Stuart Davenport Knives
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2022
- Messages
- 452
Greetings knife people! I am excited to post this one that I just finished sharpening. It is a full size "Euro" style chef's knife sporting an 8" blade. The handle is from a gorgeous piece of stabilized curly golden acacia that has great color and character with red g10 liners. The blade is thin AEB-L hardened and tempered in shop to 63HRC with "cryo" treatment prior to tempering. The spine and choil both have been rounded and mirror polished. The grind is essentially a full flat grind that is slightly convex, terminating in a very very thin edge geometry. I was quite pleased at how this grind turned out. The whole blade rings when you run your hand down the edge (I don't recommend you try that!) The balance point is perfect, right at the front of the handle next to my maker's mark. The blade itself was hand polished to a satin finish. The edge was so thin I went straight to a 1000 Shapton pro ceramic stone and quickly had a burr raised on both sides. After burr removal, I jumped on the Shatpon glass 3000 in order to polish the edge. Afterwards, I raised the angle a couple of degrees and hit the apex on the Spyderco UF stones, and ultimately lightly stropped on 0.3 micron lapping film. Let's just say this thing sneaked up behind me and bit me, so it has already pulled first blood!
About AEB-L, after several years of knife making and geeking out on steel and especially heat treatment, I have come to the conclusion that AEB-L is the best steel for a kitchen knife for a number of reasons. I'll list a few in no particular order. Being a regular ingot steel it is very inexpensive. It has a very very fine carbide and grain structure, not really benefiting from a particle process. It can get plenty hard, capable of 63HRC+ which allows for very thin and acute edges. It is very tough, preventing that thin edge from chipping. It can be sharpened on basically any stone, not needing any fancy abrasives like diamond or CBN, and can be maintained very well with a ceramic rod or leather strop. It has higher wear resistance than any low alloy carbon steel, not that wear resistance plays a very important role in the kitchen environment, but it's nice to have some wear resistance and still be able to bring back to a screaming sharp edge very quickly. It is, for lack of a better analogy, the stainless steel that behaves like carbon steel. If you love all of those properties of carbon steel, you'll love AEB-L. The razor blade industry sure loves AEB-L! If you don't own a high end custom chef's knife, you're really missing out. There is nothing like using a high quality tool to get the job done as well as knowing you can hand that tool down for generations.
OAL: 13"
Blade: 8"
Handle: 5" curly golden acacia
Thickness: 0.080" taper to tip
Steel: AEB-L 63HRC with "cryo"
Edge: ~12° per side, Spyderco UF, lapped on 0.3 micron lapping film
Price: SOLD
Paypall preferred (samuraistuart@yahoo.com). All knives come with free shipping in the USA as well as a lifetime unconditional warranty. Something goes wrong, the knife gets repaired or replaced. I ask that the buyer be aware that most all of my knives are cutting tools and are made only for their intended use. I like to make thin, hard knives that excel at cutting and not necessarily able to take abuse. If you have any questions, feel free to DM me here or contact me by email (samuraistuart@yahoo.com). Thanks for taking a look, and follow me on Instagram at stuartalandavenport.
About AEB-L, after several years of knife making and geeking out on steel and especially heat treatment, I have come to the conclusion that AEB-L is the best steel for a kitchen knife for a number of reasons. I'll list a few in no particular order. Being a regular ingot steel it is very inexpensive. It has a very very fine carbide and grain structure, not really benefiting from a particle process. It can get plenty hard, capable of 63HRC+ which allows for very thin and acute edges. It is very tough, preventing that thin edge from chipping. It can be sharpened on basically any stone, not needing any fancy abrasives like diamond or CBN, and can be maintained very well with a ceramic rod or leather strop. It has higher wear resistance than any low alloy carbon steel, not that wear resistance plays a very important role in the kitchen environment, but it's nice to have some wear resistance and still be able to bring back to a screaming sharp edge very quickly. It is, for lack of a better analogy, the stainless steel that behaves like carbon steel. If you love all of those properties of carbon steel, you'll love AEB-L. The razor blade industry sure loves AEB-L! If you don't own a high end custom chef's knife, you're really missing out. There is nothing like using a high quality tool to get the job done as well as knowing you can hand that tool down for generations.
OAL: 13"
Blade: 8"
Handle: 5" curly golden acacia
Thickness: 0.080" taper to tip
Steel: AEB-L 63HRC with "cryo"
Edge: ~12° per side, Spyderco UF, lapped on 0.3 micron lapping film
Price: SOLD
Paypall preferred (samuraistuart@yahoo.com). All knives come with free shipping in the USA as well as a lifetime unconditional warranty. Something goes wrong, the knife gets repaired or replaced. I ask that the buyer be aware that most all of my knives are cutting tools and are made only for their intended use. I like to make thin, hard knives that excel at cutting and not necessarily able to take abuse. If you have any questions, feel free to DM me here or contact me by email (samuraistuart@yahoo.com). Thanks for taking a look, and follow me on Instagram at stuartalandavenport.
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