# Composite Damascus Kitchen Knife Sets WIP



## WillC (Aug 14, 2014)

At last I have made a good start on these commissions and fired into the damascus making stage.
To remind you all the design.....





I've been very exited about making these, they represent my highest end and most complex and challenging pieces this year.
A composite is a multibar pattern, made up of a combination of twists, or in this case a combination of twisted bars, with mosaic patterns as well as straight laminate which will later be laddered.
We have 3-5 bars of tight twists on the spine, then a bar of basket weave. All these will include pure nickel in the pattern for maximum effect. For the edge half of the blade we have a wide bar made up as a san mai with a high layer double carbon edge, layers going across the edge. Clad in a lower layer laminate in the same materials. The ferrule and end cap are a tight basket weave with pure nickel, which will be made from a separate billet. 
So altogether five different damascus materials.

So lots of stock to prepare.....

15n20.....




01





With plenty of pure nickel....





I have about seven knives to make so I am making sure I have plenty of material. I may need to go back and make some more billets for twists later, will have to see....

All billets prepped, all pieces polished, then held in the press with the ends welded for convenience.





4 billets for basket weave, 2 for edge cladding and two for edge core, then two for twists, one will be twisted one way, the other.....opposing...

All enclosed for the first weld...

















And repeat....





Can falls away as if by magic....:loll:





Solid clean blocks of laminate.









Now to draw out the edge and clad materials for the first stack....













Now for the basket weave parts with Nickel..... to be drawn out square...









Phew, good start, plenty to do


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## Dream Burls (Aug 14, 2014)

Thanks for sharing Will. No point setting the bar so low you can just walk over it. It's all about the challenge.


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## WillC (Aug 27, 2014)

Most of the separate damascus billets are near completion now. By next week I will be forging and laying out the individual materials that goes into each knife.

Time to Email customers for these regarding wood choice and handle options. I will be making a 24 carrot gold spacer silver soldered to the damascus an option on these, or Silver or nickel silver. Hope someone goes for the gold

Basket weave for handle fittings and the two bar piece for the knives got completed today. 
Making certain each piece is placed correctly for the last weld on these....





Mmmmm big chunk pure nickel/high manganese steel basket weave. It is sat on a furnace brick as an idea of scale...... This stuff will bling :bigeek:






Those are now forged out ready to be sliced into individual pieces.


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## WillC (Aug 27, 2014)

Close up hot Basket weave.....Remembered my snazzy camera today.....


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## WillC (Aug 27, 2014)

Pure Nickel is a wonderful element. It doesn't scale up at all like the steel which forms big flakey bits of steel which shed as you work it. The pure nickel just glows, gives you a really nice feeling of all the dimensions of the pattern as you squeeze it all together in the press.


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## erickso1 (Aug 27, 2014)

Absolutely fascinating and beautiful work.


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## WillC (Aug 27, 2014)

Thanks Erick


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## Mrmnms (Aug 27, 2014)

This is so cool, it's almost scary. Can't wait to see it as it approaches completion.


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## WillC (Aug 27, 2014)

I went through the scared stage......into a kind of precision trance. Been enjoying it this week as stuff starts to work. Cant wait to show you guys all the different bits that make up the blade. The prettiest and lowest layer count stuff is on the spine with the twists, then the basket weave with the most layers in the core of the edge material, 10,000 layers. Very much a sword type construction influence.


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## HHH Knives (Aug 27, 2014)

Awesome stuff. Great images . Im tuned in and cant wait to see this come together! 

Blessings
Randy


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## WillC (Aug 27, 2014)

Thanks Randy, from a man who enjoys the challenge, Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me


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## scotchef38 (Aug 28, 2014)

incredible work Will,looking forward to seeing the progress.


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## WillC (Sep 18, 2014)

Got this quick vid together from the Twisting stage last week. Not far off putting it all together now 

[video=youtube;KVGHGjqNkC0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVGHGjqNkC0&feature=youtu.be[/video]


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## jared08 (Sep 18, 2014)

That's truely stupid awesome. What is the cotton looking material you put on the sides of the furnace to keep heat it?


