# Catcheside @ The Gathering 2016, part 1



## WillC (Feb 29, 2016)

Im back at the Gathering this year for more fun I will be bringing some of my work with me so folks can handle and try my work. This year I will open sales up to the public, you will be able to go to my website and see both the Gathering price, (no shipping) and the worldwide shipped price on most items. I will make the stock live on the site on this coming Saturday when I am in Denmark.
Here I will be posting Photos and Videos of the event and my knives being used. 

I made quite a lot of the materials for the work and have extra blanks, damascus and san mai left over so will be offering some semi custom pieces during and after the event, these are finished blades or blanks for finishing and custom handle options I will also offer one or two custom slots as the materials are ready to go and examples made so you can see them.

In the mean time here is a little WIP of what I have decided to bring. 


All forged work this year in a simple double high carbon damascus, a pattern which lends itself to be forged and forged geometry.........and a san mai with medium carbon cladding and pure nickel, 01 core @ full hardness with the new HT 

Here are some as forged, taper, hollow forged from spine to edge, edge is down to about 2mm as forged, spines are around 4mm over the heel.





One or two monos as well...





Everything currently in grind, I had better get on with it, only a few days left

I have made some 3 finger knives in damascus and san mai to have some nice small items 





Im going semi rustic on these, minimal grinding as they are mostly forged to shape, they are only ground a little in the hollows and when finished will leave some forged texture on the spine.


















The little 3 finger Utilities are pretty cool, Im going to call my design Swordfish because of the profile of the ladder handle and blade from the top, finished and etched you will see the wiggle of the pattern.





Thanks all, next pictures will be the finished work, then we will have lots of fun pictures of the Gathering and some video.


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## DamageInc (Feb 29, 2016)

I live in Denmark but sadly can't make it to the gathering. Will one of those monos be 185mm and available now with cheaper domestic shipping maybe???? I'm so bummed I missed out on the mono you demoed in the video. I hope I can get my hands on one while it's in the country...


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## WillC (Feb 29, 2016)

Im only taking one of the monos its about 200mm....... But I have a few blanks heat treated which I intend to put online as semi custom offerings.....so you can choose exactly what you want for the handle..... Im sure one is a 185mm full details will work themselves out toward the end of the week, I still have to figure out the pricing on mono as semi custom, would be priced as blade only no handle, that acts as the deposit then you pay for your handle choices when its finished.........


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## DamageInc (Feb 29, 2016)

*edit*

Ignore this post. I'm a dumb*** who can't read and comprehend.


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## WillC (Feb 29, 2016)

It will work out about the same, they will be priced blade only then your handle options as simple or as complex as you like. So probably a little less or a little more depending on what you want for the handle. Will release details towards the end of the week....Much to do!


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## DamageInc (Feb 29, 2016)

Cool! I'll keep my eyes open for that 185mm. The fact that I missed the last one has been gnawing me in the back of my head.


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## DamageInc (Mar 1, 2016)

When the knives with no handles become available for purchase, will you be sending out a newsletter email? Or will you just be posting here?

Sorry for being annoying, but I really don't want to miss out on that 185mm mono gyuto.


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## WillC (Mar 1, 2016)

I tell you what drop me an email note through my website and ill let you know when the other 185 is ground...will be a couple of weeks after the gathering now.....


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## DamageInc (Mar 2, 2016)

Done. It's not often that I immediately regret not buying a knife the second it says sold out.


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## WillC (Mar 3, 2016)

Thankyou 

Been absolutely flat out, got some very nice gathering specific work done. I had to leave the monos, so as far as the semi custom and a custom damascus offering I will do all that next week after the gathering as far as uploading spots available and doing the mailing list shout..... Just run out of time now....but still much has been achieved.... I have updated my website with all the stock for reference, I have listed each item as stock 0 so you can not check out with anything, Its for reference for the weekend at the moment. I have listed gathering price and you can see what you save on the web price. On the last day of the gathering or when I am just back I will make the remaining items available at the web prices and send out a mailshot. 

