First set of steak knives

Geoff Flato

Geoff Flato

Joined
May 23, 2017
Messages
1,268
Thought I'd share this one as I'm rather happy with how it turned out. I've wanted to make steak knives for a year or two now, but just finally got the chance.
The knives themselves are aeb-L, serrated, hollow ground, and mirror finished. The handles are Norplex black paper micarta with red liners and brass pins.
The storage block is some subtly quilted black walnut, with bubinga and a Rosewood diamond inlay.
I have a feeling I'll be making more of these in the future
IMG_20170818_175327.jpg IMG_20170818_175256.jpg IMG_20170818_175355.jpg IMG_20170818_175420.jpg IMG_20170818_175450.jpg
 
I didn't really keep track of the time on it, but I'd guess somewhere between 20 and 25 hours. I've done enough mirrored blades to be pretty quick at it
 
The serrations are interesting. I don't believe I've ever seen them spaced apart like that. Is there any motivation for that? I'm a serration newb.
 
It's a flat top serration, bits of regular cutting edge between each serration.
I generally hate serrations, but these being halfway in-between I don't mind them.
 
Serrated kitchen knives are my sworn enemy. For decades they have been sliding of my chosen course, and trying to destroy me one bit at a time. Whittle me down as it were...
It gets worse when trying to slice off that one last lime wedge for that one last Gin, and Tonic. The wicked venom of the lime combined with the low balled sneak attack of the serrations. AArrrgh~

Curse the damn serrations!!!

Your's are pretty cool looking tho Geoff. You may have tamed the wicked beast within.
Kudos!
 
I'll probably play around with them some more yet. I'm sure I can come up with some sort of serration I actually like. These are good for steak knives, but I don't really think they'd give enough of an advantage for anything else.
 
Geoff Flato said:
Thought I'd share this one as I'm rather happy with how it turned out. I've wanted to make steak knives for a year or two now, but just finally got the chance.
The knives themselves are aeb-L, serrated, hollow ground, and mirror finished. The handles are Norplex black paper micarta with red liners and brass pins.
The storage block is some subtly quilted black walnut, with bubinga and a Rosewood diamond inlay.
I have a feeling I'll be making more of these in the future
View attachment 751951 View attachment 751952 View attachment 751953 View attachment 751954 View attachment 751955
Click to expand...
Beautiful work. I am looking to do a bread knife. Is there a video about making serrations? Also I am seriously hamstrung about mirror polishing. I end up with 600 grit finishes. No complaints from customers but I would like to do better. Any tips?
 
Serrations are fairly straightforward. Take a sharp chainsaw file and a dull chainsaw file. Grind the teeth off the dull one, and zip tie them together. File your first groove at the ricasso, and then place the toothless file in the previous cut each time to keep it evenly spaced. That will give it a flat top serration. If you go over it again with a size or two larger file, you can connect all the points. Sharpening after heat treat can be done with a diamond rod, ceramic rod, or a cylindrical diamond burr in a foredom or Dremel.

As for the mirror finishing, you just need to work down in grit a fair bit more. I normally go down to a 1000 grit cork belt, and then buff with jacksonlea green compound, followed by a loose wheel with Zam. Buffing also requires speed. Don't expect a good result with a 6" wheel at 1750 rpm. A 12" wheel on a low speed buffer or a 6" wheel on a high speed buffer are about the minimum that'll actually do a good job.

Some steels are very difficult if not impossible to get a crisp mirror on as well. Vanadium carbides tend to roll out of the surface and make for an ugly finish. O1 is about as high a vanadium content that'll still make a nice mirror, and even it's a pain. S35vn and such forget it.
Now I can guarantee you there are people who will claim to get good results mirroring s35vn with a slow speed buffer. I'm just really picky about my finishes. I'll go over every blade with strong lighting and an optivizor looking for the slightest little flaw to correct.
Slow buffers and vanadium steels will make shiny blades, but never a crisp enough mirror for my liking.
Any other questions feel free to ask away. I mirror at least 4-5 blades a week
 
Geoff Flato said:
Serrations are fairly straightforward. Take a sharp chainsaw file and a dull chainsaw file. Grind the teeth off the dull one, and zip tie them together. File your first groove at the ricasso, and then place the toothless file in the previous cut each time to keep it evenly spaced. That will give it a flat top serration. If you go over it again with a size or two larger file, you can connect all the points. Sharpening after heat treat can be done with a diamond rod, ceramic rod, or a cylindrical diamond burr in a foredom or Dremel.

As for the mirror finishing, you just need to work down in grit a fair bit more. I normally go down to a 1000 grit cork belt, and then buff with jacksonlea green compound, followed by a loose wheel with Zam. Buffing also requires speed. Don't expect a good result with a 6" wheel at 1750 rpm. A 12" wheel on a low speed buffer or a 6" wheel on a high speed buffer are about the minimum that'll actually do a good job.

Some steels are very difficult if not impossible to get a crisp mirror on as well. Vanadium carbides tend to roll out of the surface and make for an ugly finish. O1 is about as high a vanadium content that'll still make a nice mirror, and even it's a pain. S35vn and such forget it.
Now I can guarantee you there are people who will claim to get good results mirroring s35vn with a slow speed buffer. I'm just really picky about my finishes. I'll go over every blade with strong lighting and an optivizor looking for the slightest little flaw to correct.
Slow buffers and vanadium steels will make shiny blades, but never a crisp enough mirror for my liking.
Any other questions feel free to ask away. I mirror at least 4-5 blades a week
Click to expand...
I use s35v a lot. Good to know that it will be a challenge. I make chefs knives mostly and am largely looking for a good working finish. 600 grit looks good and wears well. But I want to be able to choose my finish not be held back because of my skill level. I'll take your advice and push through. I am running a 6" buffet with a 3500 rpm.
Thanks for the advice on the serrations. I don't think that I would have figured that out alone. You are a good teacher. You should do videos and profit by you skill and experience.
 
Thanks! I always like to help however I can.
I've been thinking about making videos a lot recently, I think I'll really have to do it
 
Mainly because I personally think serrated when I think steak knife. I'm sure a smooth edge would have worked just fine
 
Geoff Flato said:
Thought I'd share this one as I'm rather happy with how it turned out. I've wanted to make steak knives for a year or two now, but just finally got the chance.
The knives themselves are aeb-L, serrated, hollow ground, and mirror finished. The handles are Norplex black paper micarta with red liners and brass pins.
The storage block is some subtly quilted black walnut, with bubinga and a Rosewood diamond inlay.
I have a feeling I'll be making more of these in the future
View attachment 751951 View attachment 751952 View attachment 751953 View attachment 751954 View attachment 751955
Click to expand...
Geoff,
Are you finishing your knifes on a platten or wheel. If you are using the platten do you use a leather coated one for final finishing before buffing?
 
Those were done entirely on a 12" contact wheel. I use a 1000 grit cork belt before buffing. I do the same on a Platten, I've never used anything except steel or glass on my Platten.
The flats were finished fine enough on the surface grinder to clean up with buffing
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top