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## WillC (Sep 19, 2014)

Cheers, I built that little Jig to make twisting all these bars on my own a bit easier, seems to work well. The furnace I also built this year. Its lined in Fireblanket it may be called rock wool? in the states. Its rated to 1600 degrees C. The inside of my furnace is lined in about 3 inches of it and a skim of wet fire cement to stop it all falling apart and hold the heat a bit more. I have been ripping bits of what was left of the roll to use as doors.


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## Alex G (Sep 19, 2014)

Whoa. You are not kidding around. I cannot wait to see how this turns out Will. 
Alex


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## WillC (Oct 15, 2014)

Cheers Alex, getting there first one coming together, chose to do the Nakiri first as its the easiest one to work out all the forged lengths/slice size etc for each piece in the composite. 

Plus I wanted to go through the whole process with one blade, before laying out all the materials and welding the others.
Pieces laid out 3 bars of twists, basket weave bar and the san mai of high layer laminates on the edge.





Lots of welding

















Then cleaned up in acid before touching the faces....





A little more forging down then into the ladder dies 





Will see what that looks like tomorrow


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## WillC (Oct 22, 2014)

So here is where we are are after heat treat and a quick grind back. Showing 63hrc on the edge material, as the spine has 01 in the twists for contrast these parts are also very hard, so I flame tempered the spine back to around 55 hrc with the edge clamped between two plates..









But I can spot an issue with the san mai and the deep ladder dies. I got the percentage of core and cladding correct, but the dies are just too extreme for this is san mai and in this case where the material will be hollow ground on the faces I can tell we will loose the cladding and just have the high layer core exposed. looks pretty wonky as is, should still look good after grinding, but the plan for the rest is to make the cladding into a much higher layer and use this as a single laminate on the edge so we can get the most of the tight ladder pattern on the edge. So by mistake or evolution there will be a difference from the design here. But on a plus the deep ladder dies really work well with the composites and we will have a tight ladder on the edge.


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## marc4pt0 (Oct 22, 2014)

Stunning, Will. Just so darn stunning.


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## Timthebeaver (Oct 22, 2014)

This is madness.


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## GregoryIdler (Nov 9, 2014)

This is incredible!


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## WillC (Dec 2, 2014)

Thanks All  Bit of pause there but have been beavering away on various things.....

Well bit of a pause there, but finally got a different edge material done in all laminate very high layer, so we will have a uniform tight ladder on the edge rather than San mai. 
So all bits prepped for 7 knives....





















Got a couple welded up. They will all be picked clean before forging on the faces, so as to be sure not to trap any scale and waste as little material as possible to grinding before they hit the ladder dies.....


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## WillC (Dec 2, 2014)

Thanks All  Bit of pause there but have been beavering away on various things.....

Well bit of a pause there, but finally got a different edge material done in all laminate very high layer, so we will have a uniform tight ladder on the edge rather than San mai. 
So all bits prepped for 7 knives....





















Got a couple welded up. They will all be picked clean before forging on the faces, so as to be sure not to trap any scale and waste as little material as possible to grinding before they hit the ladder dies.....


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## Andrey V (Dec 4, 2014)

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## Matus (Dec 4, 2014)

Will, that is just freaking awesome übercool! Thank you for taking time for those photos and videos.


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## Andrey V (Dec 4, 2014)

Will The Twister! Awesome, man.. Really cool. You put so much passion in it.. 
Hope you scream normally when twisting the bars?? You know the words, man    !!


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## WillC (Dec 4, 2014)

Thanks Guys, glad these are coming together, here is a further video for you on the forging stage....
[video=youtube;yRX922iojlU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRX922iojlU&feature=youtu.be[/video]


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## WillC (Feb 5, 2015)

Here we go, final forging for the blades is finally under way :bliss:













All set to ladder the rest tomorrow, then I will have a lot grinding!


