Foundryman

The idea had occurred to me!

Thank you for the kind comments. The wedding went off without a hitch and the knife was very well received. It has now been sharpened ready for a lifetime of service as a carving knife.

Thank you, I appreciate it!

That grind line isn't terrible, you could easily clean it up with hand sanding, just use your belt grinder to grind yourself a sanding block the same radius as your contact wheel and go at it, you'll tidy everything up in no time.

Thanks, it's the first time I've made a knife with any kind of bolster, it took lots of careful filing!

Thanks for the kind comments guys, they mean a lot!

Beautiful work, you always get such a tight fit and finish!

My brother asked me to make a knife for him to cut the cake for his wedding. Both he and his wife to be wanted to be involved in the making of the knife so they came over and struck for me when I was drawing out the Damascus billet. The knife is 15 inches long and made up from 13 layers of 15n20, 1095 and 20C (two of the inner layers are made of up of 15 layers each) twisted tightly and forged to shape with an integral bolster. The handle is African blackwood and stainless steel pins. I deliberately left the knife blunt to avoid any accidents on the big day however it's still more than sharp enough to cut cake. This is my first time doing an integral bolster, it's also the longest, thinnest knife I've made so far.

Nice work, the pattern came out nicely and you got a really clean polish and etch, it looks great!

I had a bunch of planer blades at one point but they turned out to be high speed steel I believe, which is useless to me. They gave off very odd sparks when put to the grinder, closer to cast iron than anything else!

I moved a 1cwt aldays and onions power hammer last year using the exact same method, it's simple and it works, why complicate things!

It all seems very ambiguous at the moment, what constitutes a knife? Can you still sell bare blades? Are seaxes knives or short swords?

They're all beautiful blades but it's your handles I find myself looking at, great choice of materials and finish, nicely done.

I finish ground and polished my prototype blade today and it's 2.25mm~ at the heel tapering down towards the tip, so fairly thin I guess. I'd say that it's actually lighter and thinner than her current Santoku knife, though I doubt the blade weight would be an issue anyway, my mum grew up carrying 50lb sacks of coal in my grandad's hardware store so she's stronger than most I'd guess. I guess that means the chefs knives I generally make are German style with more curved blades, I certainly use more of a rocking motion than a push cut during food prep. I'm glad I asked the question now, thank you for sharing your knowledge guys, it's very much appreciated!

Thanks for the feedback guys, it's given me a lot to think about. That 17" chefs knife is a beast Charles! The Chinese cleaver is cool too, something I'd like to try out sometime and I love the patina on your knives, it really gives them character. The rounded tip is an interesting idea, and at 2.5mm thick I can understand why you love it, it must cut like a laser. My go to paring knife has a very similar handle to what you describe and it sure is comfortable to use and indexes to your hand nicely. Funny that you should mention the Japanese slicer, it's already on my list of future projects though I honestly think it would end up only being used as a carving knife. I made a nakiri last year with a chisel grind and in terms of sharpness it's by far the best performing blade I've made though I couldn't get on with it when it came to dicing onions because of the lack of a pointed tip held it back. My 1095 prototype came out of the tempering oven last night so i'll hopefully get it finished up today and go from there.