Quick and dirty kitchen utility

Patrice Lemée

Patrice Lemée

Joined
Aug 13, 2002
Messages
5,703
First kitchen knife I made. I wanted to see how it holds up to regular use and cleaning and also learn a little more about handle and blade geometry. Handle finish is 3-4 coats of tung oil. No better way to learn than to actually use the knife right? So here it is, nothing fancy:

Blade length: 4” OAL: 9”
Grind: Flat
Steel: 1084
Handle: Maple
Ferrule: Crappy plastic. ;)

kitchen01.jpg


Thanks for looking.
 
Cool, looks useful. What's up with the plastic bolster? That knife would look good on my magnetic knife rack.
 
Thanks Salem. About the plastic, I just wanted to do something quick and it matches the wall color in the kitchen. ;-)
If I do more and have more time, I'll look into making ferrules like Tai Goo showed in a post a little while back. They looked great.
 
Nice knife, but it's time to paint your kitchen! ;^)
 
I agree with Bill! Nice knife buddy i would go with green you know it's getting close to St. Patricks day.

Cheers Bob
 
Cool knife Pat !

I've made a few quick and dirty kitchen knives very similar in construction to yours and love using them in the kitchen.

One thing I've realized with my own attempts is that for a kitchen knife - the thinner at the edge the better I like how it cuts.

I kinda have to challenge myself to keep grinding to get a thinner edge as I seem to get to about .015 and just feel that it's done.

Knives like that make great gifts for family members too.

Josh
 
Kitchen knives are one of those things that are deceptively difficult to get right. My favorites have been some Food Network knives from Kohls. They are about 1/16" thick, with full flat grinds on blades 1.5 to 2 inches wide. The large santoku is 2" wide, and the small gyuto (I think) is 1.5" with a 5" blade. I also like RADA Cutlery. The spine of my santoku from them is 1/32" thick, with a hollow ground edge.
 
me2 said:
Kitchen knives are one of those things that are deceptively difficult to get right. My favorites have been some Food Network knives from Kohls. They are about 1/16" thick, with full flat grinds on blades 1.5 to 2 inches wide. The large santoku is 2" wide, and the small gyuto (I think) is 1.5" with a 5" blade. I also like RADA Cutlery. The spine of my santoku from them is 1/32" thick, with a hollow ground edge.
Click to expand...

I have been doing kitchen knives for a few months now and you are right, they are a lot harder than they look. I am working with stock thats .090" and up to 2 1/2" wide. Full flat grinds with the edge going down to .004", yeh 4 thousanths.
Patrice,
Good job.
Thanks,
Del
 
best thing i can tell a new kitchen knife maker is to grind it as thin as you think you can and then grind it some more

ther are only a handlefull of blades that truly "thick" edeges (and most are still thinner then any hunter or bowie you have made or seen)

on the other side of the scale is a knife like a sushi knife and that should be single beveled to 0 and then honed like a straight razor (BTW its got a hollow grind one the back too)

also a think to remember is that kitchen knives or often hardened a few extra points to help with keeping the edge from folding over. in testign you can always temper a few more degrees (make the handle a take down ) if the edge is too thin its simple to resharpen and the edge will get a bit thicker however thinning an edge on a finished blade is no fun
 
I like it, looks useful in the kitchen. Your makers mark looks great, is that a stamp or an etch? The yellow would make it easy to spot, great for a go to kitchen knife like that.
 
Thanks guys.

Daniel, the maker's mark is etched with homemade Crawford etcher and Ernie's stencils.

Bill, don't go giving my wife any ideas. ;)

I'll follow your advices guys and will try to go thinner next time.
 
Looks great Patrice! I am actually heading out to the shop right now to try my hand at a kitchen knife....Hope it looks as good as this :)
 
I'm sure it will Mike. Just remember to keep it thin and leave a little more room for the knuckles if you want something to cut with the rocking motion typical to kitchen work. Oh and I like handles that drop down but found out that you need it pretty straight for this type of knife.

Let's see some pics! :thumbup:
 
Thanks Rick. I have to post pics later. The staining from 5-10 minutes of onion, garlic and tofu cutting is more than I would have expected.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top