Stainless/Carbon San Mai Kitchen Knife

white tiger

white tiger

Joined
Apr 4, 2013
Messages
191
Hi Guys,

I have been promising to make a kitchen knife for my wife for ages and I have finally found enough time. I have also wanted to make a Stainless/Carbon San Mai blade, so I decide to combine the two projects.
The blade for this knife has a file core with machine saw blade on either side and then 316 S/S placed on the outside of that. All of the seams were arc welded shut and a little WD40 sprayed between the layers prior to the last seams being welded.
The starting billet was approx 22mm / 7/8" thick and I drew this down to just under 4mm / 5/32". A little thick for a chefs knife, but after 2hrs at the anvil, most of that time spent with the 7lb hammer and my forearms feeling like Popeye I decided it would have to do.
The blade is 143mm / 5 5/8" long and the length overall is 255mm / 10".
The bolster is made from Buffalo horn laminated between two pieces of brass shim, the handle is black bamboo whipped with willow cane and topped off with a copper butt cap which has been filed.
The scabbard will be made from Beech with a Buffalo horn insert in the throat, whipped with Ratan cane and lacquered a high gloss red.

I hope you like it gentlemen. All comments welcome as always.

All the best Steve.

www.whitetigerknives.com





















 
That'll work.....great job and I'm sure she'll be extremely pleased....I know I would be! :cool:
 
That is one that any knife nut would be proud to use in the kitchen.

I wonder how the whipped handle will hold up to moisture?

I know, at my house, that knife would end up in the sink in a dirty mixing bowl full of cake batter and water when i was not looking!
 
I'm hoping it will be quite robust. The whipping is very traditional Japanese and you have to soak the willow for quite a while to make it plyable when wrapping it around the bamboo. I have also given it a couple of coats of varnish to seal it, but I wipe the surface of the bamboo immediately so the varnish only lays between the whipping and not on the top.
 
Hi Guys,

I was looking through this thread and realized that I never posted any pic's of the scabbard that I made for the san mai chefs knife. The scabbard is made from beech with a buffalo horn insert at the throat, sprayed red and lacquered. I didn't wrap the scabbard with willow as it just didn't look right. The inside of the scabbard is lined with felt. Every time the the knife is used it's cleaned, dryed and the blade oiled with olive oil. The oil soakes up the oil protecting the carbon steel part of the blade. Well that was my intention anyway. So far it seems to have worked. The problem is now my wife wants me to make a couple more with different style blades. I'll have to see what time I can get.

As always thanks for taking the time to look and all comments appreciated.

All the best and a Happy New Year.

Steve.









 
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