cloudiness on the mirror finish. Maybe. Otherwise, it was perfect. This steel is VERY durable.

Unfortunately, there’s a problem with these blades. There are impurities in the steel that didn’t show up until they were ground and heat-treated. They’re hard to see, so I coated the blades with vinegar before I took the pictures of them that are displayed in the shop so that you could see the discoloration. I’ve cleaned up that discoloration after I took the pictures, so that won’t be so obvious on your finished knife.

Because of the impurities in the steel, the section of the blade that are affected are probably going to have some decrease in cutting performance; how much, I can’t say for sure. Because I can’t guarantee the performance of the blade, I am discounting these blades – very significantly. They are all for sale in the shop for $195. There is one with a kingwood handle:

https://proehrman.wpengine.com/product/kingwood-neck-knife/

 

A chechen wood handle:

 

https://proehrman.wpengine.com/product/chechen-wood-handle-neck-knife/

 

A Macassar ebony handle:

 

https://proehrman.wpengine.com/product/macassar-ebony-wood-handle-neck-knife/

 

And a Honduras rosewood handle:

 

https://proehrman.wpengine.com/product/hunduras-rosewood-handle-neck-knife/

 

Take a good look and decided what you think.

 

 

Patrick Roehrman