One hour knife

Tough one....if you include all the time they took to pre-prepare all the ingredients, maybe.....

For me, it'd take one hour to profle, drill holes, and rough grind the bevels.

You'd need 2 hours minimum for tempering after HT....

I doubt many makers could come up with anything decent in much less than 3 hours unless they have production setups allowing them to greatly speed up some steps.
 
It is easy to make a number of meals in an hour. As a matter of fact, many people expect to make a meal in an hour or less.

An analogy in knifemaking would be anywhere from 6 hours to 12 hours. It takes 10 hours for most decent 2 ton epoxies to set up properly, as an example. Heat treating cycles require multiple hours as well.

Now, if you are talking about flint knapping, that is a different story. I have seen nice flint knife blades knocked out in a bit more than an hour.

When you pop out an arbitrary figure, you should have some idea of the different possible criteria involved, just like on Iron Chef.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
I pretty sure you could make a fair knife in that amt. of time......full tang and some sort of wrapped handle.

Forge the blade from leaf spring....rough grind....heat and quench....then do a torch draw, letting the color fade down to the edge.

Finish grind and wrap.
 
Last time I went to a hammer-in, I watched while a simple forged knife with wrapped handle was made in about two hours. That included the heat treat and final polish. The beeswax that he put on the leather wrap hadn't dried yet, but the knife was completed.
 
dang...I was feeling pretty good about the knife I finished in one day....:(
 
Not that I would use this material all the time (nor have I ever used it) but using Dendritic Cobalt would eleviate the heat treat requirements.

I think this would be a really cool idea, of course I can't afford the dendritic cobalt to give it a try but I think the 1 hour knife is doable.

Using screws instead of epoxy would allow for a G10 or wood handle, although a handle wrap might be faster.

An interesting idea.

Sean
 
I think 6hr would make that an interesting competition. To preserve the surprise element, you would have to have a theme (the "secret ingredient"), revealed at the last mn, e.g., Med. dirk, drop point hunter, bowie, etc...
 
I think the surprize element would have to be the steel. They don't tell them what to make...just what the main ingredient is.

The scene....

The Master of ceremonies would have to be Moran. Floppy hat and engaging smile...

The two competitors...hmmm, one older established master. Big John Fitch ( Standing there at the top podium holding a massive bowie with the spotlight glinting off the wicked edge).
Down below...the challanger. A young guy with great skills in his own right....
Nick Wheeler. A big hammer in his hand and a bigger grin on his face.

Moran calls the competitors up to the front and center forge and pulls back the leather forging apron to reveal the steel laying on top of the anvil.
Oh my, he's having them work with...

cut to commercial.

That would be awesome.


Just to be sure everyone knows...no disrespect meant to anyone.:)
 
I don't think its impossible. The blacksmiths approach like Greg said could work. Yeah, pre-praparation could be the key, if you allow for that. Hey, is everyone so concerned about the "rules" or are we knifemakers a little obsessional ? :D :D :thumbup:

I believe Luc Burnley once posted pics of a kitchen knife (and it looked awesome) that he made in a very very short space of time.

I've got a hour spare today. Lets see what I can cook up.

(MY wife just saw me typing this, and she just rolled her eyes. "All you need is another challenge...") :) Jason.
 
I'd love to see an eight hour knife contest, but a one hour knife is somewhat limiting. I think eight hours offers enough time for diversity and gives the makers a little time for details. It would be a blast to see a contest along those lines, somebody poney up 100k and get a nice shop set up :).

I think I spend an actual hour swearing at each knife :).
 
It can be done with little trouble the way Greg described - I have done knives that way, but just by stock removal, very quickly, though I had not measured the exact ammount of time.
Something like that would be great to watch, anyway. Maybe it should be cut down to each main phase of the knife construction?
 
Jason Cutter made one, posted it up, in a different thread. It turned out pretty cool, but I think it took a little bit more than an hour.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
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