First kitchen knife.... Tell me what you think

mnavarro

mnavarro

Joined
Nov 21, 2013
Messages
288
This is the first kitchen knife I've made. It's out of aebl. Overall length is 13.5 in and the blade is 8 in. It's has stabilized buckeye burl with mosiac pins. Tell me what you think... Thanks

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Looks great. Maybe try to soften the handle edge contours a bit. Nice job!
 
i4Marc said:
Looks great. Maybe try to soften the handle edge contours a bit. Nice job!
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This.

And, that tail hook on the end is a bit much for kitchen work. For kitchen knives, you won't be swinging them, so you don't need much to anchor them in hand. The long beak is not really needed, and can be in the way.

Looks good, overall.
 
Overall, I like it.

As an enthusiast cook this is my opinion: I like the gyuoto profile. 8in is a nice size. The mirror finish looks nice but for a tool (I think of chef's knives as such) it gets scratched too easily and then those scratches don't let me sleep. Without holding it in a pinch grip I cannot comment on the shape of the handle and how confortable it is. At first glance, though, it looks a bit boxy.
What's the blade thickness at the spine?
 
What the previous two posters said and make sure that you can sharpen the heel of the blade without the front of the handle interfering. most of our hands like a slightly oval shape or upside down tear drop.

Overall you have done very well for a first culinary knife especially. It looks like some nice black line maple? Buckeye can have many flavors.
Can you give a straight front shot and one of the entire spine?
 
I used 1/8 in stock...here are a few more pics also. Thanks for all the feedback.

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Great,
On the next one, make that heel more user/sharpener friendly, It looks like a pain to sharpen and you may mess up the front of the scales if you do it on a belt. so try bringing that heel forward some. The distal taper in the front looks good.

I concur that mirror polish isn't really for culinary. I do a Scotch brite brush satin finish which won't show scratches so bad.
You used 1/8" stock which is fine and you look about two inches in height at the heel?
 
I see what you mean about the heel of the knife. The next one I will bring it forward. The taper was the most challenging for me. I usually do hollow grinds on the knives I've made, so this one with a flat grind took many attempts to make it look good. Also the 1/8 stock is a whole lot nicer on belts compared to the 1/4 in. I usually use. I'm going to profile a couple more of these kitchen knives since I still have two bars of Aldo's aebl left. A question also for you , I have some 440 and cpm 154 bars left. Do you you think that aebl is better suited for kitchen knives or should I try to use some other bar stock I have. Again thanks for your feedback. I really appreciate it since I've only started in this knfe game and am trying to improve on a aspects of it.. Thanks
 
AEBL is great for kitchen knives. Super fine grain. Have it heat treated to Rc62, and it will have good wear resistance too.
 
Navarro,
Funny you should ask cause i've used 440C & ATS-154 for about 18 years and CPM-154 for about 14 for culinary, camp, hunters. CPM-154 is kinda a powder version of ATS-34
I've only just started using AEB-L and haven't had them HTed yet.

There are many stainless steels used for culinary and many more Carbon steels still used.
I prefer the stainless but each to his own.

1-8"-5/32"-3/32" thick I've found works best for most culinary. You can go 1/4' for cleavers. There really aren't any rules here. That's just what I found works the best.
 
I agree with what the others have said. I'll add I think you should've had the scales end a but earlier on the knife instead of having that hook near the front of them. I would've moved your front pin back a bit and had the scales have a bit more of a "D" shape towards the front and taper down a lot closer to the tang. Especially on a chef type knife like that where you would do a lot of chopping by rocking the blade back and forth like you would chopping up vegetables for example. Usually you "pinch" the knife between your thumb and index finger so having the front of the scales taped down a lot would be a lot more user friendly. and like others have said contour the handle more it's blocky which tends to be typical for a lot of new makers. But overall a solid knife just needs a few tweaks.
 
I would take a file to the edges of the handle then follow up with some 100 grit sandpaper. Sand it like you are shining shoes and you with get a friendlier grip.

Before you go up in grit get all your scratches going the same way then move on.

Nick
 
I think the handle is a bit thick for kitchen use, and most everything else is previously stated.
 
shape looks good (more westeren style) and i agree the handle/ heel area could be tweeked to make more user friendly both in use and for sharpening. aebl cpm154 both will be great in the kitchen i now stick with XHP tho made lots of cpm154 knives.
if you think grinding 1/8 was nice comparred to 1/4 3/32 is even better
as for blade finish one thing thats getting overlooked aobut the mirror finish is stiction food loves to stick to mirror finishes. you can combat this somewhat with the grind profile
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
Navarro,
1-8"-5/32"-3/32" thick I've found works best for most culinary. You can go 1/4' for cleavers. There really aren't any rules here. That's just what I found works the best.
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Culinary pro here. I'd say those are great for outdoor/hard use knives, almost all of my chef kit is around 2.0mm thick. A couple random thicker ones, 1/8, 5/32 for heavy butchery.
 
Great first crack mnavarro! Same for the handle, just from looks on your next blade, you could get away with half of the handle material you have, contour, and some polish and you've got a nice little light saber. Some more practice and refining details and you're gonna have some very nice tools. Keep up the great work!
 
Thanks for all the comments and helpful information. The next one will be satin finished as butcher block said food will probably stick to mirror finishes more than just a hand rubbed finish. Thanks again for all the comments..
 
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Here is an example of a taper handle from a spine shot that i made with some stabilized leopard wood on an Asian Chef of mine.
This shows A swell in the middle with it tapering from & rear as one poster suggested. I also make a kind of modified coke bottle where I use my 5" wheel on all four areas where the pins/bolts will go. Do have a pic of one of those on the ipad.

Just trying to give you some handle ideas. image.jpg
 
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