Full Tang Chef's Knife Build

This is absolutely brilliant! What a fantastic tutorial for a fledgling knifemaker such as I.

Martin

 

Thanks man!

 

Whats the HRC, can't read it.

 

59 to 60 HRC

 

@dancom you’re picking your angle and grinding to the spine on a chefs knife that wide right? Also do you approach the platen with the blade at an slight change in vertical angle (handle up, point down)?

 

That’s a sweet Bob-inspired knife, those things are beasts.

 

I probably do it all wrong, but here is an account of how I flat grind. I use a fresh 36 grit ceramic belt. The steel is hardened and tempered at this stage. I like putting a rough taper on from ricasso to the tip. This is on the flat platen, held vertically with a magnet. Dunk in water each go. I take it from 0.11" at the ricasso or neck down to about 0.0625" (1/16") thick at the point. Alternating side to side and dunking.

Once the taper is approximate, I hold the knife in my right hand, future cutting edge down, level to the floor and push the blade across the belt from tip to heel while holding it at an angle at about 10° off the platen. This angle should bring about a full flat grind when done. When I get near the heal I slant the tip up to about 45°while maintaining pressure.

Now the bizarre part...I flip it over, mirror the angle and repeat with the cutting edge up, all the same except the end sweep is now from horizontal to the tip pointing down at 45°. I am always using my right hand and always standing to the right side of the belt. Most people find this weird. When I started, I used to switch hands and change stance from left and right, but after watching an flat grinding instructional DVD by A.B.S. Mastersmith Harvey Dean and settled on this "right hand only" style. I found it easier and more consistent (muscle memory I guess) to do it the right handed only way. Your mileage may vary.



When the future cutting edge is about 1/16" thick all the way down the blade I switch to a 60 grit and repeat until it's about 25 to 30 thousandths thick, then switch to a 120 grit belt. The edge should be under 20 thou, say 15 thou at cleanup time.

Clean up is done with a series of conditioning belts. I do NOT go cutting edge up into the conditioning belts. Although un-diagnosed, I am pretty sure I am allergic to having a blade launched into my thigh. One snag on the conditioning belt and that blade is coming out of your hands. This is the only time I switch from right hand to left hand to ensure the cutting edge always going down.

Stay safe,

Dan

 

Thanks Dan! I just ordered a Stainless Damascus clad VG10 core billet from Australia. I want to make my own person chefs knife with it as a gift to me lol! Going to be practicing quite a bit before I even touch that billet, bevels and s-grind.

Cheers!

 

It will cool down there one day.

 

beauty mate. loved seeing this build.

 

Thanks Jason!

 

It is interesting to see how makers do the same things differently.
I have never ground a blade with the cutting edge up into the belt.
I always have my cutting edge down and move the blade the opposite way that Dan is showing in the illustration to keep it from grinding into the ricasso area of the blade.

 

The joys/pains of figuring out what works without instruction.