Thin A2 Kitchen Slicer

[rockfishbrewery]

Hello,

With my current chef knife project underway, I am starting to think about what my next knifemaking project will be.

I'm thinking of making a thin boneless meat kitchen slicer of the below spec:

1) Length = 10in
2) Thickness = Will use 1/16" A2 flat stock
3) Hardness = 60 - 61 RC (I plan on sending it to Peters for heat treatment)

My questions are:

1) What is the likelihood that a 10" 1/16" thick A2 blade will warp beyond repair during heat treat?
2) What is your opinion of the above configuration? Is there anything I should change?


Thanks in advance for any input

 

[watercrawl]

10" of edge, or 10" overall? Will assume 10" edge + some 5" for a handle.

10" of edge @ 1/16" thick spine (at the thickest) is too thin IMHO....and I like crazy thin kitchen knives. Will it work...probably. Will it be ideal...not IMHO. There will be too much blade flex to make it an effective cutter.

I would recommend starting with 3/32" stock. It's only 1/32" thicker, but that amounts to 50% thicker when dealing with stock that thin.

Can't help with the warping thing...never HT'd anything that long and that thin.

 

[aarongb]

No firsthand experience, but I thought places like Peter's and Paul's made sure pieces were straight after HT. You might want to ask them what they recommend.

 

[AVigil]

I like working with A2. It does not tend to warp. With a blade that thin you might want to profile it only and drill holes for your handles then send for heat treatment. Grind your bevels once you get it back

If there is any warping it will most likely be very minimal and you can grind it flat once it come back from HT.

 

[Daniel Fairly Knives]

Hello,

With my current chef knife project underway, I am starting to think about what my next knifemaking project will be.

I'm thinking of making a thin boneless meat kitchen slicer of the below spec:

1) Length = 10in
2) Thickness = Will use 1/16" A2 flat stock
3) Hardness = 60 - 61 RC (I plan on sending it to Peters for heat treatment)

My questions are:

1) What is the likelihood that a 10" 1/16" thick A2 blade will warp beyond repair during heat treat?
2) What is your opinion of the above configuration? Is there anything I should change?


Thanks in advance for any input

I just heat treated a blade just like the one described and even with a plate quench I had a small amount of warpage. It wasn't much of a problem but I would certainly plate quench to ensure a better chance of a straight blade.

The thickness is certainly on the thin side for use, I would be sure to use mechanical fasteners to keep the scales on while it flexes. I assume you mean a 10" total length knife, I think that would be fine but I would be careful with a 10" length blade that thin. I agree with Watercrawl that there would be a lot of flex. Blade geometry comes into play here as well, I have a big machete that is just over 1/16" thick and it is fine but it is essentially a sharpened bar of steel.

The hardness sounds fine, just be sure to test the edge angle to make sure the hardness and angle work together.