Recommendation? Easiest Stock Removal Chef Knife Style?

I prefer one on the taller side to allow knuckle clearance for my large hands. Typically around 48-52mm total blade height for me.
 
CallumRD1 said:
I prefer one on the taller side to allow knuckle clearance for my large hands. Typically around 48-52mm total blade height for me.
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So 2” is fine? I was thinking 2.5”.
 
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Willie71 said:
So 2” is fine? I was thinking 25”.
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In my opinion, yes. Many make Nakiri short than that, some make taller, but I think it’s a good height. Much more and it starts to approach a Chinese cleaver. I don’t like knives much taller than 2” because my hand ends up too high above the board. It feels more unwieldy to me.
 
I start with 2.5mm (aound 100 thou), then grind in a distal taper. That might be pretty thick, but I grind them very thin behind the edge.

Another thing I just remembered - when starting with stock removal, if you have issues with plunge lines, try a knife with a wide handle/narrow blade (for example paring,fillet, hunter ...), as there is more meat in the plunge. I find very tall gyutos hardest, as the tang is very narrow comparing to the blade.

Mark
fadugleman said:
What stock thickness do you like to start with for your paring knives?
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Willie71 said:
How tall do you guys make a Nakiri? A friend just asked me to make him one. I would never take a new model as a sale, but for a friend for feedback, I’m open. I was going to ask @HSC, but his inbox is full. Tia.
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Ive gone 2 1/2-2 3/4” but I ask the client first if he’s used one that he/she has liked and how tall it was? You can also cruise the Japanese knife web sites and Get some dimensions ..
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
Ive gone 2 1/2-2 3/4” but I ask the client first if he’s used one that he/she has liked and how tall it was? You can also cruise the Japanese knife web sites and Get some dimensions ..
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I talked to my friend this morning. He wants 2”.
 
I generally make a nikiri from 2" stock. I do them in both a western style handle and a wa. Personally, for general kitchen use I prefer the western style. I find 5" to 6" just the right edge length. Thin is the word - .060/.070" or 2mm stock is perfect.

The best thing about a nikiri is the simplicity of making one. Cut the basic tang shape out of the 2" wide stock, Drill the tang holes for Corby Bolts or pins if using them, HT the blank, shape the handle a bit, bevel the blade, put on the handle ... done.

TIP:
When making the cuts to remove the excess stock below the handle most folks just make two cuts so it leaves a 90° angle where the handle ends and the blade starts. This is hard to clean up neatly and also a stress riser. Drill a 1/4" or larger hole at that junction and then make the saw cuts so they end as tangents of the hole. This gives a small radius to the handle/heel junction and both looks and performs better. If you want a more pronounced curve, as in a chefs blade, use a larger drill. I have used holes as big as 1" to get a nicely curved transition.
 
I use the 3/4” wheel to get rid of any right angles and so the user can put the index finger forward if the want to choke up one the blade for detail work
 
the biggest thing you wil have to look out for is te 2" mark you can mostly hide is on hunters and chopers but never on a kitchen knife or razor
 
butcher_block said:
the biggest thing you wil have to look out for is te 2" mark you can mostly hide is on hunters and chopers but never on a kitchen knife or razor
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Butch - not sure what you are referring to by the 2” mark? Are you referring to 2”-itis?
 
I have noticed that a lot of Nikiri have a hammered or a Granton edge so food does not stick a bad. Do you all do a granton edge or leave it smooth?
 
I rarely do Grantons. Short of factory grade equipment it is hard to get them to look good.

The hammered surface on the upper half of a Japanese blade is common. While techniques and the surface may vary, it is generally called hammered finish (I don't recall the Japanese name, but I guess it would be a type of kuro-uchi). It is done when forging the blade from thicker stock or using awase (ni-mai, san-mai, warikomi. siminagashi) to make the blade. It leaves a decorative surface and makes final finishing a lot faster. I doubt it is intended as a food release feature.
 
Bob Duguay said:
I have noticed that a lot of Nikiri have a hammered or a Granton edge so food does not stick a bad. Do you all do a granton edge or leave it smooth?
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I don’t , but I’ve found leaving a heavy Scotchbrite finish does the same thing. Another reason I don’t care for a mirror polish on a culinary knife.
 
Bob Duguay said:
How far up the blade on a Nakiri do you bring the grind?
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the one commercial example I have has something like a 1.25" - 1.5" bevel. I personally would want it to be shallower - and so would take it up higher (as I have done on similar knives).

FWIW, what I do is start the bevel ... then walk it up and up and up ... until I just can not hold a clean line - then I go further, until you pretty clearly start seeing scratch marks a ways above the shinogi. then I use that bevel angle to refine the edge down to 0.005-0.008 (I still can not go thinner than that). then, as I go to finer grits and ultimately to scotch bright, I blend the bevel and the flat at the shinogi. If you want a really clean straight shinogi ... the tradeoff will be in a steeper bevel, and a less cleanly cutting blade.....
 
I don't put a shinogion a nikiri. I use .060"/1.5mm stock and make it FFG-ish bade by convexing the edge up to the spine. After HT I regrind the blade surface clean until the edge is near zero, then I use a scotch brite belt, and then sharpen on a small edge bevel.
 
Stacy do you run the scotch brite with the blade or across it? I see many with grinds across the blade.
 
Cushing H. said:
the one commercial example I have has something like a 1.25" - 1.5" bevel. I personally would want it to be shallower - and so would take it up higher (as I have done on similar knives).

FWIW, what I do is start the bevel ... then walk it up and up and up ... until I just can not hold a clean line - then I go further, until you pretty clearly start seeing scratch marks a ways above the shinogi. then I use that bevel angle to refine the edge down to 0.005-0.008 (I still can not go thinner than that). then, as I go to finer grits and ultimately to scotch bright, I blend the bevel and the flat at the shinogi. If you want a really clean straight shinogi ... the tradeoff will be in a steeper bevel, and a less cleanly cutting blade.....
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Tru using a flat 1/4” piece of steel with a magnet to hold your blade when grinding. I used to do this until I got better muscle memory with thin stock to grind evenly. A crisp shinogi is still my Achilles heel after 450 blades.
 
Willie71 said:
Tru using a flat 1/4” piece of steel with a magnet to hold your blade when grinding. I used to do this until I got better muscle memory with thin stock to grind evenly. A crisp shinogi is still my Achilles heel after 450 blades.
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I’m not sure if I am being clear: if you take bevel wide enough, and hence the angle between the flat and the bevel small enough, just the variation in the height of the grit on the belt starts producing scratches above the shinogi. I go to that point intentionally ...as when I then blend through that transition with finer grits, the transition is, while not invisible, not at all obvious (on a really wide blade a ffg is just not that practical .. plus you start having issues with a plunge at the tang...
 
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