Two Brothers

I recently got an e mail from one of my readers who still remembered one of my first post about wooden knives. He asked if I would make two of them for his two sons. I reluctantly agreed to do it because up till now I have just made them in my free time for kids I know and give them away. I was not to sure I wanted to make them to sell because then I would be obligated to deliver in a timely manner. I have a full time job and a family to take care of so free time is hard to come by.
We agreed on a price and he told me that he wanted them to be the same so that his boys wouldn't argue over who's was better. I gathered up the materials and spent a long weekend in the wood shop. I found that identical can be hard to achieve.

The harder I worked to make them the same the more I realized that my hands, eyes and the wood just don't lend themselves to carbon copies. So I took a hint from nature and quit trying. I would give them a family resemblance for sure. They have the same basic design and beginnings. From there I felt free to take a little more off here and leave some wood there so that the end product was pleasing to the eye and felt nice in your hand. They ended up being strikingly similar each with their own individual characteristics, just like two brothers.

I love finishing wood. After the knives are roughed out and their final shape starts to emerge I sit down with some pieces of sand paper and 0000 steel wool to do the final smoothing. I like wipe on finishes for bringing out the color of the wood. You will have to forgive my unabashedly biased opinion that these two knives turned out beautifully.

While I was at it I decided to make a few more. I have these below roughed out and ready for final shaping. If anyone else wants one let me know. I have an idea for making a set of knives for those adult folks that like to practice filleting each other. I'll post them if I finish them.