Stay tunes to this thread for pics and video, will see how it unfolds I may be able to update as I go....but probably after the weekend 


The theme for this year is forging and function over all out finish. I found it a challenge but I have gone for a rustic not too fussy finish highlighting the skill in the formwork and putting abrasive effort into the lovely natural stone finished lower bevels rather than messing around on the faces too much. So simple damascus and san main, simpler finish, makes it very affordable for san main and damascus and I think the results are good, better still the lower bevels allow you to play with you fave finishing stones 

Here are some highlights, all pics and spec are up on my site......

















Edge material 900 layer, double high carbon.....mmmmm









Some tiny little san mai utility





Im calling my design for these Swordfish because of the top profile...









Couple in damascus


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## mikedtran (Mar 3, 2016)

Will, that 900 layer damascus is something else!


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## DamageInc (Mar 3, 2016)

Beautiful work Will! Your work is just stunning.

I will be anxiously awaiting the 185mm....


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## malexthekid (Mar 3, 2016)

Those little knives are awesome Will


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## Zweber12 (Mar 6, 2016)

Hi Will, great seeing you this weekend at the Gathering, sharing the ride from the airport and tapping into your vast knowledge! Tons of fun as well, can't wait for that harmonica clip!


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## shownomarci (Mar 11, 2016)

Zweber12 said:


> can't wait for that harmonica clip!



Yep, that is hilarious! 
[video=youtube;aweSstCTS9U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aweSstCTS9U[/video]

Will, do you do gigs at the local pubs as well? Should do.


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## WillC (Mar 16, 2016)

Ha ha, only after drinking something like absinthe does this tend to happen, but thanks 


Sorry for the total lunch out on this thread following promising video etc, the technology failed me, and mostly I had my hands full. Ive been writing a little piece though about the Gathering 

Report from gathering

Thanks to Maxim and Family for hosting and all the hard work. Was great to see some old friends and have some fresh faces too. We of course had too much fun, quite a wild bunch and amazing food and supply of beverages to keep the evenings rosey. 
I did of course promise lots of videos and pictures of my work, that didnt exactly go to plan, I forgot my plug adapters so was a little technologically stumped..
Maxim got lots of videos of me fooling around with my harmonica, but thats another story &#9786;
So I will just talk a little about how the knife part went for me and what I learned. As usual I could not hope for a tougher crowd, which is exactly why these are so valuable to me. Any ego is left at the door and we get firmly down to the real world performance. This time it gets a little easier and I sold most of the pieces I brought.
I had a head start this year and this time I came this time with pieces made especially for this event, a little more no nonsense, less finishing on the faces and more work in the lower bevels. Slightly hollow forged faces, enables the lower bevel to be tweaked and worked on the stones. I left all the pieces untested and unfinished to a degree, so I would have plenty to keep me busy and plenty to do on the stones, working the lower bevels. I always feel an untested knife is like not tasting your sauce, in theory it should be same as the last, but assumption is the mother of all disappointing knives so they say. So each of my knives was tested on food by me ,then everyone else, then adjusted on the stones and retested. Stone finish lower bevels made this job easier. Its satisfying to go from cuts like a piece of Sh*t , to much better, actually really nice with a quick round on the stones.
So on feedback this year, the forged geometry, profiles and handles have gone down well, or headed in the right direction. From my point of view the rustic finish in the faces was more trouble than its worth, and in most cases feedback would suggest people would have preferred my usual standard of finish and it will be more practical. I spent longer getting the rustic finish to look right than hand finishing moderately. So that is out, will either be one or the other in future, forge finish or hand finished.
So on this point I plan to forge a mk2 forged Damascus gyuto, same ethos and geometry but hand finished in the hollows. 
I will do the WIP here and we can have a look at some of the stones in action that I brought back specifically to have a full set of stones in the workshop.
My fillet knife was a first for me and got used allot of fish, the feedback was not enough flex for fish, fish fillet is narrower, thinner but with less taper so it flexes everywhere, mine was perfect for jointing and meat though.
On remaining stock I believe I have a san mai Gyuto left, which cut great and has had the full works on the edge. With the rustic finish it just wasnt as pretty as the Damascus stuff. So will sell that off at a nice price. And I have the fillet left which will be great for meat jointing, it has the stunning handle, but will let that go at a bargain too, to make room for mk2 version with my usual finish in the hollows, but stone finish bevels.
I will wait until I have made some fully hand finished examples for the site in the Damascus and san mai, then take a commission from each. So that wont be quite yet. 
Thanks all for reading , thank Floris for the photos and kind words, great to meet you too, if anyone else has any photos, comments please do add them.

