advice wanted

J

Jared Stenoien

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Dec 4, 2005
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Now that I finally got my school stuff paid off I'd like to start on a project that I've had drawn up for awhile but never had the money for. It's an eight piece kitchen knife set made of hot blued M4, nickel silver for the bolsters, and black canvas micarta. I plan on having all but the cleaver hardened to RC 65, and that one will be RC 62. The hawksbill will be .03125" thick, breadknives and fillet knife will be .0625" thick, the santuko ulu and shears will be .125" thick, and the cleaver will be .15". The cutting edge on the cleaver is 6.5" to put it to scale. Needless to say it'll be quite a hefty commitment getting that much steel, at least for me, and I want to get any design errors fixed before I do anything else. Any and all constructive critisism is welcome, thanks. :D

edit to add: the reason the shears don't have finger loops is because I prefer springs, I just was feeling lazy and didn't want to try drawing a spring in a 2d cad program.

chefset.jpg
 
Well. It sounds like aproject to keep you busy for a while. I have never heard of M4 so can't comment on the steel choice but 65 and 62 rockwell seems very hard for a kitchen working knife. I like the designs , not sure what the hawks bill and wharncliffe blades are for but they look cool. How are you going to attach the bolsters in order to ensure no gap between blade and bolster for food to collect. Nickel silver is fairly soft and will scratch very easy you may want to think of using a harder or a hardened steel for the bolsters.
Just my thoughts.
Steve
 
There was an article in blade about M-4. It's being used a lot to make cutting competition knives. It is also used to make endmills, it's tough stuff!
 
I didn't really think of the softness of the NS, I'd planned on silver soldering the boldsters on but I'll probably go with SS now, thanks. The offset wharnie is actually a small bread knife, for doing precise cuts on bread, but you can also use it as a general utility knife. The hawksbill is just a precision knife for making accurate cuts.
 
Jared

These designs look pretty good. You have a good eye for proportion. That ulu is sweet. Your profile says you're only 18. You might consider a future in product design or industrial design. If so, my advice would be to keep with the CAD and if you get the opportunity, learn Pro/ENGINEER or SolidWorks. Nice work.

Nathan
Product Design Manager, TecRep Engineering
 
Nathan, I'm actually currently working on a CAD/CAM/CNC certification. I originally wanted to be a mechanical engineer but I took a couple shop classes in high school and found out that I actually like making stuff even better than designing it. Thanks for the praise.
 
Nathan, Could I email you privately.. something I actually want to ask you about PD/ ID. Is that email link in your profile an account that you ever check?

Lang
Trained Mechanical Engineer, working as Process Engineer, wannabe Product Designer!
 
I wish I knew half of what you know about CAD.

IMHO, The bottom right knife looks like it is out of place. It maybe could use a more kitchen-user blade, like a small paring blade to complete the set.
 
the handle on the ulu (? top right) looks like it would be round-ish. it seems to me that would have a tendency to turn in the hand, or require a very tight grip. i think a more oval, larger handle would be easier to use. just a thought. looks like a cool set overall, very ambitious. id love to see it finished!
-Lou
 
Ya might consider a little modification on the clever edge... if you've ever used one a little cuvature makes it easier to use...a straight edge is hard to get full contact with the cutting board every wack...the tendancy is to contact one end or the other first...somethin to think about! Bill A.
 
I didn't think about the cleaver edge, I've just always seen them straight. I'll go ahead and replace it with a curve, how does a minor axis of .05" sound? If you could see the ulu in 3d you'd see that the handle is actually thicker than it is high, it's an ellipsoid which should prevent it spinning around. Thanks for the advice so far.
 
Very interesting set

Kitchen knives are the knives that get used the most in our home so I also have some thoughts.

I have several knives that Tim Wright made for us out of AEB-L which are simply MAGNIFICENT. I'm not familiar with M4 but I can tell you that the AEB-L takes an incredible edge and keeps it and doesn't tarnish from anything! Not tomatoes. Not lemons. NUTTIN......... There is a looooooooooooooong thread about selecting kitchen knife steel here:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=496471&highlight=Kitchen

If the french style had a little rocker curve to it, it would seem to be more ergonomic and easier to use. 62RC seems mighty hard for a cleaver that might be CHOPPING, or even beaten, through bones also. I'd be dropping that down a bit if it were me. The boning knife looks delicate and in a kitchen environment, where it WILL be dropped, I can see it getting broken at the tip at such a high RC. I can't think of one thing I'd use the hawkbill for in our kitchen, but we use a 3" wharncliffe daily and love it. As far as the shears go I use pointier ones (poultry shears) that have a notch for breaking/cutting joints that is quite useful once in a while.

Just some thoughts from years of kitchen experience.............

Nice pics btw

Syn
 
M-4 will be a pain and an ugly thing in the kitchen. It will turn grey and blotch and not at what someone will want to show off or even use. Get yourself a good stainless. The edge holding won't be that much difference. Your designs on the other hand are what I call SWEET !!! Frank
 
Now all I need to do is design and build a mind transfer machine a la zelazny...:D

I went ahead and brought the curve on the santuko out just a tad bit more and made the fillet knife tip a bit more obtuse. I don't mind using a carbon steel, especially since I plan on hot bluing them. I also added a notch on the shears.
 
I would drop the hawks bill and change it to a 2.5-3" paring blade. You will most likely use one of those every day.

Shorten the shears. The leverage is all wrong. Add a joint cutter, as synthesist suggested.

Add a 8-10" carver/slicer, for carving meat.

The cleaver should have a 1/4" belly to it.

ooloo (ulu) blades are neat to look at, but seldom used. A small,4" cleaver with a rocker blade will be much more hand friendly.
Stacy
 
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