Well it seems I have managed to catch another cold that is going around.  Since I can’t really get much work done it the shop I figured I would post an update here.

I recently purchased a rotary platen attachment to my grinder.   I’d been thinking about adding one for a while but wasn’t sure how much benefit it would add.  I recently got fed up with some of the nuances of grinding against a hard platen and broke down and purchased the rotary.  This is a device that has a set of 3 grooved wheels and a ribbed belt that runs in the grooves.  It acts like a controlled slack belt  that you can adjust the tension on.   I’m still getting used to it but all I can say is why did I wait so long to pick one up.  One of the great benefits is that it grids material of different hardnesses at the same rate, which is great for finishing tangs and bolsters.

I’d had a knife sitting on the bench for months (like since last April) waiting for me to find time to hand finish the handle/guard.  As soon as I got the rotary platen up and running I grabbed the knife off the bench and finished handle/guard transition in no time with out any dishing  or undercutting between the wrought Iron guard, stabilized box elder spacer and walnut handle.  Finally another forged knife finished (I need to make time between batches of Stainless kitchen knives to get more forging in). Anyway here is a picture of the walnut handled knife:

I also recently shipped a gorgeous set of 4 steak knives with carbon steel blades, stainless bolsters/pins and Madrone Burl handles.  These are part of a larger set one of my customers is putting together.  When we started talking about his initial order for a Chef knife he mentioned he was going to want additional knives in the future, so I found matching handle material and set enough aside to complete the eventual full set.   Here is a picture of the steak knives:

The big project this spring is building the hydraulic press.  Progress is happening after much time spent designing and figuring out what exact type of press I was going to make.  I’ll post more details about it when it gets finished but for now a quick shot of the base and frame.

Last but not least, I managed to pick up 2 large billets of nicely figured cocobolo.  One is approx 3.75X5.75X24 with a reddish orange color and the other is approx 3X6X36 and a purplish color.  These will get cut into handle size blocks and added to the handle stash.