birdseye maple

A 230mm Wrought Iron San-Mai Sujihiki

(Written June 2023) Here I have a first for me, a wrought iron san-mai sujihiki with a birdseye maple handle. I had originally set out to make a 270mm, but owing to a very thin core and .008″ of offset in my drawing dies I ended up with a 2mm wide place in the edge where the cladding crossed the core, so I had to shorten it. Nevertheless I would say my first foray into forging wrought iron san mai went well, and I look forward to using more of this material in the future. This wrought exhibits a lot of character, even a somewhat frosty look up close, and as I discovered during the etch, patinas with some variation in colour. I’ll be very interested to see how it looks after slicing up a hot roast or two.

Blade Details

• Blade: 234mmx40mm wrought clad 52100 san-mai (~64 hrc),1200 grit finish, etch and polish
• Neck: 17mmx18mm
• Handle: 134mm long, 19mmx25mm tapering to 18mmx22mm, roasted birdseye maple, oil finished and waxed
• POB: 45mm from the hande
• Spine: 2.9mm at the handle, 2.47mm above the heel, 2.44mm at 12.5cm, .76mm 1cm from the tip
• Grind: flat to convex, right hand bias
• Weight: 134g
• Relieved choil and spine
• Edge: .22mm@1mm, .36mm@2mm, .48mm@5mm, .80mm@10mm, measured at the heel. .12mm@1mm, .25mm@2mm, .45mm@5mm, .79mm@10mm Measured at the midpoint.

Blade Special Features

Wrought iron san-mai sujihiki

To learn more about 52100 click here: https://knifesteelnerds.com/2019/01/28/history-and-properties-of-52100-steel/