Going into KITCHEN knives - good design?

Kosa_PL

Kosa_PL

Joined
Aug 25, 2013
Messages
1,220
Hello guys, :)

From some time I was thinking, and thinking...

Maybe it's time to try and make some kitchen knives?
One night I taken a cup of Yerba mate (Pajarito ;) ) turned on CAD software and make some designs.

From 5 designs, in my opinion this is most in my style, and looks good.
But how this designs of 3 knives look to you guys?

First set I want to make them from 2,5mm NCV1 steel (80CrV2) and some wood ;) ( and one with black G10 :P )

YuBshE.jpg


Cheers,
Konrad Sadowski
 
I'm no expert on kitchen knives, but I like the blade shapes on the knives. Some of the sharp angular features on the handles look like they would be uncomfortable to use in the kitchen for extended periods of time.
 
I like the handle. I you want a good blade shape, go buy some Sabatiers and use those patterns but without the heavy heel bolster. Apparently, that is what the Japanese makers did when the started making western style knives.
 
The shapes are nice and classic, the handle designs makes me remember the ones made by Don Nguyen who also makes nice kitchen knives.


Pablo
 
Those are classic, can't go wrong, single or double bevels?


One curiosity, are you left handed? i ask because i'm right handed and always draw knives point facing left, other way around doesn't feel natural to me.
 
Just a thought, the knife handle must be easily cleaned to prevent food cross contamination. The "point" front of your handle would require 2 swipes to clean and one swipe might be skipped. Just a thought.
 
jdm61 said:
Only one? :D
Click to expand...

OK, or 3 and a 210, a 270 and probably variations in stainless, carbon and damascus. (speaking for myself)
Getting good kitchen knives can be addicting.
Myself I really enjoy having beautiful knives that I also use a lot.
 
I've been watching this thread since it was started, hoping someone else would point out the obvious.

Well, no one has, so... OK, here goes... remember, you asked for honest opinions. Here's mine.

I wouldn't even bother picking those knives up if I saw them on a counter. Frankly, I think they're pretty awful designs. (Just my opinion, of course... hey, you asked)

I think the handles look un-necessarily angular and possibly really uncomfortable, especially in a "pinch" grip.

I do not understand why your "santoku" and "petty" have such a dramatic belly and such a high point. That's pretty much the worst of both worlds between classic European and Japanese kitchen knife designs.

My advice? Stop playing with graphics software to see what "looks cool", and spend more time using knives to see what actually works.
 
I will take the kinder and gentler route. When I decided to make some kitchen knives, I listened, asked questions and looked at how other people did stuff. I then took some sage advice and bought a couple of knives directly from Japan form the JKC folks. One was a Hattori 270mm western handled Suji in VG10 and the other was a "house brand" 240mm gyuto on their semi-stainless steel. I bought them to use but also to get the feel of the standard blade shapes. I then made a few knives with wa handles that I sourced from another craftsman. By all accounts, the blades worked out quite well. Here are some pictures of a couple of them. "Converting" from western to wa style was quite easy. You just neck down the ricasso a bit, pick a good length and then do the skinny tang.
View attachment 547868
View attachment 547866
View attachment 547867
What I discovered after blanking out some other blades, including some petty and large parers sizes is that thees blade profiles are scalable to a degree. The top gyuto in the picture actually has an OAL of more like 250-255mm. The suji is probably closer to 275-280. The petty blade profile that I cut out was essentially the first 150mm or so of the gyuto blade. The parer was like the first 90mm of that with some adjustments.
 
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