Sashimi knife how to

[atakach]

well done sam, nice work!!!

andrew

 

[Sam Salvati]

Thanks Andrew!

 

[tjiscooler]

thank you so much! I cant wait to see the next parts.

 

[TekSec]

Very sweet! I like the fact you leave some of the forging in it.

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Very good Sam, I'll bet she'll be quite sharp when done!!
Thanks for recording this all for us to learn from!
G2

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Only comment is that it is sometimes not a good thing to mix too many ingredients in a stew.

The basic knife is a sashimi/chef's blade. Adding the choil makes no sense ( not on this blade ,anyway). Then you add Brute de Forge, which is not fitting to the blade type either. All these are nice in their own places, but not together. I would suggest that you make a clean, flat, 400+ grit sashimi knife ands look at it next to this one. I think you will see what I am saying.

It is still a nice knife, though.
Stacy

 

[Sam Salvati]

Not a problem guys, glad you like it!

Erik, I will leave the hammer finish but not the scale it will all be polished up when I am done, like that seax I did awhile ago. Rough yet clean .

Stacy, I understand where you are coming from but hear me out. This type of knife is for cutting fish right? So why not make it resemble a fish (a little)

You bring up an excellent point, there is a fine line between being creative and going too far, but it entirely a personal thing. If I happen to get off during the week for new year's I'll forge another one up and leave NO hammer marks and go completely traditional like you said. Thanks for the advice Stacy.

 

[TekSec]

Awwwww...cute fishy

 

[Gary W. Graley]

this fella think's way outside of the fishing net...

G2

 

[ryan9977]

stacy ....you make a good point and i agree with you....there are alot of japanese kitchen knives though that are rough finished from the forge on the top....they call it a kuro-uchi finish....ryan


http://www.arizonacustomknives.com/products/?id=3437 -here's one by murray carter....ryan

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Ryan,
In my experience (which is not all that vast) kuro-uchi is usually seen on a nakiri or other large kitchen blade that would be harder to bring to a final finish . I have only seen it on san-mai.The iron will be dark, and won't finish as well as the steel anyway ( and will naturally oxidize), so they leave it rough polished prior to HT. Kuro-uchi is used in the kitchen as a preparation knife, and not used in front of the public or guests. The finish is the rough polished black/darker oxidation left by the HT, not necessarily the hammer marks (IIRC, kuro-uchi means black side).

The ones I have ,made were done to foundation on the arato (literally - rough stone, approx 100 grit), leaving lengthwise rough grinding lines.The the bevel ( and the HC steel on the back) was roughed in on the nagura ( medium stone approx 300-400 grit). The blade was hardened ,tempered, and etched. The bevel is polished and sharpened to produce the bright cutting edge, but the flats are left alone with the black finish and just some buffing with steel wool.
On most sashimi knives I leave the flats at a satin polish (around 800), and the bevel bright (sometimes,taken up to 8000 on the finishing stones). I like the contrast.

Sam,
I know that this is your style. I wouldn't want you to change what you do. My comments were only constructive criticism, not detrimental. The knife is fine as is. But I'll bet you like the traditional look even more.

Stacy

 

[FOG2]

Sam thanks for doing this WIP. Ive just finished profiling a kithen knife for use at home
and following your WIP is very helfpull, as ive never made a kitchen knife.

I want to put a chisel side/flat side grind on it like your doing w/your knife

Thanks agian,Bryce

 

[Sam Salvati]

Ryan,
Sam,
I know that this is your style. I wouldn't want you to change what you do. My comments were only constructive criticism, not detrimental. The knife is fine as is. But I'll bet you like the traditional look even more.

Stacy

Stacy I understand and am very grateful, I value constructive criticism highest, and I value your opinion very highly as well, which is why you have me convinced to make another to do along with this one in traditional shape all polished and everything. :thumbup:

 

[Sam Salvati]

Bryce, you are very welcome!

Gary, that is a great shot thanks .

