Some questions about kitchen knives

[Jonas Liebel]

Hi there folks,

I want to finally start making something for my own kitchen, and I'm a bit confused about the thickness and kind of steel I should buy for making paring knives.

The blades of my rather cheap bought ones all seem to be around 0.04'' - 0.06'' (1mm - 1.5mm), but they're all only about 0.6'' wide. I plan on making some 0.95'' wide blades, so what is the ideal thickness I should aim for here?

Also, how about distal tapering? Is it necessary on a paring knife?

I should propably go for an almost - zero grind behind the edge, right?

What would be the best high carbon steel choices for this kind of knife?


I'd appreciate any input guys, I'm totally new to making anything that belongs into a kitchen

Have a wonderful day,
Jonas

(Here is a sketch of what I'm thinking about)

 

[timos-]

you can use 1/8" stock and go with alot of distal taper, the blade will have little to no flex. Ive got a few blades in that thickness in my kitchen and I like them alot.
The thinner you go the less distal taper you will need to put in and the more flexible the blade will be. I dont much enjoy using anything less than a 1/16" thick myself.

 

[PEU]

Zero grind is not a good idea in the kitchen IMHO, distal taper yes, your paring knife drawing is beautiful.
I use O2 (Bohler K720) because its the best I can find in Argentina, but you there have plenty of options.

Pablo

 

[Maineiac1]

ive made a few from 3/32" and am happy with it. Slight distal taper and you make make it flex a tiny bit but it doesn't at all while being used.

 

[Jonas Liebel]

Thanks for the help guys.

How should I do the tapering? Propably linear, right?
timos- how thin was your blade at the tip after tapering?

Is flexing something that I should try to eliminate? Or does it depend on the user's preferences?

 

[timos-]

I would say its all user preference. Here is a pairing knife, its actually from heavy 1/8" stock but with the drastic distal taper it does very well in the kitchen. The photos show about 80% ground I grind the bevel about half way on the hardened stock, then I start grinding in the distal taper, switching back and forth grinding bevels and taper until i get down to about .010 behind the edge. then I go slower speed with a fresh 80 grit ceramic to even out any overgrinds and take it to .005 behind the edge. in pairing knife sizes this will make a very sturdy blade with some impressive geometry. Nothing wrong with .040 thick pairing knives either.

 

[Robert Erickson]

I like 0.07" stock for paring knives. With the short length there won't be much flex even though the stock is thin. A little taper naturally occurs when grinding them so on these shorter ones in thin stock I don't go for extra taper.
I full flat grind them to around 0.015" and then convex down to near zero. If you are using steel like 52100 or AEB-L run at RC62 and cutting on a cutting board they'll hold up well and cut like a scalpel.
That is a great looking paring knife BTW!

 

[Richard338]

Great sketch.
I'm another vote for thin AEB-L at 62.
You could make 3 or 4 and try a few different things with the same profile.