Kitchen Knife Help

M

MrFlea

Joined
Jun 29, 2020
Messages
24
Hello im looking into making a kitchen knife. Im looking at buying some steel. Sadly it will be 52100 because im broke and i dont know how to heat treat stainless. So what dimensions should i get for the steel? Width and thickness is what im looking for. Originally i thought 18x2x1/8??
 
1/8" is pretty thick for a kitchen knife. I mainly use 0.06"-0.08". The 2" width will fit most kitchen knives. What type of knife do you have in mind?
 
just a regular kitchen knife to start off. I normally do bowies and seaxes but i wanted to do something more elegant. Where can i find steel like that? I use jantz and i just found pops knife supply but i dont see anything that thin.
 
I usually start with 0.10 x 2-2 3/4” X 12-13” for a 8” plus bladed kitchen Chef of AEBL SS you can use 52100........... Even 1/8” will work if you bevel & distal taper it.. I like to make Chef blades Tall in the heel. It gets those knuckles off The board and the customer gets longer life out of them. What part of the Country do you live in??
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
I usually start with 0.10 x 2-2 3/4” X 12-13” for a 8” plus bladed kitchen Chef of AEBL SS you can use 52100........... Even 1/8” will work if you bevel & distal taper it.. I like to make Chef blades Tall in the heel. It gets those knuckles off The board and the customer gets longer life out of them. What part of the Country do you live in??
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Thank you very much for all the help. I live in the Los Angeles area so you can imagine my life of trying to make knives while fending off riots, liberals, and wild fires:)
 
That sounds good, 1/8" is a bit thick, but2" should give you all the width you need. You don't need 18" of steel, though it would give you lots left over for other projects.
 
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MrFlea said:
just a regular kitchen knife to start off. I normally do bowies and seaxes but i wanted to do something more elegant. Where can i find steel like that? I use jantz and i just found pops knife supply but i dont see anything that thin.
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Pop's is one of the best knife suppliers. They tend to be hard to beat on price. They sell steel in 36" lengths. NJSB sells carbon steel in 48" sticks. You could also hit up @JTknives. If you send him a template he can cut it and harden it for you. AKS has the largest selection of knife steels and they sell a lot of smaller pieces.

How are you going to heat treat the steel? 52100 isn't the easiest thing to heat treat in a forge.
 
Storm W said:
Pop's is one of the best knife suppliers. They tend to be hard to beat on price. They sell steel in 36" lengths. NJSB sells carbon steel in 48" sticks. You could also hit up @JTknives. If you send him a template he can cut it and harden it for you. AKS has the largest selection of knife steels and they sell a lot of smaller pieces.

How are you going to heat treat the steel? 52100 isn't the easiest thing to heat treat in a forge.
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Tbh i just wing it:) Throw it in till my gut says go and then i go and then it works:)
 
HSC /// said:
I wouldn’t say sadly....52100 is highly respected by chefs, professionals and enthusiasts... at least the ones I sell to
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Lol i understand. I made a bowie from it once and omg its edge retention and strength has been the best out of 1080, 80crv2, 1095, 5160, and 1075. The only sad part is its not stainless and sadly most people think of knives and invincible objects that if they rust they're bad
 
MrFlea said:
Tbh i just wing it:) Throw it in till my gut says go and then i go and then it works:)
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Not sure how to feel about this. On the one hand, I kinda hope that this is true and that you have a 'gift' that you can nurture and develop others don't have. But, more likely, I hope you are joking, because most folks are terrible at judging temperatures by eye and this is not the way to make a quality knife, even if you have been lucky so far and your gut has been right.
I suppose you might be able to get away with it for a while if only making kitchen knives that don't see much abuse, but if you are ever going to make a hunter or EDC for someone, I'll advise doing the appropriate research, using the proper equipment to get the right temp control needed. You don't want a tool that came out of your shop breaking and becoming worthless (and possibly causing an injury) for someone when they are out in the woods, or anywhere for that matter.
 
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