Forging the bolster on a French chef's knife

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elementfe

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May 3, 2008
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I know I'm going to kick myself when I find out or figure out how it's done, but I'm blessed if I can figure out a good way to forge that bolster you see on a French (and a lot of German, for that matter) chef's knife, that goes down the heel of the blade to the cutting edge.
It's probably a simple setup....anyone know how it's done?

PS. Not the way Heinckels/ Wusthof does it- I don't have drop forging equipment!
 
Unless your customer is absolutely requesting that style of bolster I would avoid it like the plague. Reason being is that it gets in the way of sharpening and honestly has no purpose. You won't find that style of bolster on any Japanese chef knife or any good custom chef knife. In fact, the only brands using it are Sabatier, Wustorf and Henckels.

However, that being said, I'm all for gaining new knowledge in the knife making scheme of things so carry on!
 
It is done with a fuller the same way other forged bolsters are done.
Start with a round bar and shape the bolster profile. Fuller out the blade from it. Fuller the tang back from the bolster. Generally, mills are used to shape the front and back of the bolster, but you can grind the bolster to the shape needed. There are guys who mill the entire blade from a bar of steel.
 
It is done with a fuller the same way other forged bolsters are done.
Start with a round bar and shape the bolster profile. Fuller out the blade from it. Fuller the tang back from the bolster. Generally, mills are used to shape the front and back of the bolster, but you can grind the bolster to the shape needed. There are guys who mill the entire blade from a bar of steel.
 
Personally, I would avoid it too if possible. It is going to take a lot of time and skill and error to get it right and it really is not a functional part of the knife, it actually detracts from it usability. However if that is what the customer is set on best of luck. Also you can get sabatier blanks on ebay for cheap if that is a viable solution.
 
Stacy has it pretty much right, you have to shape the bolster as one of the first operations- starting with big round or rectangle bar, then draw the blade out from the bolster once you have it shaped to full depth. I've done it on customer request, but damned if I could figure out why it was worth the trouble.

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Very nice, Salem!
....and when did "worth the trouble" become a criterion in our avocation? :)

The function is that many chefs who use a pinch grip find the gently rounded heel to be very comfortable and like the balance point. The older ones have a very light blade an fairly light handle, with the weight concentrated right in the grip.

I kinda thought that might be all there is to it, but for some reason (maybe I haven't done enough forging in the last couple years) was having trouble picturing the bolster to handle transition, how to efficiently form that..
 
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I used a heavy guillotine fuller, smacked that transition right in there.
I don't like that dropped heel, because it ultimately makes sharpening the knife more difficult. You see some of these where people have taken that heel to a bench grinder, trying to maintain full board contact as the edge is sharpened upward over time. They never do a pretty job, either...
 
Salem Straub said:
I used a heavy guillotine fuller, smacked that transition right in there.
I don't like that dropped heel, because it ultimately makes sharpening the knife more difficult. You see some of these where people have taken that heel to a bench grinder, trying to maintain full board contact as the edge is sharpened upward over time. They never do a pretty job, either...
Click to expand...

Salem,
You are so right about that! They are a pain to sharpen and I see them all ground off by some hack with a bench grinding stone. Makes for a lot of clean up work. You did a very fine job making that bolstered knife!:thumbup:
 
I must sharpen forty of these a month. With stones, it'd be a real drag. With a 1x30, not so bad...and the one that has a disk on the side does a "good enough" job on the bolster cleanup. Definitely not a job for a bench grinder, or for someone who uses a jig or one size fits all sharpening machine.
 
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