Burnley Knives

4 months and two shows since my last shop reorganization and I’m fully back in it. This time the goal is to create a bit of space for some new equipment. That in itself is pretty fun but it’s also a totally different workflow than I what I do now. Puzzles inside of puzzles.


This one has proven to be pretty cathartic. This is my 3rd shop in 4 years and I realized that I had quite a few things I no longer needed. Felt good cleaning house.

With all of the colorful knives I’m bringing to the show I thought it would be fun to do one monochrome piece where each component was finished with the exact same process (vibratory tumbling) and let the materials show their own contrast and reaction.


Oddly enough I don’t think I’ve ever made a knife that I didn’t sign on the blade. While I have a couple for the show this is the first.


Inside the frame is my signature, a rose and in the back spacer 3 diamonds set in gold bezels.

One of the Kwaiken minis from my patina study. I will have 11 of these in various configurations on Saturday.

The goal with this project was to take the patina processes I had learned from and apply them in a practical way to my own work. I decided to use the Kwaiken mini as my base for three reasons.
First the small Diamond shapes exposed in the wrap are about the smallest elements I could see using a patina and I wanted to see how it would affect them visually.


The second is that the wrapping provides a protected area where the patina won’t be worn during use and the third is that I wanted to see how the patinas would be affected by the epoxy resin I use for sealing the wrap.


This was a really fun process and I have some of the answers to questions were floating around in my head.

Never posted a photo of the finished M69 Sea Monster.
This one took some trial and error.
First time I’ve done gone back over a fully finished knife and re carved sections. A bit nerve wracking but I love the way it turned out.
Knives

Next one for the show!
Tuna with a fullered and hand rubbed cts-xhp blade. Copper pivot rings and back spacer and stone washed frame with selectively polished and anodized “Fall Run”
texture in an alternating color pattern. That really rolls off the tongue 😆


This one was way more time consuming than I had expected (which I should have expected)
but I learned a few things in the process and I’m stoked on the end result.

M69 for my opening this weekend.
Timascus frame with hand carved ripple pattern bronze inlays.
S ground duplex blade in Damasteel.
Glad I finished this one early in my show prep… 😅

I’ve been experimenting with some new techniques for finishing Timascus. Really happy with the results on this one.

Tuna Sea Monster for my opening later this month.

The Sea Monster series was something I started building after we moved to Cape Cod. There were so many new visual cues, colors, textures and lines that I hadn’t really played with before. I never really set out to make them look specifically like a “sea monster” but there are definitely some aspects that have carried through the series. Dark etched blades, curves and spines that I don’t usually use and really saturated colors are a few that always seems to fit.
I’m back living in the desert now but the ocean is still full of inspiration.
thanks for this banger of a 📸

Been seeing a lot of this view over the past few days. Making progress though 💪🏻

I’m so excited about this show!
This is my first solo opening, and first time in a gallery setting (which feels like a big deal and is slightly nerve wracking). It’s also in place that I love with good friends and fam to round things out. Win win all around. Looking forward to hanging with those of you who can make it!


Hey everyone, meet Lucas Burnley, aka - we met Luc a few years back when he was living in Orleans, found out he was a wizard of a knife maker, and became fast friends. We wanted to work with Luc and asked him to exhibit his work with us and celebrate the artistry we (and many others) see within it. Come out Saturday, October 16th from 5-8pm to get a glimpse into this other dimension of creativity. Join us as we present “Convergence”. So much more info to come, stay tuned for a few more announcements! 🔪

Unfinish.
This is far from done but one of my favorite stages in building a knife. The contours are all defined and the surface is being refined. Something about the wabi sabi feel of this is just super satisfying for me. Precisely imprecise.


Blade is a Duplex S grind in Damasteel for a Convergence bound M69.

Satisfying.
Been jumping back and forth between fixed blades and folders this weekend. Psyched to have these Kwaiken mini sheaths one step closer.

I love chamfers. The more the better. Chamfers on chamfers.