Sashimi knife project...

[markb]

Did you grind then file. Your forging looks like you could go straight to files. Very nice and straight.

[Feukair]

I did take my time and forge it very straight this time. When hammering the bevel along the sharp edge the blade curved away from the beveled edge slightly. (between pic 7 and 8) The point was about 1/4" higher than i wanted it (if held with the sharp edge down). I did not want to hammer along the top edge to adjust the point back down because i did not want the spine any thinner, so i used a grinder to adjust the point back down by grinding some stock away along the forward part of the spine, a section about 1/4" at the tip to about 1/16" about halfway back the blade. The cutting edge was also cleaned up a little and the inside corner where the tang meets the blade. After that one more heat was done to flatten the blade and remove any twisting. Then to the hand files. Time consuming though, someday i hope to have a belt grinder.

The rest of the shape, the tang, and the flatness was forged in. It's still very difficult for me and i don't work fast, i have little experience. One thing i have become comfortable doing is forging 3/4" drill rod in to a flat bar that is nearly the same thickness and width all the way down. Only because all my knifes start out as a 3/4" bar :-)

[steveh]

hi Feukair.i was wondering how you like working with W1,ive got some that i will be trying out in the near future.i guess ill have to pick your brain when i do.

[markb]

I see I need to slow down. Learn to forge flat and straight, then concentrate on the bevels.
Being comfortable with what you're doing is a big key here.

[Feukair]

Hi Steve, I bought W1 because it was an inexpensive source of tool steel for me. I have made only a few knives with it so far. Mostly i'm interested in making japanese style blades which is a probably one of the more difficult styles to be successful at, double bevel along only one side, slight bevel along the back, differential hardening, the steel flexing during the quenching, enormous stress built up in the steel... etc... alot of trial and error and reading and cracks in your knives... But i'm in love with that style of blade and that's what i want to learn to do. This sashimi project I took up real quick because it's actually an easy shape to forge. And i was hungering for a project that i could make start to finish in a short time. It's only beveled on one side, totally flat on the other side, so after your all done forging you can heat the whole thing up to an orange heat, then flatten it completely on the anvil or other large flat surface, and you have a very straight blade. Japanese style is not so easy because the cross section of the blade (at least the style i want to learn) is kind of a squished diamond shape so there's no "flat" on the blade that you can align against a true surface, you just have to take the twists out with tools...

Truly a sashimi knife is supposed to have a light convex shape on the back of the blade, that and being beveled on one side with no secondary bevel, contributes to the sharpness of the sashimi style blades. Mine will not have the convexion, i don't have tools to make that so my will be as close to flat a possible.

[Feukair]

Originally Posted by markb

I see I need to slow down. Learn to forge flat and straight, then concentrate on the bevels.
Being comfortable with what you're doing is a big key here.

Yep, once i slowed down, worked both sides of the bevels equally, and kept the steel "thick", i had much better success.

For a long time i was making the blades too thin, this makes it harder to hammer in a bevel, also harder to polish in a straight bevel with the polishing stones.

[ThomasPowers]

Perhaps you should forge yourself a W1 sen to shape the blade backs with; well within your skills!

[Feukair]

You know lots of times its the simple ideas that escape you... I have sen already but i just didn't consider making one for that purpose.

Thanks for the idea Thomas!

[markb]

Could you describe what a "sen" is -does
Thanks Mark

[Feukair]

Look here. It's a draw knife for metal basically. I have one that I use a little from time to time, i need to get more practice with it as it does take a little finesse to get it working good. When its working good though it removes material much faster than filing.

Thomas was basically telling me that i could make one of these with a slightly convex shape and use it to create a slightly concave shape on the back of my sashimi knife...