starting out slow

HDCutlery

HDCutlery

Joined
Jan 12, 2016
Messages
101
I have been a chef for the past 9 years. Used all kinds from Victorinox, Mercer, to my current (and expensive) set of Wustof's. Hate to say it but they didn't cut it for me. Had a dishwasher chew on my ear for a few months about bladesmithing and after an insane amount of looking into the craft I was some would say "bitten". So after this kid gave me a rail spike he pounded on mercilessly and twisted I had a base to learn shaping with. In the end after much trial and error I ended up with a fairly decent 6 1/4" hunting knife. Now that I have my forge to working order and refurbished many of the local restaurants knives I have some flat 1095 on its way to become my next project. That said I am looking to get a wild hair and do a rookie mistake by my first start to finish blade being a sashime. The bladework aside I need to know for the sycamore handle intended for this what is the best sealant/oil base to make it 100% food grade? Thank you for being patient through my dribble and look forward to any and all feedback.
 
Definitely look into stabilized wood for the scales. If you are not familiar, stabilizing is a vacuum process that infuses the wood with epoxy resin, making it essentially waterproof. If you investigate people who do the stabilizing, they can discuss the food grade properties, but I've seen stabilized wood on lots of hand made/high end chef's knives. Stabilizing fills in all the pores, so open-grained woods are fully sealed.

Check out the knife making section over at woodbarter.com and do the same level of looking into stabilized handle materials as you did for the blades. I used stabilized wood finished with Tru Oil and the results are great - but I have no idea about the food grade.

Edit: I just went over to woodbarter and did a search. Seems several folks use pure Tung Oil which is FDA approved as food grade. It does not produce a glossy finish, however.
 
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Welcome HD. Why not choose a different, make it truly different and your own. Also check over in the knife makers area of the forum They should be able to help you out more. Make sure to post some pics
 
I have looked into resin scales. I can use a tight grain hardwood using butcher block oil or the Tung oil which reflect more my woodworking background. I have ordered Sycamore and Cherry blocks and the 1095 1/8x2x18" bars will be here next week monday. So for my birthday I will be putting together my first knife. I appreciate the feedback and look forward to learning even more as I go
 
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Hunter carved out of the beaten up rail spike. Torched Red Oak handle cut out of a bit of firewood
 
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this was the result of my first grinding with a bench grinder and dremel. Come a long way and now have much better tools
 
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