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## JMJones (Feb 5, 2015)

Your work is inspiring, keep it up. Thanks for sharing.


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## Mrmnms (Feb 5, 2015)

I can't wait to see where you go with these.


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## Mucho Bocho (Feb 6, 2015)

Love the dance Wil. That made me laugh. Thanks for sharing this WIP and your shop. Some day, some day I'll have me a Catcheside


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## TheDispossessed (Feb 6, 2015)

WillC said:


> Thanks Guys, glad these are coming together, here is a further video for you on the forging stage....
> [video=youtube;yRX922iojlU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRX922iojlU&feature=youtu.be[/video]



yes!


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## WillC (Feb 6, 2015)

Thanks everyone  I will try and remember to do some more little dances on videos this year, that way I can have a xmas special blacksmith dance compilation at the end of the year
Have a great weekend


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## WillC (Feb 19, 2015)

Coming together. First set of 4 blades are now heat treated and temper cycles complete, ready to rough the grinds tomorrow. More on those blade later...

Meanwhile getting the handle bits and pieces together....

Endcaps cut....




Look a little something like this.





Will be hard soldering the spacers to the damascus once all the bits are but and square.





Little makeshift soldering hearth, I use full size oxy acetylene in the workshop, expensive but so useful for these tasks.





Part of the basket weave was forged rectangular so it can be cut in a way that the basket weave runs along the two sides.





Like this.









Quick grind





















Leave some to be forged down again for the westerns.....









Next Step, grinding and silver soldering the spacers to the damascus ferrule and endcap.

Thanks All


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## WillC (Feb 20, 2015)

So to the soldering, I decided to have both the copper and the nickel silver. Nickel silver next to the damascus and the copper next to the bog oak at each end. The nickel silver is soldered to the damascus and the copper soldered to the nickel silver. Really you have a tiny line of silver between as this is hall markable silver solder not easy flow or a low temp alloyed mix.

So first the nickel silver to damascus.














And trimmed back.





Lapped clean and flat ready for the copper....





Some pretty heated copper shots


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## Matus (Feb 20, 2015)

Really cool, thanks for taking the time for all the great photo documentation.


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## WillC (Feb 20, 2015)

Thanks Matus glad your enjoying following the processes. I enjoy taking pictures of metal as well as working with it. I must be a bit odd really


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## Mrmnms (Feb 20, 2015)

It's difficult to appreciate how much is involved in this until you see the WIP's. Amazing Will.


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## jphy (Feb 20, 2015)

Will, just out of curiosity, are you preheating the fire brick or just using it as a sync to not overheat the silver / copper? I do a lot of steel to copper, but never with jewelers solder, Ive never thought about using a something to maintain copper temperature so you can focus on the steel side.


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## WillC (Feb 20, 2015)

The firebrick holds the heat and refracts it back. Thick to thin, with thick placed on top to promote capillary action...I'm never heating the copper directly, you just preheat the large piece, in this case the ferrule, watching the flux until the temperature is right and then let a touch of solder on each side suck into the tiny joint. You could preheat the firebrick a little, but it soaks it up and refracts back an even heat just from the work itself, thus its all done with the torch. I have preheated the ferrules before in the electric kiln, but you risk contaminating the flux, this way with both pieces pre fluxed and pushed together its all very clean, you just let the conduction of the metals and the refraction on the fire brick do its thing.


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## Andrey V (Feb 21, 2015)

It's amazing work, Will, really. 
Using cool knives not so many of us realize what a job hides behind it.. My respect, Will.


