Content warning, this post contains a lot of naked kitchen blades, some relatively ordinary, but some downright kinky. Also discussion of knife safety and injuries. Viewer discretion is advised.

There are lots of pictures below the fold. Lots.

For approximate sizes of all knives see part 1. All blades are mirror-polished, handles are made from wood stabilized with resin and with hidden pins. The stands are from softwood covered with the same wood that the handles are made of but lacquered with PU-based boat lacquer.

I have built a new photographing set for this, I do hope you like the result. Photographing knives is not easy, especially with my lack of photography knowledge and just very basic equipment.

First set

Two blades set with woodwork from partially decayed apple root wood. Both knives are recycled failed blades.

The bigger knife was originally not properly quenched, so I had to quench it again. That means that it was ground down much more than other knives and it is recognizable – the blade comes to an extremely, and I mean extremely fine edge. I am used to shaving sharp knives, but this blade scares the bejeebus out of me. When I was cleaning the masking tape residues I have said this to my mother. And mere minutes after that I have dinged the blade with my pinkie and immediately cut myself. Luckily it is a clean cut so it should heal properly and I might even not have a scar. I should have worn gloves for that task, with these knives there is no such thing as “too careful”.

This is one reason when wherever I give/sell a knife to anyone, I always warn them to be extremely careful with them. These knives cannot be compared with a five-bucks blade from your local supermarket.

The smaller knife was re-ground from the broken chef knife at the beginning of this project.

Second set

Two-blades set with honing steel. Woodwork applewood from a heavily decayed stump. I originally did not plan for the honing steel to be vertical in the stand, but I did not have long enough stripes of this kind of wood to cover the stand with lengthwise uninterrupted pieces.

The honing steel is not stainless but from carbon steel that has been artificially coated with hematite to improve its abrasive capabilities. The handguard and pommel are made from a buffalo horn.

The knives are more or less what I set out to make at the beginning, although I did not expect the spalted wood to be this beautiful.

Third set

Originally I set out to make two of these sets, but starting to make two was a safeguard against something going wrong (which it did).

The wood is mostly healthy applewood, but there is some discoloration from fungal decay in it. It does add some character, although the wood would be beautiful even if it were completely healthy. The growth rings on applewood are barely visible and it has very small pores. I like it a lot and I do have some more.

The honing steel has a handguard from bone, which has unfortunately some hair-thin cracks in it. But at least that shows that it is a natural material and not a piece of white plastic.

The chef knife has a series of holes along the edge, which should help with un-sticking of sticky vegetables like potatoes, zucchinis, and cucumbers. I do not think that the holes pose a health hazard, the blade is very thin here and they are easy to clean with hot water and a soft sponge. Carefully. Extremely carefully.

We do already have a knife like this for years and keeping it clean was never a problem. And the holes do help to reduce the stickiness.

The remaining two knives are again more or less what I was aiming for and nothing extraordinary.

Once I am able to do so, these will be for sale. Although I may keep the first set for myself since I was intending to do so. Based on these I will make more sets in the future, cheaper ones with a more basic blade finish (tumbled satin finis) and less precious and expensive woods. I will also probably expand and make some bigger sets with more specialized blades too. The future is uncertain, we shall see what it is when we get there.