I know, yup, another boring chef knife. This is a 9" with a slightly clipped point featuring a stabilized blue dyed curly maple handle with brass and black accoutrements. The owner has larger than normal hands so the girth and length of the handle reflect this. The grind is a gentle S grind right side only. You never know what's inside a block when you dive into it. That's the beauty of wood. Magnified shot of the edge. I took it down to 0.015" then cut a 17° secondary bevel and stropped. I've used this in the kitchen for a week preparing a couple dozen meals and it's not showing any edge issues. The steel has a certain "shhhh-ting" sound to it. It occasionally sounds like a movie sword fight. Now I have to clean it up and hand it over. The next Nitro-V blades will be cryo treated for comparison. Thanks for looking! Dan
Yaaawwwwnnnnn.... such a boring, perfectly finished, completely hand-made, reliable, dependable, beautiful chef knife. Besides, I would contend that a chef knife gets 10x the use of a "survival" knife or a hunter. Unless you're like tarzan or maybe crocodile dundee or something they get used more than any other knife. That's saying something right? Beauty knife Dan. But, I kinda hate that your "boring" knives are so much nicer than my "super exciting" knives. I seriously have a complex about even posting pictures to you guys.
Thanks guys. I am pretty much resigned to the fact that I will be making kitchen knives for a while. I have seven (7) more to make. That bat knife is going to have to wait. Dan
Dan, Great looking knife....!!!!!! How do you like that single side grind ? That is the only way I will make a kitchen knife anymore.
Thanks Cal. The right-side S grind is simply a dream to cut with. Having the slight indentation lets things fall right off, even cheddar cheese doesn't stick to the blade like a true flat grind. I tested this one out for a week and realise I really need to make one for myself.
Boring, so terribly boring, that and not having the cheese stick to the blade would leave me so disappointed. Sarcasm aside, I wouldn't even know how to attempt an S grind.
I use the contact wheel to slightly scallop a groove that runs about 3/4 the length of the blade. Starting from the heel and working towards the tip and is parallel to the cutting edge. To finish the groove I use conditioning belts on the same diameter contact wheel. This type of grind makes the knife a joy to use as wet foods stick less than a straight flat grind. Dan
@dancom You are the first person I heard about the 'S' grind from, and I am happy to hear you use a contact wheel as as I looked into it, it looked like you have to have a special Platen. Just recently Alec Steel posted a video of him attempting a 'S' grind and unfortunately screwing it up! That's okay it will make for a more entertaining follow up episode, but he crafted his own curved platen. The only place I've seen those kinds of planten's is from an Australian supplier here: https://www.artisansupplies.com.au/product/radius-platen-48/?c=22783a5940ef
Yes, radiusing platens emulate very large diameter wheels. For cleaner, tighter S grind I would prefer a smaller diameter wheel, say 6". Currently I have no contact wheels between a 2" and 10" diameter. The 10" does an okay job, but a smaller wheel would let one make a nice pronounced scoop within the 2" of blade height. The 12" wheel I used makes an ok trough. Another grind which is more common in Japanese cutlery has a large radius grind on the backside of the blade and a single bevel flat on the opposite side. This would benefit from a large diameter wheel or radiusing platen. Or you can "rock the contact" to make a large radius grind there. This is my next adventure. Dan
