KITH 2017 WIP

[Pieter-Paul Derks 315]

I had some projects to finish first, before I could get started on my kitchen knife for this KITH, so I started much later than planned.

 

I originally wanted to do a damascus san mai construction, but I have run out of steel and I won't have the money to buy some before the due date.

However, I did have a nice new piece of c100 (similar to 1095) which I wanted to try.

This is my first time working with this steel and I want to see if I can get a nice active hamon.

 

As design inspiration I looked at Japanese nakiri knives, with their distinctive squared tip.

I will not try to do anything traditional however, and the handle will be entirely modern.

 

So lets get started:

I did not take too much pictures of the forging, this style of knife is pretty straightforward anyway.

Here the steel has already been thinned both in with and thickness, and I am forging the tang:

 

Before starting on the bevels, I make sure that my preform is flat and has all the tapers where I want them, I use a flatter and low heat for this.

If your preform ( sunobe if you're into japanese stuff) is nice and consistent, the bevelling will go easy and your edge will be easy to center:

 

To start the bevels I use a hammer with a very flat peen and hammer about halfway up the blade, straightening as I go along, until I am almost at my edge thickness.

Then I use a heavy hammer with a flat face, and draw the bevels up all the way to the spine, this smoothes all the hammer marks left by the peening:

 

The finished forging lying in the sun:

To anneal I got to use my new heat treat oven: a laboratory tube furnace I got for a nice price at an auction. the anneal went perfect, I was able to straighten the knife using just my hands and it was a joy to file. I never knew how much I needed precise temp control and the ability to slow cool.

 

 

[Chris C-S 148]

Cool - looking forward to seeing this one.

[ScottWright 16]

That furnace is nice. I wish I had the funds for an oven to anneal and thermal cycle. Looks good so far.

[Brian Dougherty 1,376]

Looking good

Nice find on the furnace!

[Pieter-Paul Derks 315]

 

Today I found time to do the rough grind before heat treat, and refine the profile.

 

I first take off the scale with a hard disc on an angle grinder, to save on expensive grinding belts.

 

Then the flats are ground with a 80 grit ceramic belt, and the profile is refined some on the flat platen.

After the profile is where I want it and the flats are flat all the way to the edge, I will round all the edges with a file.

For most knives I think this really improves the comfort when in use, and also improves the look of the knife.

 

Last I file in the tang shoulders, and make sure the tang has an even taper to the ricasso end.

 

Before I start the actual heat treating I take the time to inspect the knife from all angles.

Often times I notice things when handling the blade that aren't so obvious and it is best to fix them while the blade is soft.

 

For example as I am writing this I notice that my ricasso is a bit too long, and that the spine near the tip needs a bit more rounding.

[Joshua States 2,468]

That is looking goooood brother!

[Chris C-S 148]

Not that i am in a position to give advice from a knife makers perspective however from a very keen kitchen cook it would certainly me a little nicer to have a rounded junction from blade to tang as opposed to the 90 you have there. Other than that looking good. 

Food for thought, my 2c

[Pieter-Paul Derks 315]

The heat treat went well,without cracks or warps, However I found out that my heat treat oven creates a lot of decarb, so I had to grind the blade thinner than planned and probably also ground through some hamon activity, although I also think I used too little clay.

The hamon is pretty in its own way but not what I was shooting for, but when I ground trough the decarb it was too thin to heat treat again and the edge was nice and hard.

After that it was just the old grinding and polishing. One thing I noticed is that this blade was very hard to sand, I don''t know if it was the steel or that my heat treat has improved with the oven, but it seemed to take forever to get some scratches out.

However in the end I did manage to get a decent polish, I did not go too high because I want this blade to be used and it would just get scratched and patinated by use anyway.

The handle is made from apple wood from my own garden that I have had stashed away for some years and a piece of ebony for a spacer.

The only thing that is left now is to sharpen the edge and oil the handle a few extra times, and make some quality pictures.

[Timothy Artymko 39]

That's awesome! The hamon is so fitting for the blade and that's a nice piece of apple!

[Joshua States 2,468]

That came out beautiful Pieter. Nice work!

[Brian Dougherty 1,376]

Very nice!

[Pieter-Paul Derks 315]

Thanks for the compliments guys, I hope the receiver will be happy with this knife.

As promised, some better pictures.

[Brian Dougherty 1,376]

I'd be happy to get it