Once again into uncharted territory

Kevin McGovern

Kevin McGovern

Joined
Jul 31, 2015
Messages
3,118
I'm sure other new makers have run into this one. I am wanting to make a few kitchen knives for family. Small paring/ petty knives. I have been working with AEB-L in .138 thickness. Should I get some thinner stock? if so what do you recommend? I also have a request for a boning knife. I am planning on a 5"-6" blade overall. I'm thinking the same stock thickness as the paring knives, maybe .098? can i go thicker and still have good performance?
 
I like to get stock a bit thicker than I need so it can be used for other projects. Smaller kitchen knives aren't hard to take thinner on the grinder. Try some lengthwise grinding to thin it down as needed.
That said, you don't want to have to take off too much. Better to buy something a bit thinner than go through belts getting it thin.
 
Totally go thinner. Geometry cuts, and in the kitchen you need to cut all the way THROUGH things.
1/16" is hard to work with, but good for paring knives. A bit whippy for a larger blade. I like ~0.100" for larger chef's knives. They are just stiff enough without being too beefy, depending how you grind them. For me, 1/8" is way too thick. One of my best performing kitchen blades is a Henckel's 7" santoku. It tapers from about 3/32" out to quite thin near the tip, and it is a machine. The decent factory cutlers have really optimized, and they are worth studying.

For my part, I'd rather invest in stock very close to my target thickness than invest in abrasives and time to create more steel dust to be cleaned up before getting to the actual project. Also, AEB-L is very affordable in thin sections.
 
For sure thinner material. I like anything from .065" to .079" (a .079" I will taper to .060" at tip) at max for paring/petty type blades up to around 5" or 6". With a full flat grind they just cut better than a big thick blade will. For an 8" chef type up to .100" is ok using a distal taper from handle to tip.

Later
 
I ground 2 blades today out of post heat treat ats-34, they were .064 stock ground on a 14" wheel.
They cut like sin.
Ken.
 
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So I profiled out these paring knives out of .070 AEB-L. This stuff is thin and the blanks so small, I feel like I'm a first time dad handling a newborn. I intend to make two, so I have four get out of jail free cards. Couple questions:
My grinder is single speed, about 3600sfpm. I am going to grind post heat treat. Other then dipping every pass is there anything else I can do to reduce the chances of burning up the tip?
Also, is it ok to put more than one blade in the packet for heat treat? I have 14" x 3" x 1" plates so they should fit no problem.
 
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Being a reatively new maker using single speed, I grind all my knives post heat treat. But they are Scandi ground. I've just learned to go easy and many light passes at the tip. The higher grit belts are where I would run into issues. Use a light touch, gator belts.


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You've got full-tang in the design and cutout steel. But for things like paring knives I question the need for such strength. Ditto for boning knives, where sharp and flexible are the keywords. A partial tang seems to me would work (as it will never be overstressed in day to day use).
 
Kevin McGovern said:
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So I profiled out these paring knives out of .070 AEB-L. This stuff is thin and the blanks so small, I feel like I'm a first time dad handling a newborn. I intend to make two, so I have four get out of jail free cards. Couple questions:
My grinder is single speed, about 3600sfpm. I am going to grind post heat treat. Other then dipping every pass is there anything else I can do to reduce the chances of burning up the tip?
Also, is it ok to put more than one blade in the packet for heat treat? I have 14" x 3" x 1" plates so they should fit no problem.
Click to expand...


Fresh belts. Especially with thin Abe-l. It likes to warp with dull belts.
 
To be honest, I've done mostly full tangs and these are for Christmas gifts. I try to limit the new techniques to one at a time if possible and stock this thin is enough of a variable for these. [emoji3]
 
Make sure to drill your pin holes😉 Like many have said, SHARP BELTS! They make so much less Heat it crazy.
 
So I just did an initial grind on one of them. I think I understand the concept, but it's a touchy exercise.
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So these are turning out OK. Some of the maple has weird figure...

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and spalt maybe?

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That is wood from a rock maple I took down six years ago.

Some others in Walnut and one in micarta. These are NOT finish sanded. Just up to 120.
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