Here are some of my pics and some close up of using some of Maxims great stones on the damascus...

























































Here we have the stash of stones I brought back, mainly with having a very efficient progression for working lower bevels and making a really nice finish in damascus and san mai in the workshop. Therefore I will follow this up with an overview of these stones and how I'm using them as I make a follow piece to the show in the forged simple damascus. 





Thanks all feel free to add and comment, I look forward to the next one


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## DamageInc (Mar 16, 2016)

Direct and immediate feedback is always nice. Good experience for both maker and buyer. I'm so annoyed that I could not make it again this time.

Any news on the monos? Or will they be pushed back again?


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## WillC (Mar 17, 2016)

Thanks, Don't be nervous about missing the 185, I will email you when that happens. Im pleased it will have a buyer when the time comes. In the mean time this thread is about my gathering experience and the follow up from that.


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## Mucho Bocho (Mar 17, 2016)

I just was this, bout pissed my pants. Laughing so hard the cat jumped off the chair. Get to see you guys busting it out. Will I'm nominating you for next years Academy. Thanks for the laugh this AM.


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## DamageInc (Mar 17, 2016)

Sorry for pestering you. Again. Tell you what, I'll bring my drum kit for the next gathering and we will have a full band. We'll call ourselves "The Whetstones".

What are those elongated white stones in the pic? Are they like a nagura?


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## WillC (Mar 17, 2016)

The square stone sticks are WA stones, they are a synthetic based abrasive but make slurry and leave nice clouds quickly can get them in various grits and very high grits in powders the have quite a few uses, the lower grits are very quick for removing belt scratches for serious work, or you can just use the slurry for finishing and blending.

I have gone though a quick progression with some of my new workshop stones today on a san mai which is shipping tomorrow.

First the big one.... Omura. This one really cuts quick in carbon like a very course low grit synthetic but with out a very deep scratch pattern. It feels really course too, its kinda soft but not too soft so forgiving and noisy, cuts great.

















For a try to see how deep the scratches are I went straight then to the Numata, which for me is more like a pre-finisher, or even a finisher in some cases, but its a fast acting stone with range. 









And it worked fine, but I want a fast progression so I go to JNS 800 in-between. Needs a little soak this one then just gets the job, done, fast and even, forgiving on convex surfaces, ready for the next..









So back to Numata and this time its fast and efficient, quick slightly hazy even finish...









This is a san mai with medium carbon clad, high carbon core and nickel between, so contrast will not be great with just stones. So lets try this stone to produce a slightly graduated finish into the edge on the lower bevel.

Using some slurry from a 1000g Wa on the stone to make a slightly courser cloudier finish on the upper part of the bevel.













Then back to fresh water on the same stone into the lower portion into the edge.





Now just a little more polish into the lower bevel/edge with the small aiiwatani. Finally a single stroke micro-bevel.









Pretty dam sharp too now after a very brief strop.





So there you go, few more toys and techniques to play with. This is the same graduated technique I'm using now in my process on damascus knives as well, this comes in after hand finishing and during the etching process so you have a degree of graduation to the etch as well. In the case of the simple damascus I'm using the higher grit stones to polish into the damascus on the upper part of the bevel as well, so you have a fully maintainable bevel. In the case of mosaic damascus patterns you still have a fully etched pattern but there is still some graduation into the edge as obviously you don't want to sacrifice the geometry and make sure its perfect before the final etch, at least then if you do have to thin and re-etch there are no unpleasant surprises you will find from something that has not previously visited the stones. In the case of the simple damascus/san mai patterns its my aim to make the entire lower bevels serviceable and this work visually.

