Devin Thomas, Stefan Keller, a friend name Jim, + Dave Martell = A KitchenKnifeForums.com Collaboration

This project started off about 2 yrs ago (?) with Jim, KKF's esteemed admin, ordering a gyuto from me (this was the 8th knife order I received). Jim had a vision for his Martell gyuto....he wanted me to make a larger size than I had done before (a 270mm), he wanted a Stefan Keller custom handle (that would match his other 2 Martell knives with Stefan handles on them), and he wanted the steel to be damascus from Devin Thomas. A KKF collaboration was born!

I am very happy with the results and I don't feel this way often. The grind of the blade came out about as perfect as I can hope to do, the steel was a treat to work with, and Stefan's handle is a work of art that is like putting icing on the cake.

If there's one thing that I'm upset with it's the quality of the pictures I'm showing here, I just couldn't capture the beauty of the depth of the damascus pattern. It's so frustrating to see in person how the pattern moves and looks 3D and then looks so flat on the screen. I took about 80 pictures and these are the best.

The steel used is a combination of 52100 & 15n20....yes you read that correctly. Can you say double high carbon?

And to make sure that the steel gives up it's maximum performance we had the Boss Hoss (that's Devin Thomas in case you're not in the know) do the heat treat on it so we know it's going to kick ass. 

Well I hope that I did my part in this project, I know that Stefan, Devin, and Jim did theirs, I'm thankful for having been given the chance to work with these guys.