 

[Sam Salvati]

And here is part 3!

It is going to go a bit longer than expected, as there are MANY steps and I want to cover each part as much as possible. I got out of work today so I decided to get some time in the shop (after a nap).

As usual, there are many ways to do things, this is just the way that I do them.

Part 3 has to do with making the handle. I started with a block of dark wood, I have to ask who I got it from what it is exactly, nice stuff though. First I start out by marking the end of the wood so I know how and where to put my hole for the tang. This style of hilting is known as hidden tang or stub tang. I don't really do it too precisely by like breaking out the calipers and stuff, I just eagle eye it.

First I center the tang on the end of the handle piece and scribe the lines onto the end. I mark first for thickness, then mark for width and where they transect it will make a rectangle and that is where you will make the hole for your tang.

Marking the wood for tang thickness, centered on the wood (i know they look a bit off center, this was a second piece of wood I had to mark after I already did the first one)

Marking the wood for tang width

The rectangle formed in the center is where you will drill your pilot holes. I drill two pilot holes on either end of the rectangle, then inserting the drill bit and holding the handle wood I sort of use the drill bit as a milling bit and wear the center web away. I also made up a little chisel to help me square up the slot as the drill bit gives you rounded corners on your slot.

 

[Sam Salvati]

Here is the slot with the web between the holes wore away, you can see the rounded corners of the hole.

Here is some shots of the little chisel.

And a shot of the tang hole with square corners from using the chisel.

Now the tang is fit, and slides into the slot pretty easily. To get a perfect wedge fit though I will heat up the end of the tang and put it in the slot and press the two together. This sort of burns in an imprint of the tang's almost exact shape, as well as burns it into the hole more.

You only need a little heat, too much and you will make your hole oversized. GO CAREFULLY, you can always remove more material but if you remove too much you can't put it back. If you chisel or drill or burn out too much it will make the fit sloppy, ideally your final fit should be tight enough that it will not need epoxy (but it is always good to go the extra careful step and epoxy everything together).

Start heating just the end of the tang, than as you go heat more of it up each time. I only had to do 4 hot fits to get a perfect wedge fit.

As you can see only a little bit of smoke, not PLUME AFTER PLUME of it, this is due to the fact that I only used just enough heat to seat the tang in the slot.

 

[Sam Salvati]

After I get a basic rough fit, I will take the handle block to the grinder for profile shaping. Again this is a go slow and careful step, you can always take more off but not put it back on. It was very risky business starting with a block so small (roughly 1 inch square), as it left little room for adjustment but everything worked out OK, I do however suggest starting with a larger block first to leave yourself some room to play and adjust as needed.

Start first with the rough grit

Then a finer grit, you don't have to go too far yet this is only rough shaping for now.

And there is where we are at so far, I chose to go with the octagon shaped handle.

 

[Sam Salvati]

I then had to make the bolster. I chose some of this blue/green corian I had (thanks Kurt!), while I would have liked to use black buffalo horn which would have been more traditional also, I just do not have any, the corian is nice stuff though I have seen it on modern sashimi type knives.

I mark it the same way I marked the handle wood, mark and scribe for thickness and width. I marked this one twice for width by accident.

And here is the marked piece, again the rectangle in the center is where the slot will be.

Drill the holes

A bit of filing, and profiling on the band saw and you have a rough bolster (sorry the pictures get crappy all of a sudden I had to take them here at home)

And here is where we are at, we have the handle and bolster shaped up and ready, the blade has yet to be heat treated that will come in part 4.

Bevel side

Flat side

And that is it for part 3. Part 4 which will involve heat treating, maybe finish grinding and polishing and final assembly will come next.

 

[TekSec]

Very nice, Sam!!! Who was taking pics of you? I didn't think you had anyone crazy enough to hang out with you

 

[Sam Salvati]

HAhaHAHa no one IS crazy enough to hang out with me, I used the timer on my camera, and set it on a stool .