MSicard Cutlery

banding

  • 190mm ProCut San-Mai Gyuto Out of stock Quick View
    Kitchen Knives

    190mm ProCut San-Mai Gyuto With Banding

     $50.00

    This 190mm ProCut San-Mai Gyuto represents a large step forward in my polishing abilities. In this blade the various hues of carbon diffusion are visible at the weld interface while the cladding itself carries a natural mural of alloy banding patterns that exist within the steel itself.

    Blade Details

     

    Blade: 190mmx55mm ProCut+ stainless steel (~64/65 hrc) Stone tuned bevels + 2500 grit hand finish + pseudo uchigumori/kasumi polish.

    Neck: 18mmx19mm

    Handle: Stabilized/dyed maple burl and paper micarta, oil finished, buffed and waxed

    POB: 30mm from the handle

    Spine: 3.26mm at the handle, 2.54mm at halfway, .71mm 1cm from the tip

    Grind: full convex RH bias

    Weight: 173g

    Relieved choil and spine

    Edge: .14mm@1mm, .29mm@2mm from the edge, measured at the midpoint

    Click HERE for close up video

     

    Blade Special Features

    Fully convex ground blade, stainless clad with active banding.

    ProCut is a brand new steel released by Pop’s Knife Supply and Larrin Thomas. You could think of ProCut as a steel with the toughness of 80CrV2, the nickel content of 15n20 and edge retention somewhere between 52100 and AEB-L. 

    This 190mm ProCut San-Mai Gyuto features a stone tuned geometry and a very fine 2500 grit finish that was polished with my own special mixture that results in a kasumi-like finish without the use of uchigumori. This finish highlights the core steel while creating a smokey haze where some minor carbon migration has occurred and reveals the endogenous banding within the cladding steel.

     

    To learn more about ProCut steel click here: https://knifesteelnerds.com/2025/06/04/pops-procut-a-new-carbon-steel-for-knives/

    For the maker’s impression on various steels click here: https://msicardcutlery.com/knife-making-steel-information-faq/

     

  • 245mm gyuto Out of stock Quick View
    Kitchen Knives

    245mm Carbon Steel Gyuto With Active Banding

     $50.00

    This 245mm gyuto has been a long time in the works. The particular steel I selected for this blade is one that I have long been attempting to find a suitable polishing regimen for. Many attempts have been made that lead to a variety of unsatisfactory results from splotchy etches, to finishes that rubbed away completely with just a paper towel.

    I’ve finally found a combination that produces not only an even and bold etch, but a durable one as well that wont simply rub away with a cloth. This blade’s finish is the culmination of approximately 50 hours of experimentation and trial and error between myself and an experienced blade polisher. For the time being at least, I’ll be keeping the alloy under wraps, but rest assured it is an excellent cutlery steel.

    Alloy banding is a phenomenon that appears in essentially every ingot based steel, whether it’s mild steel, high carbon steel, stainless steel, or semi stainless tool steel. As the steel cools at the mill the various alloying elements will segregate themselves during cooling, as they have different melting temperatures within the alloy and so solidify at different rates.

    The pattern in the as rolled bar is very linear and somewhat uninteresting, but with some heavy deformation at the correct forging temperatures (to avoid eliminating the pattern with excess heat) and the right heat treatment protocol (to enhance/preserve the banding while still reaching full hardness) results very reminiscent of a wattering wootz pattern are possible (as seen in this blade). Microstructurally, they are different, however at a surface level they are essentially indistinguishable.

    The profile is essentially a tall KS pattern.

    Blade Details

     

    Blade: 245mm x 56mm carbon steel (~64/65 hrc) Stone tuned bevels + 2500 grit hand finish + alloy specific polish to bring out the banding

    Neck: 16mmx19mm

    Handle: Stabilized/dyed maple burl, oil finished, buffed and waxed

    POB: 40mm from the handle

    Spine: 2.97mm at the handle, 2.40mm at halfway, .52mm 1cm from the tip

    Grind: full convex RH bias

    Weight: 192g

    Relieved choil and spine

    Edge: .14mm@1mm, .28mm@2mm from the edge, measured at the midpoint

    Click HERE for close up video of this 245mm gyuto

     

    Blade Special Features

    Fully convex ground carbon steel 245mm gyuto with active banding.

    This 245mm Gyuto features a stone tuned geometry and a very fine 2500 grit finish that was polished with my own special polishing protocol that highlights the banding without leaving a splotchy or unstable finish.

     

    For the maker’s impression on various steels click here: https://msicardcutlery.com/knife-making-steel-information-faq/

  • 250mm ProCut Out of stock Quick View
    Kitchen Knives

    250mm ProCut San-Mai Gyuto

     $50.00

    A 250mm ProCut san mai gyuto

    I’ve been sitting on this one for a while and finally have it done. This 250mm ProCut gyuto is similar to a shorter blade I put out in February of this year  (posted HERE) and features the same kind of complex grind geometry and stonework.

