My first knife "order"

I have a glass platen but steel underneath. The extra barrier might make a difference.
I use a piece of wood with earth magnets in it covert with very thin brass sheeth. The amount of magnets lets you change it´s strenght. Might be a good investment time wise.

Good looking blade BTW.
I used to not care for knives with handles higher as the spine but it is growing on me
 
Thanks!

Last night I finished the 120 grit sanding so things are nice and flat now (may they ever stay that way). As predicted the spine thickness dropped a bit to 0.066 inch and I had to pull the edge back a bit as it hit 0.012 inch. Also the weight of the blade is now down to 2.1 ounces. This is shaping up to be a wicked light chef knife.

Tonight I start moving up the grits to get it ready for HT. I expect I'll get it sent out by the weekend.
 
Sanded to 400 grit, it is time for this blade to head out for HT\.

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Yesterday I sent the chef knife blade off for HT. As often happens when I'm waiting for blades to return, I started casting about for ideas for the next project. The first thing I did was cast my eye on a 13" x 1" piece of CPM S30V. In it I saw two small knives, and cut them out. I descaled both and started grinding on the smaller of the two until now it's almost ready for the first round of hand sanding.

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Then I started thinking that what I really wanted to do was work on another more customized version of a chef knife, so I picked up the rest of the 4" x 12" piece pf CPM S35VN and this shape seemed to jump out at me. I may reduce the curve of the belly as I grind, but for now I like the way this shape feels when being used.

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That piece of S35VN still has 12" x 1.25" of material left, so I'll probably turn that into another slicer.
 
Apparently I am committed to the shape of the big belly chef knife. I'm tempted to call it the Prudhomme. I have descaled it and done the primary bevel grind with 60 grit, then cleaned up a little with 100 grit. Also drilled three epoxy pin holes. Weight of the blade dropped from 4.5 ounces down to 3.1.

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Last night I went through my handle block collection and selected wood for the four blades I still have at the house.

The slicer (now promised to my mother in law) will get a handle of stabilized Koa.

The two paring knives will get some long forgotten types of burl.

And the big bellied ulu type thing will get a Lignum Vitae handle. I just couldn't wait to start working with the LV again, so I already have the holes drilled, and now I'm broaching it into a slot.

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Last night I spent time broaching out the slot on the Lignum Vitae handle and got it to the point that the tang goes in as far as it needs to. I then decided to use a small piece of African Blackwood as the bolster, so I cut the slot for that and fitted it to the tang.

This morning I sanded those down to the approximate width and shaped it into an oval. This is not the final shape, but it does begin to reflect that shape. Some of the rich color of the Lignum Vitae seems faded now, but it will come back after I sand it with higher grits and burnish the wood. You can't really see it in these photos, but the wood striation lines of the LV mesh well with the striations of the AB. They literally seem to flow into each other. I'm going to try hard to preserve that pattern alignment.

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I would call that knife shape "Ulu on a Stick". Used with a rolling action for mincing things and chiffonading, it should work. It would be poor at slicing and dicing.
 
Well, we don't want it to be poor at slicing and dicing. I'll adjust the profile. Thanks.
 
Wow, that's a very nice LV!

IMHO... For better push cut - perhaps add about an inch of flat edge. A 3/8 to 5/8" tang neck is more conducive/productive for pinch grip and flow better for this knife too.
 
bluntcut said:
Wow, that's a very nice LV!

IMHO... For better push cut - perhaps add about an inch of flat edge. A 3/8 to 5/8" tang neck is more conducive/productive for pinch grip and flow better for this knife too.
Click to expand...

Okay, I flattened the back end just a bit and redid the bevels again. It's still not entirely flat, but it is flatter. As for the neck, I'll address that by final assembly time.

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P.S. in this shot you can begin to see the matching striations I mentioned earlier.
 
Looking good! That wood is lovely. How are you planning to finish it?
On a side note, how do you like working with Japanese style handles in the kitchen? I've only ever had knives with the handle flush with the spine of the blade.
 
Boogaloo said:
Looking good! That wood is lovely. How are you planning to finish it?
On a side note, how do you like working with Japanese style handles in the kitchen? I've only ever had knives with the handle flush with the spine of the blade.
Click to expand...

I was planning on sanding the handle to 2000 grit, then burnishing it with denim. If it needs anything beyond that, I'll decide at that time, but I'm guessing (from past experience) that will be all that is required.

As for using the knives, the guy I'm making them for seems to love the Wa handles. He specifically asked me to make this one with the same type of handle, so I am obliging.
 
Greg,
There is a big disconnect between the handle and the blade. I think the blade is the biggest problem. The round belly is not right. On a kitchen knife, it can start round, but should end straight for the last 1/3 to 1/2 of the blade. On that blade, I would grind out the curve from mid blade to the heel.
As it is, you would have to turn the handle downward until the butt was almost touching the cutting board to get the last part of the edge in a cut. This would make your hand contact the board long before the end of the edge was in the cut. This makes about 1/3 of your knife useless......not a good thing!

As to the handle, I think it is too "straight". Perhaps some taper from the butt to the bolster would make it look more eye and hand friendly. I think tapering in both width and height would be an improvement. Flattening the sides a bit while doing that would be a good idea. In the photo it looks too "round". Your fingers need a somewhat flat reference surface to use a pinch grip.
 
Good thing I haven't done anything more to the blade yet. ;)

I'll take out the trailing roundness on the blade. Regarding the handle, I'd always planned to put some shape to it. What you see now is simply the blank from which the handle will eventually be formed.
 
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