Custom knives and sayas

Justin Schmidt

Justin Schmidt

Joined
Feb 18, 2016
Messages
2,209
So for the makers out there. Do you make a saya for every kitchen knife you make? I would like to start making more chef knives but wasn't sure if a saya had to be included. Thank you!
 
valknut said:
So for the makers out there. Do you make a saya for every kitchen knife you make? I would like to start making more chef knives but wasn't sure if a saya had to be included. Thank you!
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Valknut, it’s not a requirement, many quality Japanese made Culinary Chef Knives do not come with a Saya.. It’s a nice touch and I’ve made a few but the vast majority of buyers are focused on the Quality of the knife. —————————I do provide one of the plastic blade savers to protect the edge and so Chef’s can put the knives in the knife roll bag without the edge cutting up the roll or so the edge isn’t damaged in a drawer in their kitchen of home cooks.
 
Ok thanks for the reply man. I'll have to Google the plastic blade saves your talking about. Haven't seen one of those before
 
If you want to buy in volume, like 20 or so 8”-10” savers, you can call Richard.310-398-5401. If you just want a couple you’ll have to get them from Amazon or other places..
 
Ok so another question. When doing a Japanese style handle do you cut guard shoulders into the tang like a regular hidden tang? Or just leave a skinny tang and slide the handle over that
 
Its up to you. I like to use shoulders, the Japanese call it the "Machi" I believe. The shoulders provide a place where the handle stops when you slide it into place. Ive been buying blade gaurds from CKTG and zippered pouches from Pops or Tru Grit to send my chef knives out in. Customers have been very appreciative of this. Its just about a 10$ investment for each knife so not a big deal. You can make your own saya too but I personally only offer it as a separate add on thing.
 
no forging, ive only done some cold hammering on some clad steel to get a bit of a pattern. I did finally score a nice anvil and plan to get an atlas mini , maybe next year. My biggest problem is I broke my right hand a couple summers ago and my hand starts killing me real quick.
 
Yeah, I am excited to get the forge. I am just going to do some real basic stuff at first. My goal is to eventually offer simple kitchen blades that were 90% forged to shape and finished on stones. It would be nice to eventually make some killer blades without the use of electricity at all. You might want to get involved in some pass arounds on a kitchen knife forum. You can try out different blades and get a feel for different styles and techniques, all while cooking dinner for the fam.
 
It's fun man I much prefer to pound steel than cut it to shape. That's pretty much what I plan no doing is forging it almost completely to shape. That's a great idea I might have to look into that. Any kitchen forums you recommend?
 
Although many kitchen knife buyers and collectors don't care about a saya or sheath for their kitchen knives, I still make one for every kitchen knife that I make. People's eyes pop when they see both a sweet looking knife AND a sweet looking saya, it helps sell your work. Plus I like making them and take pride in making a nice knife with a nice saya.

On the other hand, if you don't like making saya/sheaths, I say don't spend your time on it, life is too short. Collectors who MUST have a saya will find a separate saya maker if they like your kitchen knife enough to buy it. It won't be a deal breaker in the case of kitchen knives.
 
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