First knife! 8" Chefs knife

[CaptainFill]

First off - Sorry this is in the wrong thread. I was unable to post in the gallery so this was the next best place I guess. If there is a mod, feel free to move this thread and give me permission in the gallery

This is a process of my first knife, I decided to do a large chefs knife. This was made on 1095 steel and a maple burl handle.

I made this on a $70 Harbor Freight 4x32 grinder which was severely underpowered and ate up belts. The spindles of the grinder warped too which gave me a wavey belt to work with so even grind lines were pretty challenging! It also didn't allow for belt contact through the tighter spaces so most of that was done by hand with a little bit of filework.

Outline blank

First rough grinds

Post heat treat (by Darren Sanders - Thanks!)

Roughed up handle

Done! Handle was done with 0000 wool and many coats of tung oil.

I like it for my first knife. There were a few mistakes but I think that's a given at this juncture. In the last picture you can see the 3rd pin didn't get pushed through completely when epoxying (whoops!) I think I might try and patch that up with something.

I'm pretty happy with it so I figured I'd share!

Cheers!

Phil

 

[Atlas Knife Company]

Very decent. Leave the pin and just remember to not make the same mistake on the next one. Pretty thick for a large kitchen knife.

 

[Lo/Rez]

That's a very nice knife for a first.

 

[colu41]

A nice first! If you dont mind me asking, what do you cut with that scroll saw? lol. Looks like the same HF one I have and it barely cuts scales to size.

 

[CaptainFill]

Thanks for the nice words! I'm excited to see the progression with the next (and with better tools)

A nice first! If you dont mind me asking, what do you cut with that scroll saw? lol. Looks like the same HF one I have and it barely cuts scales to size.

Haha, it is indeed the same HF one that you have and it is pretty crappy but it does a good enough job to rough out the scale blanks before grinding. With a better grinder I don't know if I would even have a use for it. Good to have nonetheless Have you tried a different blade on yours? Perhaps the stock one is just that bad.

 

[colu41]

Thanks for the nice words! I'm excited to see the progression with the next (and with better tools)



Haha, it is indeed the same HF one that you have and it is pretty crappy but it does a good enough job to rough out the scale blanks before grinding. With a better grinder I don't know if I would even have a use for it. Good to have nonetheless Have you tried a different blade on yours? Perhaps the stock one is just that bad.

I bought another cheap pack of them from Menards but, other than that no.

 

[Hesparus]

That's pretty good for a first knife. You have good finishing skills, which are hard for most people to learn. I would recommend that you spend some time studying knife form and function. Your kitchen knife looks more like a camp knife. A chef's knife should have a full flat grind and be very thin behind the edge (no more than 0.01" is a good rule). Have a look at a wusthof or a sabatier and see how high the tip goes compared to yours, and the shape of the belly.
You seem to be good at the hard part (finishing) so these items should come easily. Keep it up.

Chris

 

[CaptainFill]

That's pretty good for a first knife. You have good finishing skills, which are hard for most people to learn. I would recommend that you spend some time studying knife form and function. Your kitchen knife looks more like a camp knife. A chef's knife should have a full flat grind and be very thin behind the edge (no more than 0.01" is a good rule). Have a look at a wusthof or a sabatier and see how high the tip goes compared to yours, and the shape of the belly.
You seem to be good at the hard part (finishing) so these items should come easily. Keep it up.

Chris

Thanks Chris. I completely agree that this didn't exactly turn into a traditional chef knife. The stock that I used was initially far too thick at .125" so the stock removal process was extremely prolonged and due to the grinder used, I couldn't get a true flat grind and it evolved into a more convexed hollow grind.

I like the look but it really needed to be tapered and ground to the thinner edge for sure!

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

".... convexed hollow grind...."
That would be like saying that a girl had a "protruding dimple" on her cheek.

Those words don't fit together. You probably got a slightly convexed flat grind.

Knife looks good. Use it and make another with the improvements you know are needed.