Jay Fisher - Fine Custom Knives

"Rebanador" Fine Handmade Custom Knife

• Size: Length overall: 15.88" (40.3 cm), Blade Length: 11.2" (28.5 cm), Thickness: .093" (2.4 mm)
• Weight: Knife: 9.8 oz. (278 grams) Sheath: 7.2 oz. (204 grams)
• Blade: 440C High Chromium Martensitic Stainless Steel, Hardened and Tempered with T3 Cryogenic Process to Rockwell HRC 56, Mirror Polished
• Bolsters, Fittings: 304 Austenitic Stainless Steel, Mirror polished
• Handle: Stone Canyon Jasper Gemstone (California)
• Sheath: Hand-carved, hand-dyed Leather Shoulder
• Knife: This is an incredible knife, a fantastic custom knife project that I was honored to make with the direct input of my client. He wanted a slicer, a thin, yet stiff knife with an extremely long blade. I named this knife "Rebanador" which is the Spanish word for slicer. The Rebanador is incredibly thin, long and keen. The design of blade is a recognized form of a slicing knife for the chef, designed to create long, thin, and accurate cuts. My client wanted the best slicing knife possible, with a blunt, rounded point, and honored me enough to allow my own creative input. This is why I truly love making custom knives!
  • The steel chosen for my client's Rebanador is 440C, my most asked-for steel for a reason. It's very tough, highly wear resistant and excels in corrosion resistance, for the lowest care needed of just about any knife steel. It's also one of the very best steels for chef's and kitchen use, since it meets all Food Contact Safety guidelines. I applied my proprietary T3 deep cryogenic process in heat treating this blade; it's a highly detailed, extremely sophisticated process that takes 33 individual steps and takes over a week. The result of this is an incredibly wear-resistant blade that has extremely high carbide development, fine grain, and high toughness. Asperity is reduced; the microstructure development is superior to any other typical handmade knife, and far above any factory or manufactured knife. This is, simply put, 440C at its very finest advanced condition. This is difficult on such a long, thin blade, since the stress of heat treating happens after the blade is hollow ground. Even the hollow grinds are special, accomplished with a 12" diameter wheel which creates a very wide, deep grind necessary to make the thinnest geometry possible at the edge. Add to that, my client requested a stiff blade, so a long, straight section of full thickness spine helped establish that property. The blade has a fully tapered tang, and just a touch of light, accurate filework at the handle scales for handmade artistic distinction.
  • I bolstered the knife with zero-care 304 high chromium, high nickel stainless steel bolsters, which are contoured, rounded and finished for a comfortable feel. The bolsters are secured with zero-clearance peened pins and dovetailed to bed the handle scales. This is a true, no-care bolster material, 304 is also known as 18-8 stainless, and the standard for all Food Safe Contact materials, as well as the toughest stainless steel nuts, bolts, and fasteners.
  • The handle scales are a striking contrast to the steel; my client requested deep orange color, and nothing quite compares to Stone Canyon Jasper. While the jasper is available in many hues, from reds to tans to whites, the orange color is actually limited and doesn't occur that often. I carefully chose and created the scales incorporating the rich burnt orange color, contrasting with the black matrix of the brecciated stone. This stone is many millions of years in the making, with replacement mineralization, metamorphosis, and altered igneous rock. Jasper is a cryptocrystalline quartz, extremely hard, solid, and an eternally lasting gemstone. Stone Canyon jasper is a special type, from Monterey County in California, and is closer to agate than jasper with white chalcedony outlining angular inclusions. I've polished it to a bright, glassy finish.
  • The knife feels very lightweight in the hand, due to the very thin blade, hollow grinding, and accurate geometry. The handle is comfortable and solid, feeling smooth and locking well into the hand. The character of the knife is like an extremely long bladed straight razor, keen and sleek.
• Sheath: For the sheath, only hand-carving would do. I was inspired by the angular brecciated appearance of the jasper, so I created a design that accentuated the figure of the gemstone. It took many hours of painstaking drawing, refining, transferring, carving, and tooling to get just the look I wanted. Hours of relief stamping, were followed by layers of darkening, and multi-step dying for just the right dark burnt orange look of the geometric interlocking figures against a black background. I didn't want the sheath to overpower the handle by being too bright, and I'm extremely happy to say that this is one of my finest hand-carved heavy leather sheaths. The sheath is necessarily long, for the elegant blade, and thick and protective for the owner. The tooling is throughout the piece, even on the belt loop, and I've double-row stitched the loop and single-row stitched the sheath welts with strong nylon thread. The sheath is lacquered and sealed for longevity.
• A unique new design of custom knife for a great client, a thin, keen, and graceful slicing knife.

Thanks, M. R.!