The Concave Cambered Blade

[JohnCee]

Hi John,

A very good question. Unless you have received an O1 iron by mistake the only thing I can think of is that Ray may be heat treating it differently - leaving it slightly softer and relying on the high wear resistance to compensate. I wouldn't put it past him to quietly come up with some brilliant way of making it work, he is an exceptionally clever bloke.

Hi Matthew,
I have 3 of these irons that I bought in person at Ray's workshop. They're definitely D2. I know the saying that "D2 takes a crap edge and holds it forever" but these irons are fantastic. I suspect sorcery of some kind.......!

 

[matthewwh]

Speaking of sorcery, I tried out a new chisel from Kyozou Fujikawa over the weekend. It's made from Hitachi XR7, a new breed of high speed steel designed specifically for edge tools, which takes a really really fine edge and has fantastic edge strength and high wear resistance (I should hope so too at RC68!!!).

Although it doesn't quite have that 'buttery' feel on the stone like O1, it does have considerably more feel than either air hardening steels or the other types of HSS that I've tried, especially when you consider how hard it is. Edge taking gets another big thumbs up, easily as good as carbon. I can't really comment on edge holding performance based on an hours work but I haven't noticed any drop off at all yet.

The chisels themselves are Japanese pattern but solid rather than laminated and come with red oak handles and pre-set hoops (I must remember to ask him about pre setting the others.)

The downside - you knew there'd be one - 'taint exactly cheap. We're approaching hand forged money for a die forged tool, but for those who have to go for long periods without sharpening it may expand the range of options available.