Suggestions on a Turkey Carver!

K

KFU

Part Time Knifemaker, Moderator
Joined
Sep 10, 2007
Messages
4,255
Im hosting Thanksgiving this year and just had the idea of making a carving knife for the occasion. I have no clue on carving knives so I figured I would get some suggestions. Im thinking something around a 10" blade about and 1 1/8" wide in 1/8" stock might work well. Maybe a Wharnie blade shape? Has anyone made a carver before?
 
I'm also interested to see some suggestions on this, as im getting ready to start hammering one out tomorrow.
 
Thin, thin, thin. Geometry is crucial on a carving knife. If it's too thick, of if it tapers to the edge too quickly it won't work worth a darn...

-d
 
deker said:
Thin, thin, thin. Geometry is crucial on a carving knife. If it's too thick, of if it tapers to the edge too quickly it won't work worth a darn...

-d
Click to expand...

So are we talking like a 1-2degree bevelper side, from spin to edge? I'm just trying to quantify what you mean about the geometry.
 
I would use CPMS35VN, but O1 or 15N20 or L-6 will work fine....even 1084 will do for a turkey carver.

I would start with a bar steel .100" thick. A piece of 1.125 or 1.25 wide stock will be a good choice.
.080 would be my choice for final spine thickness, tapering to .040-.050 at the tip. The edge should be a full flat grind, with a very acute secondary edge angle...about 10 degrees per side is a good angle start with.

Pre-shape the profile on the grinder, harden and temper, then grind the bevels as a full flat grind after HT.
Leave the spine straight, and when grinding the final edge, add a slight rise to the edge toward the tip....about 1/4" rise is all you need on a carver.

A Wharncliff tip is a good choice.
A 10" edge is a big knife, but this is for a special occasion, so it should be impressive.
Make the handle from a stag crown, and have a small ,narrow, guard at the finger.

A piece of mokume as a guard and butt cap, is a fancy finish, but nickel silver or brass will look good ,too.
 
Thanks guys, Stacy, I assume you heat treat before grinding because of the thin stock?
 
I have a set of agrussell kitchen knives of VG-10 /'damascus' .They didn't have an 8" slicer so I took a bread knife and made a slicer. 8" x 1.25" x .100" .Just right for the typical 15 lb turkey. That 'damascus' does get comments . VG-10 does work well as would CPM154 or CPM S35VN . Fancy would be nice for any special holiday and with a matching fork even nicer !
 
Last edited:
bladsmth said:
I would use CPMS35VN, but O1 or 15N20 or L-6 will work fine....even 1084 will do for a turkey carver.

I would start with a bar steel .100" thick. A piece of 1.125 or 1.25 wide stock will be a good choice.
.080 would be my choice for final spine thickness, tapering to .040-.050 at the tip. The edge should be a full flat grind, with a very acute secondary edge angle...about 10 degrees per side is a good angle start with.

Pre-shape the profile on the grinder, harden and temper, then grind the bevels as a full flat grind after HT.
Leave the spine straight, and when grinding the final edge, add a slight rise to the edge toward the tip....about 1/4" rise is all you need on a carver.

A Wharncliff tip is a good choice.
A 10" edge is a big knife, but this is for a special occasion, so it should be impressive.
Make the handle from a stag crown, and have a small ,narrow, guard at the finger.

A piece of mokume as a guard and butt cap, is a fancy finish, but nickel silver or brass will look good ,too.
Click to expand...

Given that I only have 1084 on hand and wouldn't be able to get my hands on/have HT done on any fancier alloy steels before Turkey Day, here's what I might try for...

Starting with the 1/8x 1.25 1084 stock that I have... forge it down a bit thinner and start to hammer in the taper. Thermal cycle, HT, then temper. I'm curious what sort of hardness is the optimal range for something like this. When I see a 10* per side edge mentioned, I immediately think 60+ to keep it from getting chippy in case there's some unwanted bone contact or what have you. All of the slicers I've ever used were fairly flexible, although that may largely have been a function of the thinness of the blade. Would a spine draw be a reasonable thing to do to approximate this effect?

As far as the handle material, I'll have to see what's readily available with a local supplier. All I have left at the moment is bocote, walnut and cocobolo. I can generally get my hands on some type of stabilized burl wood and they almost always have ebony or something similar floating around.... Maybe a forged copper spacer between the ferrule and handle?

I like the idea of the wharny profile, but I'm tempted to make it slightly more sharply pointed than the status-quo wharny design -- just a matter of personal preference in this case.
 
Pete84 said:
Thanks, Mike. You know, it's funny... when I was writing my reply up, I almost said "wouldn't it be really close to a suji?" haha. Glad to know I wasn't too far off. :)
Click to expand...
This is a task that particular knife was designed to do. I would say you were on target :) I would suggest keeping a pointy tip, just because the tip area is pretty versatile for tasks you might not think to use it for.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top