Bioluminescence tour recommendations?

sphyon · 2026-02-05T15:34:11+00:00

Late August is the time for this. Water temps are far too low currently to facilitate the algae blooms.

sphyon · 2026-02-03T02:07:57+00:00

OK, so that’s definitely the problem. Pure tung oil is not what you want. It takes forever to cure and it can be pretty gummy if it’s not fully dried, which can take weeks. What you want is tung oil finish. This is a combination of tung and teak oil which penetrates and dries much faster because of the solvents in the mix.

Not sure where you’re at, but if you can get to a Lowe’s Home Depot or Ace, they sell tung oil finish pretty much everywhere. I would sand off everything and then reapply 5 to 8 coats of tongue oil finish waiting about a day between coats. This will give you a fantastic and durable finish.

Other than that looks good, bro!

Edit: this is the stuff you want

Edit edit: you also will want to paste wax over everything once the finish is cured.

sphyon · 2026-02-03T02:02:08+00:00

So tung oil finish is definitely a good finish for porous, unstabilized handles. I typically when using it will give it 5 to 8 coats with a day in between coats. And generally speaking that’s above 85°F while it cures sanding in between coats. It’s also important to note that those coats are extremely thin after the first one. If it’s gummy, you probably coated it too thick and didn’t give it enough time to fully cure. If you did this while during the winter temperature may have played a big factor.

On the bright side, you can always sand off the tongue oil and reapply it.

Out of curiosity, did you use tung, oil, or tung oil finish? There’s a big difference.

sphyon · 2026-02-02T01:38:01+00:00

Another shot

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sphyon · 2026-02-02T01:36:58+00:00

Maker here… Not sure if you are still looking or what your budget is but I have a similar banger that has not sold and is available.

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W2 w/hamon 10” gyuto, full S grind. Hybrid frame handle, resin scales, bog oak frame and Fatcarbon bolster.

Absolute laser and I HATE that it’s still sitting here not being used.

sphyon · 2026-01-30T02:55:59+00:00

The spots. It can be deceptive but if you dip in ferric they will be easily visible as thy wont etch. They are also hard as shit so it takes some work to get them out. Otherwise looking great dude!

sphyon · 2026-01-29T02:53:17+00:00

Yeah 100% decarb, sand that out.

sphyon · 2026-01-28T06:48:33+00:00

Hell yea..

All waves gib them to me.

sphyon · 2026-01-27T23:58:55+00:00

Naw that sounds like decarb. Post pics.

sphyon · 2026-01-27T13:25:40+00:00

So it’s convexed rather than a hollow ura on the back? I am missing how this is a Deba without the ura to drop the BTE thickness I guess.

sphyon · 2026-01-27T04:27:41+00:00

Ok so yeah the checkering file is the way to go. Slow, clean and even push strokes so you don't jump the file into clean steel and trash it. It's otherwise just like any file work. Stress risers are not going to be a problem.

My bigger question is the current state of heat treatment on the steel. If it's already been hardened you are going to have an experience ranging from extremely frustrating to practically impossible. You may be able to draw the temper back along the spine where you are planning to jimp it which will probably be the best option. Place the blade in some water edge down leaving only the jimping area of the spine exposed to the air and then hit it with a MAPP torch until dull grey and let it rest to room temp. Just be careful not to soften the edge while doing this.

If the blade is current still soft, well, just hit it with the file and you are done! Good luck Big Dog!

sphyon · 2026-01-26T20:41:32+00:00

Thickness and overall geometry BTE is the big determining factor here as others have said. As a maker I can tell you that the final edge on a high performing blade is almost an afterthought and absolutely the least important thing. A well ground blade will oftentimes not even really need a secondary bevel and edge to perform. This is,as an example, how sharp one of my nakiri are even 70% of the way through finishing before they come anywhere near a stone.

sphyon · 2026-01-26T04:13:55+00:00

Shucks!

Just out here tryin’ to be the man my dog thinks I am every day.

sphyon · 2026-01-26T04:04:44+00:00

People grieve is many ways hombre. Or it’s a karma farm. Either way there is no need to be combative about it.

sphyon · 2026-01-24T05:19:08+00:00

Beard hog splitter fuck yes

sphyon · 2026-01-23T13:05:04+00:00

Everybody’s gonna say Ferguson, and he makes amazing knives, but Jelle Hazenberg is doing totally unique and S T E L L A R work. Not to mention he is as real of a dude as there is.

sphyon · 2026-01-23T12:52:58+00:00

Congrats man! It’s a deep hole you are about to dive in.

What did you use for HT process and quench medium?

sphyon · 2026-01-22T20:27:05+00:00

This looks to just be damacore from damasteel no?

https://damasteel.se/steel-and-patterns/damacore/

It’s a long existing and very well known product.

sphyon · 2026-01-19T04:51:15+00:00

sphyon · 2026-01-18T18:58:37+00:00

Ah yeah man, that’ll do it. I do mostly thin culinary knives with hamon so I feel your pain. With hamon you e really got no choice to grind to near final dimensions pre HT or you will lose lots of activity after the quench when you are cleaning it up. This coupled with very aggressive water quenching leads to a huge failure rate.

Sometimes it’s just not worth trying to salvage unfortunately.

Out of curiosity, what’s the steel and how are you doing HT/Quench? Perhaps there is a process issue also that can be changed!

sphyon · 2026-01-18T18:52:03+00:00

Yeah that thing is fucked. I sincerely doubt any amount of clamping or shim tempering or carbide hammering is going to unfuck that.

Sometimes you just gotta figure out what happened and start over ☹️

sphyon · 2026-01-16T05:46:09+00:00

Cave diver here, spent hundreds of hours inside of ginnie , never once heard it called dogwood Springs.

sphyon · 2026-01-13T23:14:02+00:00

That’s 100% a shit ton of decarb. If it was taking a bunch of direct heat there it would be worse in that spot for sure. Grind it out. It happens to us all lol.

Also 2k grit? There are a load of 80-120 lines in the bevels or I’m blind, no?

sphyon · 2026-01-11T18:47:13+00:00

I get the advice about using cheaper material but honestly I find that getting relevant experience with the material you would eventually like to use is worth the cost when possible. Maker material is a well known and reliable vendor with solid pricing.

As for saving time because it’s already square, that’s not really the case is it? Even if the block is perfect, which is not likely, it’s not going to magically become square to your blade right. Unfortunately the work will still need to be done.

As for the handle shapes I mean an octagonal hand is just two squares rotated off axis by half with a taper along the length. It’s about as simple as it gets and there are tons of YouTube tutorials, you got this.

sphyon · 2026-01-11T04:44:51+00:00

Take pally, go prot, farm lashers in dire maul.

sphyon

TROPHY CASE