First chef knife

K

knoxknives

Joined
Jun 4, 2017
Messages
167
Wanted to share my first chef’s knife, and it is either my 7th or 8th knife I’ve made. The others have been hunter type full tangs to give to family and friends. I have a good friend who is a knife nut, doesn’t hunt anymore, but likes to cook. So I decided to bite off trying my hand at doing a chef knife for him. Steel is Alabama Damascus, think it was a .11” thick slab starting out. Handle is some dyed burl wood I bought at a gun show, he picked it out, not sure what kind though.

I heat treated the blade before grinding in my home-made sand + plaster-of-paris paint can forge with a propane torch, it was the limit I can do with this forge, but think I got the heat-treat right (yes I am hoping Santa will bring an Atlas). I ground the blade after heat-treat, of course grinding took a lot of time and I was careful not to over-heat. I can see where this is the only way to go for the hobbyist, otherwise it would have warped for sure. I used True oil for the handle finish. It is light, thin, and balanced well. I left the handle a bit thick, as he has some arthritis.

Fully admit it is a bit blingy with both Damascus and dyed Burl. Definitely not everyone’s taste I’m sure, but my friend likes it, and I’m happy it turned out as planned. Really appreciate everyone on this forum sharing their knowledge.
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If that is your 7th or 8th blade, then you are well ahead of where I was at that time. :D That is not bad at all.
 
jdm61 said:
If that is your 7th or 8th blade, then you are well ahead of where I was at that time. :D That is not bad at all.
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I agree. looks good.

If you want feedback, my only suggestion (which is one I've gotten a few times) is to make sure the heel of the blade is high enough to provide enough clearance for the knuckles.
~billyO
 
thanks jdm61. and that is good feedback weo, next time I will definitely do that. knuckles pretty close on this one, likely more of a medium/large utility.
 
I forgot how bad I hate photobucket, I need to just delete that account. please ignore the missing images from PB, I tried to edit to remove the link but won't let me. I added them back from imgur though
 
I see them now. That looks nice.

Some Knife terminology that is regularly used wrong, even by me:
The HEEL of the blade is the rear part of the edge. It is usually the last 1/2" or so. It is left unsharpened on many knives.
The NECK of the blade is the part that rises from the edge to the handle. This is what creates the finger clearance in use of a kitchen knife. It is sometimes referred to as the rise or clearance of the handle. The exposed part of the tang that extends to the handle on some kitchen knives is also called the neck.
The CHIN of the blade is the point where the neck and heel meet. It is often rounded or has a tiny 45 degree facet. It is not normally sharp. Some people refer to the chin and vertical neck together as the chin. The chin is often wrongly called the heel.
 
What’s too “blingy” for one guy is to “dull” for another guy. It’s all in the eye of the beholder man. It’s looks like fine work to me.....nice job!

Jay
 
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