Chef's Knife In Spalted Maple

This is an 8" chef's knife that I shaped from a piece of Cruicible's CPMS35VN cutlery steel. The bolsters are made from 416 stainless and the pins are black paper Micarta with a copper and brass mosaic in the center position. The wood is stabilized spalted maple. Liners are 3/32" black vulcanized fibre. I will add a 17 degree edge before sending it to its new owner.








Thanks for looking,

Dan

 

Simply gorgeous Dan, excellent work! Tell me something, what is your preferred sharpening method? Stones, grinder, a sharpening system (Wicked Edge etc.)?

 

Thanks Griff. Sometimes, Usually set the edge first with a 220 grit belt, then whetstones 1000 then 6000, then a leather strop. Sometimes I use the Edge Pro clone set of stones and a honing wheel compound.

Dan

 

Thanks Dan! I am still in my ‘sharpening’ dilemma stage haha. I bought the Crappy Tire Tormek clone, it worked well sharpening our generic collection of kitchen knives...have yet to use it on one I’ve made. I was thinking about using it to set the initial bevel and then move to the edge pro clone (that I also have lol)...the only thing is it didn’t come with the knife jig, so I am looking to maybe get the WEG set off Amazon.

It’s attack of the clones it seems!

 

@Kevin Cox has made a pretty cool jig that he uses to set edges with a the belt grinder. If I was making more than one a month I'd probably rig up something like his.

 

Did Kevin do post on this jig Dan?

 

No, he sent me a video explaining how it worked. Pretty cool. Maybe he can elaborate, but I suspect he's on the boat for a while.

Dan

 

Beautiful knife, Dan. How did you find the S35VN to work with?

Magnus

 

Thanks Magnus.

CPMS35VN is a little tough on belts. Probably more because I grind post heat treat than the vanadium or niobium content. I have been using Norton Red Heat 36, followed by VSM 60s, then VSM 120s and they all do a pretty good job. I roughed two hardened 8"- 9" chef's knives on the same Red Heat 36 belt. Damn those belts are chunky, just don't slip and grind a quarter of your thumb off in a millisecond!

Annealed the steel works like most others. I have been using the Morse bandsaw blades that @Griff was mentioning and 'am on the second blade since May. That's cutting multiple blanks, 304 bolsters, brass, stabilized wood, 1-1/2" rigid conduit etc.

All that aside, yes the steel is expensive, but it performs incredibly well. I have a two year-old prototype S35VN knife in my kitchen that's a favourite and a daily user that only needs a touch up once a month. This particular knife (shown above) is going to a professional caterer and she'll be putting it to use every day. Time will tell.

Dan

 

That's pretty good life out of a 36 grit belt. I haven't been brave enough to grind any stainless pre-heat treat but I've been using CPM 154 and it goes through belts pretty quick. I imagine S35VN would be even tougher on belts.

Magnus