# Stormbringer gyuto



## milkbaby (Jan 15, 2019)

Technically, I'm not finished with this knife; the handle still needs the very final oil and waxing and the blade needs final sharpening. But I was pretty excited about how it's turned out.

I don't usually name my knives, but I was sharing a dark poorly lit work-in-progress pic on my social media and "Stormbringer" popped in my head when I was posting it. It's a wide bevel gyuto made from Alabama Damascus steel, blade is 245 mm long by 53 mm tall at the heel. The tip is very low with little belly/curve to the edge. I was inspired to try this low belly profile when I was profiling the edge and didn't want to waste more of the Damascus steel. I was inspired by Dakota Willison's gyuto profiles.

Wide bevel was inspired by looking at knives by Comet Knives (Trey), Fell Knives (Nicholas), and the Hinouras. Trey was very cool giving me some tips, and Nicholas had very encouraging words! This knife is an R&D project that I was planning to keep for myself, so I figured why not try new things because there's no customer to disappoint.

The handle woods are Honduran rosewood burl and yellow cedar burl. HRB is one of my favorite woods because it's just so beautifully chaotic. It's interesting how different the wood as well as the blade looks in different lighting. The final handle finish will be a little less glossy than in the pics here, planning on more of a pretty satin sheen. I find wood so beautiful it's kinda sad to cut them up and grind them away into smaller pieces sometimes, but oh well... Anyhow, thanks for looking!
































I'm sad that these pics don't do a good job of showing just how absolutely bonkers this HRB is. Here's an earlier pic in full sunlight, obviously overexposed, but it does give an idea of the insane beauty of this wood. It's got the burl eyes towards the top of the handle and some nice curl towards the butt.





Bonus Honduran rosewood burl pics below. HRB is probably my favorite wood to collect. It's crazy and chaotic in a way that feels unique to me. Probably only rivaled by desert ironwood, but there's something mad about HRB versus DIW in my opinion...


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## Nemo (Jan 15, 2019)

Nice work MB. Looks great.

Looks like a pretty flat profile?

Does the spine taper much?

Can't quite tell- did you ground the wide bevels flat?


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## Supraunleaded (Jan 15, 2019)

stunning work, that handle is full of win


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## Wdestate (Jan 16, 2019)

Awesome, looks great


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## crockerculinary (Jan 16, 2019)

really nice, as usual!


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## Interapid101 (Jan 16, 2019)

Holy cow. Amazing work.


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## milkbaby (Jan 16, 2019)

Thanks for all the kind words y'all! 



Nemo said:


> Looks like a pretty flat profile?
> Does the spine taper much?
> Can't quite tell- did you ground the wide bevels flat?



Yes, this profile is a lot more flat than I normally would make. I was working on it and it's "sister" from the same steel billet and realized that my planned profiles were going to result in a lot of scraps. No big deal as I can use for something else but I figured why not adjust on the fly and try a different profile; it's very similar to gyuto profile from Willison Knives (Dakota W) who makes crazy flat profiles. I tested the interaction of the profile on the board and like any profile there are pros and cons.

This was also my first experiment in "workhorse" so normally I would grind some distal taper in, but this has zero taper. The spine is thick until the grind rides up to it. The wide bevel blade road is flat as they were ground, flattened on diamond plate, and hand sanded with a hard backer. Only deviation from flat is deviations that occur from my flattening and sanding technique. I may sharpen in a tiny edge bevel after further testing because I'm guessing the hardness is only around HRc 60-61 (don't have a hardness tester, just based on my HT and tempering temps).

I'm already thinking of testing other similar design, possibly wide bevel with the flats above the shinogi also beveled in. I'm guessing the wedging would be less as the overall cross section would be skinnier for more of the blade from edge to spine, though food might not release as well above the shinogi. I might try S-grind in the future too, but due to my equipment, that is more difficult to execute. Might buy an angle grinder to grind in the concave.


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## Nemo (Jan 16, 2019)

milkbaby said:


> This was also my first experiment in "workhorse" so normally I would grind some distal taper in, but this has zero taper. The spine is thick until the grind rides up to it.
> 
> I'm already thinking of testing other similar design, possibly wide bevel with the flats above the shinogi also beveled in. I'm guessing the wedging would be less as the overall cross section would be skinnier for more of the blade from edge to spine, though food might not release as well above the shinogi. I might try S-grind in the future too, but due to my equipment, that is more difficult to execute. Might buy an angle grinder to grind in the concave.



Yes, I thought the wide bevel looked pretty constant in height- which means either zero taper or a constantly changing wide bevel angle.

I look forward to seeing how your future grinds take shape.


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## merlijny2k (Jan 17, 2019)

What a beauty. You really do the woid justice.

Got any vids showing off some of you knives' cutting? Not this one per sé but in general?


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## milkbaby (Jan 17, 2019)

merlijny2k said:


> What a beauty. You really do the woid justice.
> 
> Got any vids showing off some of you knives' cutting? Not this one per sé but in general?



Thanks for the kind words! 
I'm not good at videos because I just prop my phone on a can of peanuts or something to try and video using the front/selfie camera. Usually when I touch the button to start videoing, my phone will fall over.

Here are some cutting video of some of my other knives. Not great stuff, just what I could find on my IG:

Santoku versus old tomato: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bk07YlTgt5k/

Carrot test with just HT knife, unsharpened and not even final geometry: https://www.instagram.com/p/BePSSd2HfVq/

Obligatory knifemaker dumb stunts videos:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BktubPegNHU/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTMUUHdB5mj/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTYIRmmB3Y4/


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## Keith Sinclair (Jan 18, 2019)

Nice work


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## merlijny2k (Jan 18, 2019)

That coin challenge is just shocking! Reminds me of Jess' video of the gunpowder burnmark.

And I now want to try it. The bottle as well. I succeeded in replicating Kip's potatoe fall (not with selfmade blade) although I need a little more height than him. Success in folly encourages more I guess.

No need to apologise for your filming. It's totally adequate. 

You should do a 'good' carrot vid with a sharpened and finished blade though. An experienced eye can spot the slightly-more-than-it-should-be downforce ;D


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## John N (Jan 18, 2019)

looks great man!! very slicey profile !


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## JoBone (Jan 22, 2019)

Thats really sweet. Now I want HRB


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## milkbaby (Jan 22, 2019)

JoBone said:


> Thats really sweet. Now I want HRB



HRB is freaking great, even the more boring stuff without eyes that's just swirly can look great. Take a look at the CJA XH gyuto in BST right now for an example of a hidden tang handle with HRB.

There's one guy on eBay that always has blocks of HRB available that would be good size for wa handles. I bought some to stockpile but haven't used them yet as I'm paranoid about how dry and stable they are. Natural wood I want to sit on for years unless it's from somebody I trust who already let it dry for years. The scales for this knife have been sitting around drying in scale form for over 8 years before I used them.


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