Hello everyone.
I've been given the opportunity to bring you guys a real special. Justin has purchased a group of folding Damascus knives as blanks and fitted wood scales to the handle using various wood types. There are 13 in this run so don't fret if you miss out on the first one. As a bonus each have O-L's initial near the butt.
About the knife
Some of the woods used are - Bocote, Black Locust, Cherry, Monkey Pod, Paroata, Hawaiian Mango, Zebrawood, Nicaraguan Rosewood, Walnut, Madrone, Maple, Myrtlewood. PLEASE BE AWARE that not all the knives have been noted/labelled with the exact wood used so if you are very particular about which wood is which you have been warned.
Quoted from Justin -
"San Mai Damascus is: San-mai steel is very common in Japanese knives, and it’s literally just a sandwich of 3 sheets of steel. Two outer stainless steels and a harder stainless or carbon steel core make up the cross section of a San-mai blade. No folding is done on a San-mai blade because the goal is to have a hard, protected edge that’s fused to the stainless steel but not mixed with it. This San-mai steel is Chinese made. The knife blanks are Chinese made. Surprisingly, the consistency from knife to knife is very good and I have been pleased with the overall quality of these knife blanks."
The knives are 8" long, blade length 3.5" long and weigh about 4.2 ounces. Please take note of this as you may need to double check it against any import regulations to your destination.
Finish is Minwax wipe on poly and then paste wax. The blade is wiped with Silicone.
The blades are hand sharpened because all of the blade profiles do not match any known angle. In other words, they were all ground by hand, by different workers
EDIT in the spirit of being open and honest -
Quote from Justin--------------------------------------------------------
I feel I need to make a couple of points about the knives I am having auctioned off here.
1.- All of the knives will have some form blemish on the bolsters, next to the wood scales. This is caused by my belt sander and my inability to keep from letting the belt drag across the bolster, when sanding the wood to the same height as the bolster. I know I am doing it incorrectly, but the point is that there are blemishes. I have "covered them up" to some extent by using 220 grit sandpaper and making the bolsters look like they have a "brushed finish". It lessens the look of the blemishes, but it is not right.
2.- All of the wood is glued on using 2 part epoxy. Some people would disagree in that use, so I want everyone to know that is how they are put on and they will come off if they get wet or fall and get hit just right. The weaknesses of epoxy.
3.- Problem solved with a Modification that will actually look pretty cool! The last 12 knives, (the next batch that completes the 25 piece run), will have more defects. On the back spine, where the half round cut out is, for depressing the lockback bar, there will be marks on the bar on both sides. This is due to the fact that I glued up all 12 of the knives, with the wood scales, but I forgot to make the half round cut out for the thumb press area, so when I have to now, go and use a rotary tool and a drum wheel, to remove that wood, I will make blemishes on all of the knives. No way will I escape that.
I feel that these knives are shelf Queens and that the only reason for buying one of these, is because you are wanting to help out the fund I have been building, for my wife after I pass. If you are simply buying, because you think it's a cool knife and you want to make it a daily user, I do not feel you will be happy, so if you just buy to help out the Valerie's fund, then there should be no issues at all... BUT,... I will do something that I have never done and that is to make a one time offer, that is good for all 25 knives. If you get one and decide that the defects I have described are too bad to accept, I will issue a refund minus the shipping and return shipping costs, if you return the knife to me within 5 days upon receipt of the knife. That is the best I can or will do.
Justin Valleau, A.K.A. Old-Lumens
Unquote-----------------------------------------------
About the auctions
Okay, these will be auctioned off one at a time. Each lasting 3-4 days. Because this is not a donation to the OL fund type of auction, there are costs to cover. So starting bid will be a minimum of $35 with CONUS shipping included. International shipping will be an additional $8 on top of the winning bid price. Otherwise the rules will be same as previous auctions - anyone can bid and as many times as you like up until the cut-off time noted. Auction #1 will be knife #1 in the group shot below (auction #2 = knife #2 etc...)
About shipping
These are being shipped directly from Old-Lumens. As everyone is aware Justin has good days and bad, days when he's busy and days when he needs time to himself. So shipping may be sporadic and several at once. IMPORTANT - please check your local import regulations/laws with regard to knives. The buyer assumes responsibility for any additional taxes, confiscations etc... So please check it out before you bid. CONUS shipping will be USPS Priority Mail. Anything outside of the continental US will be shipped First Class Air International and a "value" of $5 USD for International, to help avoid duty fees at arrival. Weight is 7 ounces, to allow for the bubble wrap and envelope and the 1.2 factor. Actual weight is closer to 5.5 ounces, but 7 oz. is what's allowed for.
EDIT - Most of the shipping info is much the same except the knives will in future be shipped from J-Dub74. A big thanks to J-Dub74 as he has been working with Justin behind the scenes with this project.
Payments
Payments 'could' be made direct to Justin but honestly I prefer to look after that side of things for Justin. So please make payment via paypal to pinkpanda3310 (at) gmail.com upon winning an auction. I will likely be in contact via pm to congratulate and confirm your shipping details.
Pictures
The first pic is for size in the hand reference. Each auction will show pics of the knife auctioned as shown in the later 3 pics.
Auctions
Knife #1 (ended)
Knife #2 https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/42362 (ended)
Knife #3 https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/42413 (ended)
Knife #4 https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/42462 (ended)
Knife #5 https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/42463 (ended)
Knife #6 https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/42464 (ended)
Knife #7 (skipped)
Knife #8 https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/42515 (ended)
Knife #9 https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/42516 (ended)
Knife #10 https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/42517 (ended)
Knife #11 https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/42578 (ended)
Knife #12 https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/42579 (ended)
Knife #13 https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/42692 (ended)
Knife #14 https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/42693 (ended)
Intermission for a little while.
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