Thicc chonky boi kiridashis

Mecha

Mecha

Titanium Bladesmith
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Dec 27, 2013
Messages
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I like to make blades thin, and the kiridashis are no exception. However, a kiridashi customer from a bit back requested a thicc chonk kiridashi. Here they are! 1/4" thick ATI425 titanium alloy "tank armor."


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Crag the Brewer said:
Are they both already spoken for, if so are you able to do more
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The blue butt one is spoken for, but the orange butt one is still available. It costs less because the silver edge bevel doesn't look as nice, hehe. Buyers get a choice of leather sheath configurations: horizontal side-draw, or dangler.

EDIT: the orange butt is now spoken for as well. If you'd like, I can make another one though.
 
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Looks like a small batch of chonk kiridashis is in order. If anyone wants to be added to the "dibs" list, let me know!
 
Certainly Crag, received it fairly recently, thought I lost my other one but found that one after I ordered the new one. I wanted a heavy duty one as I had recently changed jobs, now working in the pharmaceutical industry and dealing with some serious industrial solvents so wanted the chemical resistance of titanium. I believe traditionally they come with a chisel grind but due to the thickness of the knife I went for more of a standard knife edge (Mecha would know the exact grind) and took his advice on the best type of titanium for the job. Really glad I didn’t go for a chisel grind and have basically been using it for a lot of push cuts, had to make a new gasket the other day and it cut like a dream, it is interesting to note with the thickness it has you actually feel the weight of it, my other one almost feels weigh less. Has nothing to do with the use of the blade but it has an almost ominous look about it due to the darker color. So far that’s about all the review I have now but if I were a betting man I would bet you are going to love it
 
Bobthebrewer said:
Certainly Crag, received it fairly recently, thought I lost my other one but found that one after I ordered the new one. I wanted a heavy duty one as I had recently changed jobs, now working in the pharmaceutical industry and dealing with some serious industrial solvents so wanted the chemical resistance of titanium. I believe traditionally they come with a chisel grind but due to the thickness of the knife I went for more of a standard knife edge (Mecha would know the exact grind) and took his advice on the best type of titanium for the job. Really glad I didn’t go for a chisel grind and have basically been using it for a lot of push cuts, had to make a new gasket the other day and it cut like a dream, it is interesting to note with the thickness it has you actually feel the weight of it, my other one almost feels weigh less. Has nothing to do with the use of the blade but it has an almost ominous look about it due to the darker color. So far that’s about all the review I have now but if I were a betting man I would bet you are going to love it
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Well yours is more of a medium thickness than a truly thicc boi like the new ones. It's the only knife I've ever made out of a piece of Spetsnaz titanium ballistic shield insert. I'm 99% sure it's VT23/BT23 alloy, and had confirmed it in the past, but strangely enough I can no longer find any evidence of that.

Anything thicker than the normal thin ones really does need a double bevel, or the chisel grind would end up like 1/3 of the way up the handle, due to the shape of a kiridashi type knife. Yours should have a 10 degree included angle, more or less. Titanium alloys are difficult to force into an exact dimension.

I'm glad you like it so far, but what I'm really curious about is how you like the sheath. After using one with the cross-draw belt sheath for quite a while now, there's no other way I want to carry a little knife.
 
Love it, my first one has the same design of sheath as this one and it works well. Due to my job I normally have to wear heavy duty chemically resistant gloves and the cross draw works well even wearing the gloves and I like not having to worry about the solvents messing up the metal. Rinse it and wipe it down at the end nd of the day.
 
Bobthebrewer said:
at some point I would imagine I will need to replace the leather just due to the chemical environment but other than that a great package, 0% buyers remorse and 100% satisfaction
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Excellent! If you ever need a new sheath, Ms. Oye can always whip up another one, no problem.
 
Another round of thicc chonk kiridashi type knives! Instead of USA tank armor plate ATI425 alloy, these are made from old '80s era Soviet body armor plates from the 6B3TM vest, VT23 alloy. Both alloys are more or less obsolete as armor.

The plates started at 6.5mm in thickness, significantly thicker than most of my swords and long blades. These were harder to make than it looks. Both American and Russian titanium armor plate is of a "dirtier," somewhat more crude purity than the same alloys when processed for other purposes that require a cleaner melt. This makes it tougher to work, and counterintuitively, generally makes for a better knife through the microalloying mechanism. This is a very stubborn and strong iteration of VT23 alloy.

They're pretty goofy but are very sharp, and heat-treated to make a good, reliable blade. The colors are the natural oxides resulting from the heat treatment process. They look better in person than in the pics, I would say, which isn't always the case.

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All right. This exercise in making thicc chonk kiridashis has been a good one, and has brought these blades very close to the ideal kiridashi style titanium alloy edc knife.

Normally they're quite thin - about 1/8" thick or less. The new ones were all around 1/4" thick or even slightly more. Even though I still like virtually all titanium blades to be very thin, having more body to the blade is a good thing, I'd say. 3/16" or a little less seems to be ideal!

Combined with the cross-draw belt sheath, they make for a very useful little package. Future sheaths should be designed to be worn either cross-draw OR upright!

Here are the latest ones, about 3/16" in thickness, with a somewhat simplified profile. They're made from USA ATI-425 "tank armor" type titanium alloy, and retain the natural oxides and alpha case from the heat treatment process.


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