# Custom exotic wood saya for Syousin Sakura



## pkjames (Apr 25, 2015)

Hey guys,

As you know the Syousin Sakura have great handles, and so far I have only heard good comments about them. Yet I often hear people complaint about the lack of saya offerings. There was a reason: the standard ho-wood saya has only one size and it won't fit the Sakura because its not thick / tall enough. That is also the reason you don't see many workhorse blades come with a saya, at least not in this price range. 

So instead of waiting indefinitely (which is the case for the 270mm Gyuto), I decided to take this into my own hands. After a couple of months of tossing with machines and experimenting different methods / workflow. I have finally reached to a point that I can produce some really good looking sayas for the Sakura. I am really excited to finally pull this off, and I can't wait to share with you guys!

So far, only the 240mm K-Tip gyuto is available, but the regular gyuto and 210 mm gyuto will be coming in the next week or two  At this stage, I am mostly using wood with great figure, or exotic wood.

All made by me here in Sydney, maybe I could qualify for "CRAFTSMAN" badge? :O


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## pkjames (Apr 25, 2015)

Top to bottom:

*Figured Pacific Maple (Philippine Light Red Mahogany): *
is a tropical hardwood typically found in Malaysia, Indonesia.

*Australian Red Cedar *
(wikipedia) Toona ciliata is a forest tree in the mahogany family which grows throughout southern Asia from Afghanistan to Papua New Guinea and Australia. It is commonly known as the red cedar (a name shared by other trees), toon or toona (also applied to other members of the genus Toona), Burma cedar, Indian cedar, moulmein cedar, Australian red cedar or the Queensland red cedar. It is also sometimes known as Indian mahogany.

*Coachwood* 
(wikipedia) Ceratopetalum apetalum, Coachwood, also called Scented Satinwood or Tarwood, is a medium-sized hardwood tree, straight-growing with smooth, fragrant, greyish bark. It is in the family Cunoniaceae. Coachwood usually grows to a height of 15 to 25 metres, however exceptional specimens can reach 40 metres tall and live for centuries.
It is native to eastern Australia in the central and northern coastal rainforests of New South Wales and southern Queensland, where is often found on poorer quality soils in gullies and creeks and often occurs in almost pure stands.

*Huon Pine* (lovely grain, smooth like silk, rare staff!)
(Wiki)
a species of conifer native to the wet southwestern corner of Tasmania, Australia. Although it is actually a podocarp (Podocarpaceae), not a true pine (Pinaceae). Close-up of Huon pine foliage It is a slow-growing, but long-lived tree; some living specimens of this tree are in excess of 2000 years old. The wood is highly prized for its golden yellow colour, fine grain, and natural oils that resisted rotting. The chemical giving the timber its unique smell and preservative qualities is methyl eugenol. Heavy logging of the trees for its timber coupled with the trees' slow growth has led to remaining stands being less than 105 km2 (26,000 acres).


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## apicius9 (Apr 25, 2015)

Not big into sayas, but those do look nice! Great product. 

Stefan


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## mkriggen (Apr 25, 2015)

Nice:thumbsup:


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## marc4pt0 (Apr 25, 2015)

Hurry up with the regular 240 gyuto already! Those look nice, James.


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## cheflarge (Apr 25, 2015)

W0W!...... Very nice!!! :cool2:


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## chefcomesback (Apr 25, 2015)

Very cool looking sayas James , you are certainly a craftsman


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## Bill13 (Apr 26, 2015)

James, that figured maple is beautiful!!!


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## pkjames (Apr 30, 2015)

240 regular shape is out!


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## pkjames (May 1, 2015)

weekend has no packing and shipping to worry about 

Time to dress up some timber!


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## marc4pt0 (May 2, 2015)

What's that dark, almost black, wood in the back (top)row? I bet those will make an awesome looking saya!


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## pkjames (May 2, 2015)

marc4pt0 said:


> What's that dark, almost black, wood in the back (top)row? I bet those will make an awesome looking saya!



good pick up marc, those are african wenge. Actually, the top right ones are very interesting stuff, going to do some experiments on those. 

J.


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## XooMG (May 2, 2015)

Good luck. I can't wait to see how they turn out.


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## pkjames (May 4, 2015)

someone is really lucky!


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## malexthekid (May 4, 2015)

That is amazing James


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## marc4pt0 (May 4, 2015)

marc4pt0 said:


> What's that dark, almost black, wood in the back (top)row? I bet those will make an awesome looking saya!



looking fwd!


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## jimbob (May 5, 2015)

Is that perchance heading to nz? Looks stunning. Bit of your blood involved judging by the sticky plaster!


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## pkjames (May 5, 2015)

jimbob said:


> Is that perchance heading to nz? Looks stunning. Bit of your blood involved judging by the sticky plaster!


yes, its on the way. and yes, lots of hardwork to make all these all coming together, finally&#65281;


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## Burl Source (May 8, 2015)

Great looking sayas.
I like your style.


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## pkjames (May 19, 2015)

Alrite, just finished a bunch of the regular gyuto today, most of them are heading to the States to the lucky buyers who trusted K&S and the Syousin brand 

All sanded to 1200grit with oil/wax finish.

family photo





Silky oak





african wenge, unfortunately due to the cost of material and time, it won't make its way to the "freebie batch", just "for show" ;p





new south wales coachwood





celery top pine (I think), again its not a pine, but a eucalypt ;p.


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## pkjames (May 19, 2015)

made a mistake, that ghost face looking new south wales coachwood should really be just maple with a bit of a burl, the coachwood is here


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## toddnmd (May 19, 2015)

They're all quite nice!


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## malexthekid (May 19, 2015)

I really love the maple with burl


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