The Far-Eastern Wood Butcher: Prime cuts from the far east.

  One of the series of knives released by Schrade (Taylor Brands) in 2015 that has created some stir, mainly due to their low price and choice of blade steel. Probably also due to their quarter inch thick spine. For this SCHF 9, well two more notables: Recurved edge (love it or hate it) and Flat-ground main bevel.   The TPE (Thermo Plastic Elastomer) handle is held together by 8 individual  Hex bolts threaded into the tang, though it looked like four bolts only.      I noticed that manufacturer who stamped their marks tends to laser them later on their subsequent release. Perhaps to reduce cost? They usually cite material strength issues caused by hard stamps (A stamp applied forcibly on a ricasso may weaken the knife or bend it slightly. Well, for this Schrade, they stamp it where the fuller (blood groove) would have been, so it's not a material-strength compromise we are dealing with here. Looks more like cost issue. Well,...

 This blog entry's content, format, language, and font is optimised for old eyes, like those over 45 years of age.   I am totally sold out on any writing on woodworking. Too busy, too tired.   Took up smoking pipes. Hard to get real tobaccos here. The sundry stores stock aromatics mostly, in the likes of Captain Black, Borkum Riff, Dutch masters, etc. The closest I've come to real tobacco is Erinmore Flake.     Anyway, from Greece, an ebay seller offered a kit that will eventually finish as a bent Billiard. Kits like these are supplied with the heavy lifting done (chamber, draft holes, tenons, heat bending, etc) so that on can focus on the design, not construction. See below:   I have other plans. I've always been partial to Cherry Wood (the name of the pipe shape, not the material Cherry) and Pokers. So much so that I cannot resist bidding on a real cherry wood pipe by Ropp (France). Bark intact, mind you. Panelled too. Rust...

      This review does not include a cut test because: 1. How sharp the knife comes from the factory have very little to do with how well it is designed. I could sharpen mild steel until it will slice paper. 2. Production variables (this includes heat-treat consistency) will null any singular test done on just one knife. 3. I believe every knife user must know how to bring a edge to his/her satisfaction. 4. The best place to hear about Ontario's AUS 8 steel's performance is from forums, from multiple people cutting a myriad of material, and their comparison to other steels. "..comes outta box raazorr sharp! I mean really..really sharp!..." another: "..this steel is crap..don't hold an edge..", "..in between 440A and VG10..IMHO..", you get the picture. Take the average feedback. You won't be far off. Here I am, saying what I really think of this knife. Trying not to cover what was not already covered, which is...little. Very li...

  A piece of stag among the bag of dog chews I purchased online. Frankly, I could not tell the difference between the antlers of Elk, Moose, Deer, etc. I only know they call a male deer a stag, or a buck. I'm not sure if female deer (doe?) has antlers. Well, that stirs my curiousity. Googled. Nope. Maybe a small nub, but that's all. But.. a female reindeer does have antlers, and they are actually caribou...but that's a topic for another day.   What I do know: It's cheaper to buy dog chews than antlers labelled as knife scales. Well, they can't charge you $25 for a split piece of horn which you're going to throw to your dog. It felt wrong to do that. Knife scales, that's another story.       I really don't know why I bought the huge bag of antlers. Especially since I have not completed forging even one knife. Many of my blanks are either half forged, broken from cold hammering, or semi finished awaiting heat treat. But I see no harm ...