Santoku and Expirimental Funayuki in W2

DesRosiers

DesRosiers

Joined
May 5, 2010
Messages
622
170mm Santoku
Handforged W2 integral
Stabilized California Buckeye Burl
Bronze/G10 Spacers
Flat ground to .04 with a slight convex on the top third to minimize food stickage.
1 11/16" Heel height







A note about a 'funayuki'. When I made the lower knife I decided to put more of a tip on it than a santoku. It just seemed more useful that way. When Adam saw it he went and got an old Blackcod heading knife my Dad had brought back from japan and laid it next to it. Sure enough same profile. I looked it up and turns out it's usually single bevel (like Dad's) and originally intended for fisherman. How innovative of me to come up with something that's been used for centuries!




On the other hand I loved using this blade in my kitchen, plenty of edge even at 6" and with the pointy tip I could core fruits and veggies without reaching for a paring knife. It happened to be in the testing process when some venison was ready to be packaged. I boned the entire deer, even cutting apart the joints and slicing up plenty into small pieces for the grinder and it was still shaving hair at the end with no touch-ups. I can't say that I've ever had that experience with a kitchen knife before.




This is kinda exciting to me that a whisper thin edge will hold up that well without chipping at a much higher hardness than you can swing with hunting knife geometry. Apparently it can flex much easier at that thickness. As you might have noticed I'm finding chef knife creation thrilling.

This thread is also over Custom & Handmade, a forum I'm more familiar with. I was delighted to discover this little chef knife nook and figure if we all keep posting here the traffic will pick up and we'll get to drool over more knives. I'm in love with the Nakiris I've been seeing!

-Haley
 
I hope you keep at it with the kitchen knives.
You are making some beauties.
Congrats with the performance test.
 
beautiful knives Haley. the knife your dad brought looks like a Deba. Is it really thick at the spine?
 
Very Very Nice. I have played with some really thin W2. The edge wrinkled slightly so I kept it for myself to test. Used it in the kitchen to cut veggies with and it is holding up incredibly well. Don't even notice the wrinkle. Slices tomatoes like a hot knife........

Haley, Your kitchen knives are inspiring.
 
Thanks friends. I've been tempering the W2 at only 350 which would chip on a hunter for sure. I am thermocycling and quenching out of the salts and that seems to allow lower tempering without chipping. Probably because I'm not overheating the edge like I might in the forge.

Bill I think at least the one I made would better be termed a deba? The old one is very thick at the spine and fairly drastically hollow ground on the left side and flat ground with a large secondary bevel on the right side. It's a laminated blade. Dad had told me that it was a right handed knife and it tended to cut towards the left saving a touch more meat around the collar of the fish. I'd be interested in what you thought, I'm trying to study Japanese profiles and grinds but find a lot of contradictory things online. Perhaps there's an old book out there I need to find?
 
DesRosiers said:
Bill I think at least the one I made would better be termed a deba? The old one is very thick at the spine and fairly drastically hollow ground on the left side and flat ground with a large secondary bevel on the right side. It's a laminated blade. Dad had told me that it was a right handed knife and it tended to cut towards the left saving a touch more meat around the collar of the fish. I'd be interested in what you thought, I'm trying to study Japanese profiles and grinds but find a lot of contradictory things online. Perhaps there's an old book out there I need to find?
Click to expand...

Haley, from your description it is indeed a Deba. These are traditional Japanese fillet knives and are used with the bevel down so yours is a right handed knife. Daniel has a few books on Japanese cutlery.
 
Cool, thanks. I'll check out his website. Does a thinly ground double beveled knife of that profile have a term?
 
I like the bottom one (funayuki) the most.
GREAT handles on both.

Regarding the Deba I find it hard to use. In fact Im no single bevel fan.
 
I am familiar with funayuki...(literally - "going on a boat") knives. They can be ticker with single bevel or thinner with double bevel.

I haven't heard the term funayaki, and can't find any info under that name?
 
never claimed I could spell Japanese let alone talk/speak it.

in response I have never heard of a ticker single bevel knife whether it is Japanese or something else.
 
These days predictive text has us all sounding like half-wits in english let alone kanji, at least that's my story ;)

Bill, I checked out Daniel's website for a book with no luck but I think we'll be down that way teaching a class at Dave Lisch's so maybe I'll get to store finally.
 
DesRosiers said:
Thanks friends. I've been tempering the W2 at only 350 which would chip on a hunter for sure. I am thermocycling and quenching out of the salts and that seems to allow lower tempering without chipping. Probably because I'm not overheating the edge like I might in the forge.

Bill I think at least the one I made would better be termed a deba? The old one is very thick at the spine and fairly drastically hollow ground on the left side and flat ground with a large secondary bevel on the right side. It's a laminated blade. Dad had told me that it was a right handed knife and it tended to cut towards the left saving a touch more meat around the collar of the fish. I'd be interested in what you thought, I'm trying to study Japanese profiles and grinds but find a lot of contradictory things online. Perhaps there's an old book out there I need to find?
Click to expand...

Do you Rc test the blades? I am using 400f to 410f for kitchen knives in W2. I am getting Rc63/64 in that tempering range. No chipping at that hardness so far, with edges below 0.010 and 15deg/ side.
 
I don't Rc test them at this point but the edge retention is certainly greater at the lower tempering temps. I've been grinding to 0.003 and had no chipping. I temper my W2 hunting blades at 400 but the geometry for that is a whole different animal to a chef knife.
 
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