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## WillC (Feb 23, 2015)

Thanks Andrey, I really enjoy these fiddly bits, its a great contrast from thumping out damascus on the power hammer:groucho:


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## WillC (Feb 23, 2015)

The blades now nearly at target width and taper....... I dis some differential temper as otherwise the spines would also be very hard. Now showing a very nice graduation from spine to mid knife, with the edge material at 64hrc. 
Another whole day grinding and these will be nearly there and ready for finishing processes. 
I could not resist a quick dirty etch on the little one.......the laddered edge looks good, but as planned the pattern is so fine, it will really need a fine finish to show fully. So looking forward to that


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## Andrey V (Feb 24, 2015)

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## WillC (Feb 26, 2015)

Grinding grinding this week.

These are a bit special, in the vein of my hollow face Cleaver line of work, which was inspired by the idea of wanting a perfect Takeda "heavy laser" grind. But the grind has moved on a bit with considerable more thinning in the centre of the knife, making the knife thin in the right places with s distinct break in angle about 12mm up from the edge. Its a combination of my heavy convex grind and the hollow face grind I have evolved.

Wide bevels cut









And beginning to thin the centre....





Thinning continues bringing the apex down and thinning into it, until the desired height is reached and the grind touches the spine......





And beginning with the soft fuller...





















At this point I work the hollows and the bevel until we have around 0.1mm on the edge. At this point I put a bevel on the knife, just a rough bevel on a diamond stone, then you can see exactly what your thinning.













Down to 240 grit now I thin into the bevel until the sharpening bevel disappears........ and grind the hollows to 240 grit above. We are at 0.05mm on the edge now and below this it becomes impossible to measure with my wobbly hands. 

Next I move to a JNS 300 put a finer edge on the knife, and continue on the grinder with 320 grit......... from there the system continues shaping by hand...... Takes a while, but then everything is perfect.


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## TheDispossessed (Feb 26, 2015)

yowsa


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## chinacats (Feb 26, 2015)

Am I confusing multiple knives or is this honyaki composite Damascus?


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## WillC (Feb 26, 2015)

Edge material is a very high layer damascus, which quietly contradicts those who would suggest damascus is just for show as these two make a steel far more capable than either are on their own, very edge stable at very high hardness 64/65hrc in this case. The rest of the blade in made up of 4 bars, 3 twisty and one basket weave in 01 and pure nickel, twists are nickel 15n20 and 01. It kind of is honyaki, all hardenable steel bar the tiny slithers of nickel......thus the differential temper......:biggrin:


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## TheDispossessed (Feb 26, 2015)

brain exploded


WillC said:


> Edge material is a very high layer damascus, which quietly contradicts those who would suggest damascus is just for show as these two make a steel far more capable than either are on their own, very edge stable at very high hardness 64/65hrc in this case. The rest of the blade in made up of 4 bars, 3 twisty and one basket weave in 01 and pure nickel, twists are nickel 15n20 and 01. It kind of is honyaki, all hardenable steel bar the tiny slithers of nickel......thus the differential temper......:biggrin:


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## WillC (Feb 26, 2015)

In simple terms, one steel is capable of very high hardness the other is a few points lower and has very high toughness. On their own at this same heat treat and temper steel A would not even hold an edge it would be completely unstable at these hardnesses, Steel B would be reasonably hard 61/62 and very tough, (high nickel content) When combined in a very fine pattern, they are infact at different harnesses but behave very much like one steel, hardness tests everywhere evenly, steel layers are small enough to support each other, So Steel B stabilizes steel A giving toughness and steel A gives the high hardness. I learnt this through trial an error, playing with these steels together and their heat treatment. I think its my favourite steel, (made up of two steels):laugh: Im loving the 1.2442 though.......


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## Vesteroid (Feb 26, 2015)

There are very few things in this life that I would make this statement about. I have always purchases lesser quantity, and higher quality items. I have always had a deep respect for those capable of creating not only beauty, but function in the same piece.

I would open up my savings to buy one of these knives. 

I have seen several knife makers who want the big bucks, but the quality simply isn't at the level of thier prices.

You sir, have set the bar a notch or twelve higher.

Those are incredible pieces.

Congratulations.

The owner is a lucky person.


