What makes a great kitchen knife

Wow thank you everyone for the awesome feedback!
A lot to digest, but can't wait to try it out. Once I get a pretty good design and am happy with it I'll probably call restaurants around here to see if a chef wants to test it out.

Is there a preference between Japanese and western style blades for yall?
 
make something for you and test it yourself. very few chef's do any knife work. the food is cut up by a prep cook or a food processor or bought already cut up. do a half scale first try, say a 4" edge. the ajikiri is an example, some european companies sell scaled down chef's knives as paring or petty. do the first using stock removal with a simple steel like O1 or 8670.
 
Additional tips for designing on paper:
1) Graph paper helps plot things out easier (but I actually don't use it myself LOL)
2) A ruler and cheap French curve set can help with straight lines and curves. Michael's craft store almost always has a 40% off coupon, so the French curve set pictured below would be about $4.
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Obviously, design elements will vary based on purpose, but as a rule, for anything that isn't going to encounter bone, I would rank the top three things that make a good chef's knife (assuming a proper HT) as:

1: Geometry (this nearly universally means thin. Thin spine, thin edge)
2: Comfort in the hand (Good blade to handle alignment, comfortable handle that lets you choke up to a pinch grip, etc. I prefer Wa handles.)
3: A flat belly. You don't need much curvature to rock a chef's knife, and the less the better for slicing cuts.
 
Yeah I really need to get a French curve. Scott my wife does all the cooking and she's a little too supportive sometimes lol so i need an outsider perspective.
I did like kuraki said and traced the outline of a gyuto we have. I'll probably tweak it a bit.
What's the thought on a D shaped handle?
 
valknut said:
Yeah I really need to get a French curve. Scott my wife does all the cooking and she's a little too supportive sometimes lol so i need an outsider perspective.
I did like kuraki said and traced the outline of a gyuto we have. I'll probably tweak it a bit.
What's the thought on a D shaped handle?
Click to expand...
In order of my pref: Octagon, D, Oval. Really gonna depend on what you like. D handles are specific to the right or left hand however.
 
One thing I tell new makers who send me their drawings is that it is almost impossible to come up with a new knife design. In culinary blades, it is a guarantee you won't improve the designs available.

What one can do is perfect them. Many commercial knives are prety poor on HT, engineering, materials, etc. Pick a style you lke and make them until you can make one better than the origional.
 
Most makers agree that thin in the kitchen is preferred. When slicing hot bread, the cut piece should stand in place on it's own, after the blade passes through the loaf.
Both of these blades are 0.078 with a full distal taper.
To me, kitchen knives can be some of the most beautiful blades made today and they can be wonderfully functional as well.
fAQ9s4fQ7In7R16sV-SJ0SntRMKymTJvCBbQPUuQn3T00WTqhUnzvoHdMWtJix1mQ7U44OKzX5sGdPguRAT826PdO89y1lwUVNz3ZOIAwtVn00srpNxGEw0YACt2tPwCzVZ2faQMlfrnhGaJ8Oft37cY0sUMkp7781XsvyhlKbFscJgxqYgpRTMidpcVcLmlkiz6uCtvH-hpk2HJCOemsG82eS0EK1aitB2ZTNrMASbrPcdEdVgQF6uchKV4ToSh2zT4JflaRtSdc2eDfYH7RDzoi22ksMp3N7ThWWT-ewauUA4CbanOhsBFOFKDFuPo1aKhj9sAR6sb81M4VQln8zzVjlIcrMOP3xBRNEBpJCWFfNA80elXfDNmHoneHMMrXJOfvyDQxlB34BQAgUWp1CrTIDVnHO4bBRuwconH4WaeTa3fmm3ZOGeegVNsdVwlWv9Sasg7bGSPdEkz70SuKMx0NtcNu_I6c2agKXunX3jt2TVr2A367hBAtb4_zCbfh_YwlDbx6xj9867XPuOmuuk6hAAPeUCKjDQ6et0y9_pzkgOoLren5TJZDd8aVc7vv1ylaQPtxL0gk5pOjBzjt545iT999IH4a4hYQ1U=w1550-h915-no
 
This is my most common profile. It has less belly than some other very popular designs, but it requires very little lift at the heel/handle for rocking. It gives up a bit in the push cut though. This one is 0.090” with a full distal taper. 210mm blade. Balances perfectly at the pinch grip right in front of the bolster. It’s cru-wear at Rc64 iirc. Super sharp.

url=https://flic.kr/p/26hyXFa]
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[/url]24E68063-3A50-4EFF-9583-361055851D51 by Wjkrywko, on Flickr
 
How are you going to use the knife ? Fred's top knife is the one I'd pick because I use the knife to chop things like parsley Left hand neat the tip , right on the handle and rock the blade .A chef's knife should be multi purpose.
One thing I noticed when switching from years of European style to Japanese was the lighter weight , thinner blades, very nice . Mine are now Japanese but more European style. 4" paring , 6" slicer, 8"slicer, 8" chef's , 10" slicer. That will do nicely for home use . Make sure the handle fits your hand and is balanced well .
 
All of these are variations on the same $100 (at the time) semi-stainless 240mm western gyuto that I got from JCK in like 2011-2012. A nip here, a tuck there. The bottom one is a straight cutdown to 210mm. I posted a WIP the other day where I had blown it up to 300mm. IMG_0052.jpgIMG_0446.jpgIMG_0611_zps42686f03.jpgIMG_0730.jpgIMG_0674.jpg
 
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Wow I just noticed all these posts. I downloaded all of them ;) you know, for science. I've been forging the last few days trying to get a hand on what size stock to use and I think I got it pretty well narrowed down. I'll post pics later if what I've forged. I really need to make a metal template to look at while forging though
 
Well just finished a 42 min video from the owner of an online cutlery store. Where he explains every detail about what makes a great kitchen knife.

I gotta agree with what someone said above. Kitchen knives are some of the most elegant knives out there.
 
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