But I will do an example in damascus for you here to follow up on my experiments and feedback as I have some forged and heat treated.

Cheers All 

Will


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## DamageInc (Mar 17, 2016)

Jesus.... that Omura will last two lifetimes. Those stone sticks are quite cool. Did you strop on leather or a fine stone?


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## WillC (Mar 17, 2016)

Yeah the Omura is a proper blacksmith size isn't it!

The leather one in the pic is a course-ish leather, and its got some diamond spray on there, so this strop is great for kitchen knives, I wouldn't use it on a razor though for example. I also use a thin leather strop, course side up with blue polishing paste, its very fast and also good for polishing into the edge at the final stage, removes patina easily from damascus etc....

Yeah, I dont do much stropping on stones, only maybe one back stroke followed by a forward on the opposite side on the final stroke at micro-bevel, then just a few strokes on the leather. If it doesn't come up straight away you've missed something......return to stone.

When a knife has never been fully sharpened, first time, I only go to 1000g, then strop on treated leather, if it doesn't come in straight away you missed a bit, shows up any dead spots before moving to finer stones. Besides you should always cut a bevel before thinning into it if you see what I mean. This will be sucking eggs for some, but may help someone and just the way I've always done it.


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## maxim (Mar 17, 2016)

View attachment 31153


some pics


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## maxim (Mar 17, 2016)




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## WillC (Mar 17, 2016)

Thanks Maksim some crackers there..
Ha ha, Dan looks quite Ill in all the pics so Far


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## maxim (Mar 17, 2016)




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## maxim (Mar 17, 2016)

Yes that is the man you are all buying knives from  
[video=youtube;zfQEG-Pg_SA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfQEG-Pg_SA&feature=share[/video]

[video=youtube;aweSstCTS9U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aweSstCTS9U[/video]


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## Twistington (Mar 17, 2016)

WillC said:


> Thanks Maksim some crackers there..
> Ha ha, Dan looks quite Ill in all the pics so Far



Don't you remeber we both got the leprosy and the homunculus started it's night terror?


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## maxim (Mar 17, 2016)

Last one Link only  https://www.facebook.com/JNSJapaneseNaturalStones/videos/1128673897173135/


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## WillC (Mar 17, 2016)

Ha ha, well you know I'm not allowed out very often so..... well we have a bongo player now too for the next one


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## WillC (Mar 17, 2016)

Twistington said:


> Don't you remeber we both got the leprosy and the homunculus started it's night terror?



Leprosy seems on the mend now, but sometimes I feel like i left a part of myself in Denmark ,possibly on the floor in the airport


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## Twistington (Mar 18, 2016)

WillC said:


> Leprosy seems on the mend now, but sometimes I feel like i left a part of myself in Denmark ,possibly on the floor in the airport



Super glue really sorts most stuff out, except for ears...


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## WillC (Apr 8, 2016)

Following the Gathering a couple forged in the simple damascus. One left as forged the other ground following the forging. Both were finished in the same process as the gathering pieces with a full progression, brief etch then the final geometry into the edge with a high natural using the grit to highlight the damascus....lots of fun , easy to maintain...... So whats you flavour?


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## KimBronnum (Apr 8, 2016)

I prefer the top and more polished one. Beautifull blade  
- Kim


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## Mucho Bocho (Apr 8, 2016)

WOW, WOW... Will. Their both spectacular but if offered a choice I like the more natural look of the first one.


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## WildBoar (Apr 8, 2016)

The second one really cathes my eye. The beautiful Damascus san mai emerging from the rough steel above...


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## mikedtran (Apr 8, 2016)

Both look great, but love the second one. That rustic look has been really speaking to me recently =)


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## DamageInc (Apr 8, 2016)

Second. Reminds me a some Billipp stuff.


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## WillC (Apr 9, 2016)

Thanks all great to hear the forge finish getting some love. They work out a little cheaper/time efficient than the ground knives Forged knives in this type of geometry. And I find them the most fun challenge at the moment. Though etching and revealing the pattern is always fun on fully finished knives


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