Bowie and a Chef Knife

[Dan Rice 1]

Here is a couple of pieces that I finished up the week before Thanksgiving. Each one was my first attempt at its kind. I whipped up the chef knife on short notice when I found out that my uncle's friend, who is a knife and cooking enthusiast, was coming for dinner. He was impressed, but didn't offer to buy it so I still have it. The bowie just got mailed to its new home yesterday.

 

 

 

 

The handle is curly maple. Leather spacers between the wood and brass. The blade is 10" long and 1/4" thick. Definitely my best knife and best sheath so far. After chopping through several pieces of 2-3" hard maple, it still shaved the hair off my arm. That's probably not much of a feat for a lot of you Jedi bladesmiths, but I impressed myself with this one.

 

 

 

 

I forged the chef from a piece of 1 1/2" by 1/8" 1080. Two inches wide would probably have been better, but it's just wide enough to keep my knuckles off the cutting board. I was going for the classic French shape, but it almost looks to me like a hybrid of the French and German profiles. It has a full-height flat grind with no secondary bevel, which I found challenging. The extremely thin edge cuts like a razor, definitely the sharpest blade I have ever made. I probably would have convexed it a bit and left a little more meat on it, but I was reading about chefs demanding extremely thin knives so I left it flat and took it as thin as I dared. Probably still too thick for a lot of expert chefs (or chefs that think they're experts), but I think it would slice and dice more than good enough for the rest of us mortals.

[Franck Meurou 0]

Nice work and superb Bowie

[C.Anderson 13]

Good looking knives my friend!!

On your chef's knife...how thick is it at about 1/2" up from the edge? Chefs definitely want thin, but even a knife with a zero edge can wedge in food (try gently slicing acorn squash with a high nicu katana lol). If it's around or under .05" or so...you're in a reasonably good spot.

[C Craft 184]

You done good on those two. I like the look of the Bowie, the choice of materials works well together! I like the chief's knife as well, most professionals are going to want something stainless but I personally like it!

[Dan Rice 1]

Good looking knives my friend!!

 

On your chef's knife...how thick is it at about 1/2" up from the edge? Chefs definitely want thin, but even a knife with a zero edge can wedge in food (try gently slicing acorn squash with a high nicu katana lol). If it's around or under .05" or so...you're in a reasonably good spot.

Thanks! It's hard to say how thick it is, I wish I had a good set of calipers. Half an inch from the edge, it looks slightly thinner than my antique carbon steel chef knives.