A few problems with a chef knife

A

AlaskanHunter

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Over in this thread I started a set of kitchen knives for my wife. http://bladeforums.com/threads/please-critique-kitchen-knife-designs.1370856/
I set aside the project for a year, because I realized that my grinding skills weren't good enough yet. Recently I picked up the project again and just finished the first one. Please critique and advise how I can do better.
.07 AEB-L, HT to 62 by JTknives
G10 liner, moose bone and black walnut handle
Assembled with G-flex epoxy and brass pins (peened)
I had issues with the AC (mark) part of my etching. Part of it didn't darken as it should have. Any ideas what went wrong?
I also have an issue with the bone taking a stain from carrots. It's wet sanded to 600 grit with tru-oil that is cut 1/3 with mineral spirits. I didn't think it could take a stain finished that way?
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Looks great. How was grinding .07 stock? Did you grind post HT?
I'm getting ready to give it a shot on some .074 15n20 and I'm a bit intimidated.
 
E.Carlson said:
Looks great. How was grinding .07 stock? Did you grind post HT?
I'm getting ready to give it a shot on some .074 15n20 and I'm a bit intimidated.
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Its intimidating for sure, but not too hard. I used soap water misted onto an 80 grit 3M 947 to rough it in and 120 grit 984 to finish, then lots of hand sanding. If I was better at grinding I would probably have had a lot less hand sanding, but I had to clean up some faceting on the bevels, and I figured that hand sanding was less likely for me to wreck the blade than the grinder. All grinding was done post HT. Just go slow and easy and keep it cool. Finer grits and slower speeds on your grinder allow you to catch mistakes sooner, allowing for an easier "fix". I'll definitely be doing more blades like this in the near future. If I'm lucky, I might even get one done in time for the KITH.
 
Yeah, that bone does show some orange staining, can you get a sealer or lacquer to stain resist the handle.

John.
 
Looks great to me! In terms of grinding there are some good threads recently where grinding progression is discussed. Everyone's different with what works so you have to find your own best method. Trying a bunch of different techniques will help you find what works best for you.
 
As you now know, bone belongs in smoked ribs, not on kitchen knife handles. Trying to seal it will usually only make things look worse.

For kitchen knives, you want a tight grain wood ( preferably stabilized) or a synthetic like Micarta or G-10. Anything with holes, pores, or open grain will attract and hold food, stains, and bacteria. The first two can be annoying, the last can be a really bad thing.

My only suggestion for your handle now is to sand down to 400 grit, then flood with thin CA. Sand and flood several times. This will stabilize and seal the surface. On the final time ( I would do three or four), sand up to 1000 grit.
 
Can bone be stabilized to prevent this staining? Or am I resigning myself to dealing with the staining as part of life if I use it? I love the look and feel of it as a material, so if there is a good solution, I'd like to find it. But... I don't want to settle for lesser quality.
 
I did a search for bone sealant and got a link to a taxidermy websites recommended for skulls ect :eek:, the sealant soaks into the bone and does not change the appearance though for this 1 job it would not be worth buying it. :D

John.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
As you now know, bone belongs in smoked ribs, not on kitchen knife handles. Trying to seal it will usually only make things look worse.

For kitchen knives, you want a tight grain wood ( preferably stabilized) or a synthetic like Micarta or G-10. Anything with holes, pores, or open grain will attract and hold food, stains, and bacteria. The first two can be annoying, the last can be a really bad thing.

My only suggestion for your handle now is to sand down to 400 grit, then flood with thin CA. Sand and flood several times. This will stabilize and seal the surface. On the final time ( I would do three or four), sand up to 1000 grit.
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I got a bunch of Ipe and have been using it on kitchen knives. Very hard, dimensional stable, inexpensive and oily. The grain is not exciting, but I do multi piece handles with a bright g-10 liner (s) and sometimes a bolster as well, and it really adds some bling. I think wood wise Ipe is almost ideal for a kitchen knives (of unstabilized woods anyway).

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Ipe is one of the best decking woods out there. Very oily and water resistant.
It would be one of my first choices for unstabilized wood in the kitchen
 
Geoff Flato said:
Ipe is one of the best decking woods out there. Very oily and water resistant.
It would be one of my first choices for unstabilized wood in the kitchen
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Haha! one of the largest importers of IPE on the East Coast is 15 minutes from me. i stopped by to ask if i could buy some. They couldn't sell me less then 500 board feet, but they happily gave me 2 18" 2x4. I will be working with that for a while.
 
Kevin McGovern said:
Haha! one of the largest importers of IPE on the East Coast is 15 minutes from me. i stopped by to ask if i could buy some. They couldn't sell me less then 500 board feet, but they happily gave me 2 18" 2x4. I will be working with that for a while.
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Free wood is always good!
I recently scored 8 linear feet of lignum vitae 2x12s
That's about the only thing that comes to mind that'd out do ipe for kitchen knives and definitely something worth keeping an eye out for. The occasional old woodworker will have some "Ironwood" laying around that turns out to be lignum vitae.
 
Ipe can make you itchy (im not too sensitive to it, but that's what i hear) and you MUST wear a mask, the dust is irritating.
 
I had some ipe stabilized by K&G. It came out really nice. I sold a bit at the Harrisonburg show, but haven't had any feedback or photos yet.
I was going to do some Wa handles with it this summer and see how it looked. Maybe I'll do the KITH blade with it.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
I had some ipe stabilized by K&G. It came out really nice. I sold a bit at the Harrisonburg show, but haven't had any feedback or photos yet.
I was going to do some Wa handles with it this summer and see how it looked. Maybe I'll do the KITH blade with it.
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Did it seem to take much stabilizing resin?
If so I'm quite surprised. It seems harder and more resinous than cocobolo from working with it
 
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