Jspool Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 I took a forging class with Bill Burke last week to see if any of his forging skill would rub off on me, if even a little! Great guy. Great class. It's forged out of a stick of 5160. Today I worked on the edge and getting the final shape right. Pretty tough stuff.If it grinds out well, and I can heat treat it without it cracking, I plan to make a handle out of African Blackwood, and curly koa, with a cuprous nickel spacer. I plan to tenon the Blackwood into the koa so as to not only depend upon the epoxy. I'll post pics of the handle wip if anyone is interested, but it will be a couple weeks till I can get to it.what do you kitchen blade guys think about the shape of the blade? I did grind the profile some to clean it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheoRockNazz Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Oh yeah, I'm diggin it. Show me moar! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlotte Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 The shape would go well along side one of the German blades I've used in my kitchens for 50 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Latticino Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Forging looks great. Hope you left enough meat in there to make it through heat treat successfully. Chef's knives on my bucket list for sure. Will look forward to seeing this one completed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jspool Posted August 22, 2015 Author Share Posted August 22, 2015 (edited) I normalized the blade, straightened it and ground it out today. I resorted to vertical grinding to even it all out and get rid of the forging marks. I think I will finish grind it in this manner as well after HT in order to get a slight convex curve from spine to edge on this thin blade.HT was at 1540 and full quench in Parks AAA. Tempered at 400 for an hour. I just realized that I did not preheat the oil prior to the quench. Stupid mistake. Fingers crossed.here are some pics I took of the process, some one handed.After Quench. Hopefully no cracks!Tomorrow I'll finish out the blade and start on the wa Edited August 22, 2015 by Jspool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frozenthunderbolt Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 (edited) XXXXXXX fine shape. A bit thin in the spine (by my eyeball-ometer) for my preference, but to each their own :-) You would get beautiful rocking motion with the curve you have there.Can't wait to see it with the handle on. Edited August 22, 2015 by Steve Sells Language... watch it please Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jspool Posted August 24, 2015 Author Share Posted August 24, 2015 (edited) Weeeeellllllll, I hope no one was too in love with the size and shape of the Gyuto for its now a hybrid Santoku. After HT the blade took on a curve. I tried straightening it working a long section of blade, but the 5160 was too springy and wouldn't straighten. So I tried working a more narrow section at a time, and is still sprung back. Soooo I tried correcting it a liiitle more, and bing. 4" of blade snapped off.Hardness was at 60. Grain looked great. Anyways, time to move forward with a revised project.A 6.5" Santoku.The Wa will be three pieces. A center of stabilized Koa, with a bolster and cap of African Blackwood, both tenoned into the Koa.the pictures probably say it better.When cutting off small pieces on the table saw I like using a pencil eraser to control the small cutoff so it gets a clean cut. Something I learned making segmented bowls.Drill ing a 1/2" hole clear through the center sectionand mortising it out to 5/8" x 1/2" deep.Turning the .625 tenons on the BlackwoodTurning a tenon on each end of one longer piece is easier than dealing with two small pieces. I'll cut the bolster and cap from this.This shows the three sections with the bolster already drilled through the tenon, stopping .25" or more from the opposite end. This will make fitting out the slot for the tang easier. Blackwood is hard.this was a touchy operation so I didn't get a pic doing it. Sorry. Exploded view of the blade and handle piecesHandle roughed onto the blade.Next, I will glue up the bolster to the center, but leave the cap tightly friction fit while shaping the handle. I'll need to remove it when epoxying the handle on. Edited August 24, 2015 by Jspool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheoRockNazz Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 Wow! Look at that, nice save, still got a handy blade there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jspool Posted August 26, 2015 Author Share Posted August 26, 2015 Finished up the handle today. All glued up and on. With the hollow cavity that needed to be pretty full of epoxy to adhere to the tang, and the cap that needed to be epoxied on and clamped on, it was a tricky glue up. The spacer is cuprous nickel. I might still take the blade down to a finer grade of scotch brite. I was real pleased with my first tang/bolster fit.I realize that my process is convoluted and perhaps more difficult than it needed to be. Hopefully I'll figure out how to streamline it, and not take so many steps backwards as I get some more blades under my belt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhyfelwr Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Nice save! Looks excellent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swedefiddle Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 Good Morning,A Pear-ing knife. Welcome to the Skool of "Hard Nocks". It is not a mistake, just another Lesson!!First Blade, keep it in a "Special Place". Look at it every now and then, "This is where I started"!!!!!Enjoy the RIDE, the Journey is knot straight forward, 'sometimes there is some thinking and Larnin' involved'.Neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamus Blargostadt Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Really nice recovery. If a noob question could be forgiven, how did you go from a four sided block to an octagon shape on the handle? That looks perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LibrariaNPC Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Excellent product redesign! This is one of my goals as well; just waiting on getting a better setup so I can make a proper handle to go with it.Keep up the good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jspool Posted September 9, 2015 Author Share Posted September 9, 2015 Thanks Guys. I just have to keep remembering that its the journey that counts!Shamus, unfortunately I did not have much of a process for making the octagonal handle. I eyeballed it at the belt grinder. Its simple to cut an octagon at the tablesaw with the blade set at 45 degrees. I didn't go that route because I wasn't sure whether the cupreous nickel spacer would screw up my carbide blade or not.If I were you, I would layout an octagon on the end of my block. Then, set my tool rest at 90 to the belt. Using a 45 degree side of a combo square to position your square block on one of its corners, bevel off one of the corners to the line you drew on the end of the block. place the newly ground facet down on the tool rest and sand down the other corners to the layout lines. Take your time, and keep in mind to leave a little extra stock to allow for the material that moving down the grits will take. Some wa handles are taller than their width, so learning to do this by hand gives you the freedom to make what you desire.I am working on figuring out how to do a tapered octagon handle. Pretty basic with hand planes, but then the metal spacers prevent me from going that route. Guess I could do it by hand as well.Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamus Blargostadt Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 Wow very nice by eye! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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