What's a good thickness of 1095 for kitchen knives?

S

Sprayman

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Nov 15, 2014
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Greetings:

I recently completed my first chef's knives out of 1084, and they came out decent. I like working with the high carbon steel and would like to make some kitchen knives out of 1095. What would be a good thickness? One dealer has it as thin as .070.

Thanks
 
I like .070 for most knives, although the bigger slicers and choppers and thicken up a bit more and not hurt anything. I've made chef knives in .125 before (full flat grind) and they work quite nicely.

It ultimately boils downs to personal preferences.
 
I don't think the alloy should have a much to do with the thickness you choose. 1095 is a very normal steel.
 
For a chef's knife with by size I like 3/32" with some distal taper. I don't like my chef's knife to flex much at all and with the .070" I've used it had to much flex. I would do most or all of my grinding post heat treat
 
Matt R said:
For a chef's knife with by size I like 3/32" with some distal taper. I don't like my chef's knife to flex much at all and with the .070" I've used it had to much flex. I would do most or all of my grinding post heat treat
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Would you grind post heat treat to avoid warping of the blades?
 
When it comes to high carbon steels, I find its easier to grind post heat treat with anything 1/8" or less. The key to that is only using good fresh ceramic belts and dipping frequently in water.
.070 is a great thickness for kitchen knives but as others mentioned, that will be really flexible in a full size chef.
 
I like 0.09" to 0.11" for chefs for the same reasons that Matt R states but use 0.07" for paring knives.
 
rcetroy said:
I like 0.09" to 0.11" for chefs for the same reasons that Matt R states but use 0.07" for paring knives.
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Second. I'll use .125 with full distal taper and tapered tang sometimes, so very little of the blade is actually that thick. I've also made big chef's knives out of the thin stuff, both have their place.
 
RX-79G said:
I don't think the alloy should have a much to do with the thickness you choose. 1095 is a very normal steel.
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I agree. I was just trying to head-off any questions about why I'm not going stainless for chef's knives. I got that question once on another forum.
 
timos- said:
When it comes to high carbon steels, I find its easier to grind post heat treat with anything 1/8" or less. The key to that is only using good fresh ceramic belts and dipping frequently in water.
.070 is a great thickness for kitchen knives but as others mentioned, that will be really flexible in a full size chef.
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The first chefs knives I made I used 1/4'' steel with a full flat grind. They're real beasts and hold a great edge, but they don't cut well if I'm cutting anything thick like a potato, because they're too thick on top. Warping obviously wasn't a concern with such thick blanks.

I think I'll save the 1/4'' for some bushcraft knives and make the chef's knives out of something thinner. One will be a going-away present and another a birthday present, so I want them to turn out nice.
 
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