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## WillC (Feb 27, 2015)

Thanks very much I hope I'm worthy of such high praise, I certainly do my best and have really thought about the performance of these knives in the designs, not that you would use pieces like this everyday, but you could and I really want them to impress when they are used. High end pricing for me means a huge amount of hours going into the work, you never get rich doing this, but you can have allot of fun


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## Mangelwurzel (Feb 27, 2015)

Will, I love the amount of detail you put into your WIP threads. You really are a master of your craft. Looking forward to seeing how these come out.


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## Mrmnms (Feb 27, 2015)

Really liking the idea of this grind Will, and love this damascus and bolster. Love to talk about this further when you're ready.


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## Andrey V (Feb 28, 2015)

WillC said:


> In simple terms, one steel is capable of very high hardness the other is a few points lower and has very high toughness. On their own at this same heat treat and temper steel A would not even hold an edge it would be completely unstable at these hardnesses, Steel B would be reasonably hard 61/62 and very tough, (high nickel content) When combined in a very fine pattern, they are infact at different harnesses but behave very much like one steel, hardness tests everywhere evenly, steel layers are small enough to support each other, So Steel B stabilizes steel A giving toughness and steel A gives the high hardness. I learnt this through trial an error, playing with these steels together and their heat treatment. I think its my favourite steel, (made up of two steels):laugh: Im loving the 1.2442 though.......



Will, when will next bunch come??


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## WillC (Apr 17, 2015)

Final finish now, its been quite a couple of weeks, just about knackered, but will save a little for the final touches and etching. The set is very nearly finished, and Im finishing off the test piece to add to my store.













































Thanks for looking


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## Andrey V (Apr 17, 2015)

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## WillC (Apr 17, 2015)

Cheers buddy


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## Andrey V (Apr 17, 2015)

Cool stuff, buddy [emoji41][emoji12]. As always, actually.. You have amazing skills, Will[emoji41][emoji106]&#127995;[emoji120]&#127995;


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## malexthekid (Apr 18, 2015)

Can't wait to see them after they are etched


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## WillC (Apr 19, 2015)

Still playing around with the finish on these first two before I etch the others.... but ......OMG!!!


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## Cheeks1989 (Apr 19, 2015)

Wow very very cool


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## apathetic (Apr 19, 2015)

That is very cool indeed!


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## mc2442 (Apr 19, 2015)

Amazing work! How do you get the differentiation between the damascus?


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## WillC (Apr 19, 2015)

Thanks! Differentiation as in hardness/temper or visual difference of materials?


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## WillC (Apr 19, 2015)

Basically each knife is made up of 5 bars of materials. 3 bars of opposing twists, a bar of basket weave then the edge material which is the only one which has no pure nickel, only very high carbon steels, edge section is also very high layer, enough so the two materials behave as one. Edge is 65hrc.

It echoes techniques used in saxon swords, bold pattern, softer materials in the core of the blade, high layer hard materials on the edge. Makes all kind of sense

Here is an insight into how this works in a wrap around edge on a pattern welded sword all be it in modern materials, by my friend Mick Maxen.

http://www.bladesmithsforum.com/index.php?showtopic=27614


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## Timthebeaver (Apr 19, 2015)

Next level skill on display.


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## WillC (Apr 21, 2015)

Thanks Tim! I've been looking at these for too long and was worried a little about the whole ladder thing and it making the twists look too random and the edge too blobby and not looking quite right with the hollow/convex grind. But the details really only showed after a full polish. The higher the layer the higher grit finish needed or it will just look grey and scratchy even at 600 grit in this case. These were finished with micro mesh to about 10,000 and you can still see the scratch pattern in the edge weld. But its really crisp so I'm very happy about that and the way it all looks with the grinds/contrast between high layer and the bold twists and mosaic. 

Thanks All, Stay tunes for the whole set of 4 and the Pair with Western handles. Upon my return from the Isle of Jersey.:biggrin:


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