Next knife project - Advice requested

Brock Cutlery

Brock Cutlery

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Jan 10, 2015
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My next project I hope is not too ambitious for my current skill set. I want to make two sets of kitchen cutlery. One Santoku interpretation, and one paring knife each set.
My goal is a versatile slicing/chopping knife, so a modified Santoku, with full tang.
Below is my proposed layout, these in 440C.
Blade 6 inch
Handle 4.5 inch
Full flat grind over the spine.
I'm shooting for .85 spine with .18 blade edge thickness.

The lines in the pic represent the grind line, and then the brass bolster. The brass I plan to use I picked up at a garage sale. It is a 3 foot round bar approximately 1 inch diameter. It think it was an old boat screw shaft(?). Can't beat it for a couple of bucks, but I wanted to ask if there is any reason I shouldn't use it?
This is my first bolster attempt ever. I plan brass with brass pins there.
Handle will be desert ironwood and 2 corbies.
I plan a more rounded handle overall, with rounded spine.

Thoughts and comments greatly appreciated.

Santoku-blank1.jpg
 
What are your plans for using the round brass bar as a bolster?
 
Horsewright said:
What are your plans for using the round brass bar as a bolster?
Click to expand...

I plan for the handle to be just about if not exactly round at the bolster, so round from the profile view, but with the slant indicated by the lines. I plan to make the blade side of the bolster with a fairly slight slope down toward the blade. 80 deg maybe?
I plan to drill it for two brass pins and hope to blend them so the pins are not seen. I have some pin stock for this, but not sure it will match exactly. And if they end up showing, well it's a learning experience and hopefully won't detract from the knife.
 
Matt R said:
Your edge thickness, I'm assuming was meant to be .018"? I normally shoot for .010 or less.
Click to expand...

Yes, I had all my measurements screwed up. :|
I ended at .02 at the blade, and .10 at the spine. I was pretty pleased with myself at keeping the .02 all the way along the blade, but at the end surface grinding the handle portion, I hit the blade. :(
I can take it down some more and make it right, but dang, I nearly had it. ....
 
So I was able to correct my blunder, taking it down a bit more and it's actually better now overall, a little thinner. The blade is still just at .020, but I'm ok with it at this point. I have another one profiled and will shoot for .015 on that one.
I ended up using 8 belts on this, which is probably way too many, but you can't beat a sharp belt, and I had to chase that gouge.
I used 40 to hog it off, pretty much down to my lines top and bottom. 2 belts.
Then 100 to clean it up and get it closer to lines. 2 belts.
Then 120 to get it at the lines. 2 belts.
Then 220 to do a final cleanup of everything and smooth it out. 2 belts.
I had run a 400 originally, but after chasing the mistake, I've left it at 220. 1 belt (ok, so that's 9)

Three questions.
For a two inch width blade like this, how many belts should it take for a skilled grinder?
What progression would you use?
What belt would you stop with pre-HT? I plan to probably hand sand to 600 or 800 final.
 
Witg stainless I grind up to 30x, then hand sand to 400 before heat treat. Then a little more hand sanding after heat treat, and the blade is good to go.

However, if you are leaving the edge at .02 you will have to grind some more after heat treat, so there is no point in hand sanding beforehand.
 
S.Alexander said:
Witg stainless I grind up to 30x, then hand sand to 400 before heat treat. Then a little more hand sanding after heat treat, and the blade is good to go.

However, if you are leaving the edge at .02 you will have to grind some more after heat treat, so there is no point in hand sanding beforehand.
Click to expand...

I like your knives. I really like the handle shape. I am slowly evolving that way.
So it looks like I need to take this down to .010. Is that the final thickness you would stop at for this type of knife?
 
.01 is good for a plate quench stainless in my experience. hand sanding after heat treat will make it thinner which is good for a kitchen slicer.
 
Last edited:
I finally finished one in this style, my second finished knife. After getting back some wavy edged knives back from HT I was able to save this one by taking the blade edge down a bit further. A 2 inch wide 440c blade is not 1 5/8ths. The two AEB-L I already got back will be similar.
I'm fairly happy with the final product, although there are a batch of mistakes and issues that afforded me several lessons from making this one. It has been a real study in some different techniques for me.
The bolster was a real pain. Since I used some round scrap stock I had to make it square and get the angles in it. I ended up with a little gap at the ironwood scales, mostly from when I peened the pins, caused a little bulge on each side. Wider bolster? There is also a very very slight misalignment. Dangit. I found out my drill press isn't quite true, and will be fixing that shortly.
I rounded the spine. Not as difficult as I thought it might be, but not really easy either.

I am thankful for the lessons learned and hope to make a better knife when I get the next two back from HT. I left a little more meat on the edge, so hopefully no bacon this time. :)

I would be interested in your opinions on this one, overall design and such.


1-Santoku-1.jpg


1-Santoku-2.jpg


1-Santoku-3.jpg


1-Santoku-4.jpg


1-Santoku-5.jpg
 
Looks nice. The rounded spine is a must. I found the scotch-brite belts work well for this(not sure how you did yours). I like the brass pins and bolster also. Looks classy.
 
Beautiful!! I love it! the colors and looks are all really good! on a kitchen knife I don't think you can really grind it to thin. I aim for .002" but usually get about .005" and a

taper in the blade is really nice for slicing up things. I haven't worked with 440C but using two brand new belts to belt it is quite a few I can usually get about 3 kitchen knife

from a 36 grit 984 Cubitron II belt in hardened 52100...however I'm glad that your not afraid to put a new belt on and some time a knife just is fighting you and you need a

new belt...and usually (if your time means anything to you) it's cheaper to use a brand new belt than roughen a blade. And :thumbup: to rounding the spine I have learned

that the hard way, a rounded spine is SO much better ESPECIALLY on a kitchen knife its not fun to have a square sharp spine.

Great job!

DR...
 
Great looking knife. You've already noted all the criticisms I could possibly come up with. With your skill level, critical eye, and design sense, I'd say you're well on you're way.
 
An update for any that might be interested. I just got back 3 more of these from TruGrit HT. No Bacon Edge! Awesome that I get to keep the 2 inch width on these. I'm happy.
2 were taken down to .023 and one down to .015 All AEB-L @ 62 hardness
 
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