W2 Small Chef Knife

ERRN

ERRN

Joined
Aug 29, 2015
Messages
253
I had a small off cut piece of 2” x 1/4” W2 that I was messing around with today just enjoying my forge and some sun poking through. I’ve never made a kitchen knife, and I figured I could hammer out a hidden tang kitchen blade from this piece. It ended up with a 6” blade from tip to heel, 6.75” tip to ricasso/handle junction. It won’t be the biggest kitchen knife, but it’s light and seems like it will be ok to use for something. Looking for any advice, constructive thoughts, or suggestions from folks who know volumes more about making these blade styles. Not even sure what style you’d call this blade if there is one.
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I like the profile! The only advice I could offer is grind it super thin. My first few kitchen knives weren't great slicers because I wasn't grinding them thin enough behind the edge. Just a few thousandths, or ground to zero is what you want in my experience.
 
Thank you, it’s definitely going to need to thinned out quite a bit at the edge. I was thinking about a hamon potentially, but I’ve also never done one on something this thin. I’d be a little worried about warpage, so I may do some research. And suggestions on clay quenching this type? I do have regular castable and black satanite.
 
Looks like a small chef or a petty with more of a western blade profile. You want the blade to be slicey before sharpening. Don Nguyen has a great new video on thining the chefs knife behind the edge. Slight convexing is also nice.
 
I haven't found that w2 or thin clayed w2 warps very much. Even if it does, it responds very well to shimmed tempers, and I've never had an issue. I predominantly make chefs knives and I think that is a very good looking shape. I can't tell in the pictures what the heel height is but I might angle the tang up maybe an eighth to a quarter-inch to provide some more knuckle clearance.
 
Skiller1nc said:
I haven't found that w2 or thin clayed w2 warps very much. Even if it does, it responds very well to shimmed tempers, and I've never had an issue. I predominantly make chefs knives and I think that is a very good looking shape. I can't tell in the pictures what the heel height is but I might angle the tang up maybe an eighth to a quarter-inch to provide some more knuckle clearance.
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That’s a good thought that I hadn’t considered. The heel is a little over 3/4”, so do think I should probably angle it up a bit more.
 
honestly, it depends on the intended use, if you plan to use this on a cutting board vs in your hand like a paring knife then yes I would angle it. At .75 inches, if your handle is .5 tall then that leaves you with ~.5 inches of clearance which is cutting it close, no pun intended.
 
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