     

    • Blade: 250mmx57mm ProCut/mild san-mai (64/65hrc) -stone set bevels + 2500 grit hand finish + etch and polish
    • Neck: 19mmx19mm
    • Handle: Wenge mono, oil finished and waxed
    • POB: 66mm from the handle
    • Spine: 3.94mm at the handle, 3.25mm at halfway, .78mm 1cm from the tip
    • Grind: full convex zero grind
    • Weight: 252g
    • Relieved choil and spine
    • Edge: .10mm@1mm, .23mm @2mm, 1.65mm at the shinogi measured at the midpoint,

    As you can see the banding isn’t quite as prominent in this blade despite using the ame cladding material. I suspect this is due to the higher austenitizing temperature I used for ProCut vs the SheffCut in the last one. Nonetheless it has a distinct pattern in the cladding that I only wish I could highlight more.

    *The cladding does indeed get close to the edge but at no point touches it

    Any US Tariffs will be prepaid by myself in full.

    To learn more about ProCut steel click here: https://knifesteelnerds.com/2025/06/04/pops-procut-a-new-carbon-steel-for-knives/

     

     

  • D2 gyutoQuick View
    Kitchen Knives

    Forged Banding 200mm D2 Gyuto

     $900.00

    D2 Tool Steel Is Tariff Free And Falls under CUSMA.

    A forged D2 gyuto with banding

    This is a special knife utilizing materials I’ve never used previously. In the past I’ve made forged blades of differing varieties that have been etched and polished to reveal the alloy banding within the steel. This is one such blade but in a steel I had previously never worked with, ingot D2 tool steel. Surprisingly this D2 gyuto was less difficult to make than I had anticipated, though still much more difficult than any low alloy steel or A2.

    The banding is phenomenally dense and photographing it was a nightmare as the pictures tended to look bland and grainy. There’s just too much detail for a nice macro shot. So while it looks a bit bland and 2D, every white line in actuality represents a bit of figuring that dances in the light as you look over the blade. Next time I forge a D2 gyuto I’ll try to make the activity a bit bolder but I didn’t want to push my luck with this stuff, never having forged it previously.

    I also thought I’d try something new for the handle and used a piece of wenge end grain that has a lovely bit of character only occasionally seen on knife handles. It appears lighter than it actually is in the pictures. This D2 gyuto’s banding just refused to be photographed without otherwise excessive exposure.

     

    • Blade: 203mmx57mm Forged D2-Tool Steel 800 grit diamond lapping film finish + etch and polishing cycles
    • Neck: 18mmx18mm
    • Handle: Wenge endgrain, oil finished and waxed
    • POB: 30mm from the handle
    • Spine: 2.7mm at the handle, 2.1mm at halfway, .59mm 1cm from the tip
    • Grind: full convex
    • Weight: 165g
    • Relieved choil and spine
    • Edge: .17mm@1mm, .32mm @2mm, measured at the midpoint,

    To learn more about D2 tool steel click Here

    For the makers summative take on various steels click Here

     

  • 240mm Forged Banding A2 Gyuto Out of stock Quick View
    Kitchen Knives

    240mm Forged Banding A2 Gyuto

     $1,055.00

    A 240mm Forged Banding A2 Gyuto

    This 240mm Forged Banding A2 Gyuto was forged down from thick stock very carefully to manipulate the microstructure of the steel such that it displays an active and attractive pattern reminiscent of watering wootz or raindrop damascus. The handle is made from in-house stabilized maple burl that was carefully selected among many other blocks specifically for this project.

    Blade Details

     

    Blade: 244mmx54mm A2 tool steel (~64hrc) 2500 grit hand finish with multiple etch and polish cycles using loose abrasive

    Neck: 18mmx19mm

    Handle: Stabilized maple burl, oil finished buffed and waxed

    POB: 39mm from the handle

    Spine: 3.08mm at the handle, 2.74mm at halfway, .45mm 1cm from the tip

    Grind: full convex 50/50 bias

    Weight: 202g

    Relieved choil and spine

    Edge: .22mm@1mm, .36mm@2mm from the edge, measured at the midpoint

     

    Blade Special Features

    Fully convex ground blade made of forged A2 tool steel and given a very fine polish to accentuate the steel banding.

     

    To learn more about A2 tool steel click here: https://knifesteelnerds.com/2019/04/22/a2-steel-history-and-properties/

    For the maker’s summative assessments of various cutlery steels click here: https://msicardcutlery.com/knife-making-steel-information-faq/

     

     

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