# Making Paring and Chef's Knives



## Erdbeereis (Mar 10, 2013)

Hi guys, I'm starting to get into making knives and had a few questions.

1) Is 1095 a good steel for chef's and paring knives?

2) What thickness of steel should I get for a chef's knife? A paring knife?

3) Would I rough out the bevels leaving about 1mm of steel before sending the knife out for HT?

4) Is a convex geometry good for a kitchen knife?

5) Any other tips for a new maker?

I cut a few designs out of cardboard and I'll try to post them on here so you guys can look and critic them.


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## chinacats (Mar 10, 2013)

Welcome Erdbeereis!


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## franzb69 (Mar 10, 2013)

> 1) Is 1095 a good steel for chef's and paring knives?



1095 has been used by many US makers for decades. forgecraft and ontario cutlery to name a couple.



> 2) What thickness of steel should I get for a chef's knife? A paring knife?



depends on what you have in mind, an all purpose beater or a laser (especially thinner than normal)?

i'll wait for the others to chime in =D


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## Erdbeereis (Mar 10, 2013)

chinacats said:


> Welcome Erdbeereis!



Thanks!



franzb69 said:


> 1095 has been used by many US makers for decades. forgecraft and ontario cutlery to name a couple.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I was thinking about just all purpose use knives. How do you think .125 would be for a chef's knife and .09 for a pairing knife? Or would I be better off with .125 for both?


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## franzb69 (Mar 10, 2013)

i'll just try to answer the other questions you have as i don't have much weight in what i can say about thickness of spines. in my opinion, it really is more about the grind of the knife than the thickness. just so long as you get a good thickness on the spine, and a great grind you're pretty close to what people would want.



> 4) Is a convex geometry good for a kitchen knife?



convex is awesome. with japanese knives they convex one side (generally the right side for righties) and leave the opposite side (left) generally flat. this creates a problem for lefties, like myself, coz when they make knives, the food you cut sticks on the left side and makes the knife steer (depends on how the knife is ground) because of that assymetric grind and edge. the japanese do usually a steeper angle on the left and a wider angle on the right that's around 70/30 most of the time when they sharpen so that too complicates things for lefties. some j makers also do a 60/40, 80/20, 90/10, but that depends on the application and what kind of knife is made.

some even do a 50/50 bevel (but some still say it's pretty much comes out as 60/40) but still sharpens it to a 70/30 edge, which is okay for lefties coz we can just sharpen out that edge and make it more usable for us.

it really is up to you as you are the maker. =D



> 5) Any other tips for a new maker?



folks here love a french chef's knife profile like a sabatier or even old vintage american profiles like forgecraft and ontario cutlery. so you might wanna get some inpiration off of them.

oh and we hate finger guards like the ones on sabs. some folks just grind that off when they buy vintage. messes with the sharpening process. we also love rounded spines (at the very least the part where a person would normally do a pinch grip) and choils.

another couple things

we love our carbon steels as much as stainless or even probably more so. depends on who you talk to. and we like higher hardness on our knives like 60RC and up. as for handles, it's a very complicated subject so you'll just have to come up with one the general public would like. just see what kinda handles on here we like on the knives we post about and see what you would wanna make.

=D

of course, everything i've said is just opinion and probably just a general consensus. you're still the maker, it still ultimately falls to you how YOUR knife will look and perform. 


maybe when you make a prototype you'd wanna do a passaround and see what they think to further refine it. nothing like actual hands on experience.

i'll shut up now. =D


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## apicius9 (Mar 10, 2013)

Keine Ahnung, aber herzlich Willkommen.

Stefan


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## Notaskinnychef (Mar 10, 2013)

apicius9 said:


> Keine Ahnung, aber herzlich Willkommen.
> 
> Stefan



i have no idea either, but welcome as well


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## Don Nguyen (Mar 10, 2013)

Erdbeereis said:


> Hi guys, I'm starting to get into making knives and had a few questions.
> 
> 1) Is 1095 a good steel for chef's and paring knives?
> 
> ...



1095 is pretty good. For a paring though, you might want to consider a stainless because they're often used and left there for a bit. Your situation could be different, so it's completely your judgment.

I think .125 and .09 are perfect to start out on, and then you can adjust after some testing. .125 is a little thick for a paring, but fine for a chefs.

1mm is a little on the thin side. 2mm is pretty safe, but just consider that a lot of makers will do HT before any bevel grinding is done - warps are hard to deal with, but hardened steel is not as bad as you may think if using a good grinder with sharp belts.

Convex is usually preferred around here. More of us would describe the common grind type to be a "blended bevel" though.


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## Marko Tsourkan (Mar 10, 2013)

Don Nguyen said:


> ...
> Convex is usually preferred around here. More of us would describe the common grind type to be a "blended bevel" though.



What's blended bevel?


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## Don Nguyen (Mar 10, 2013)

I remember being told a couple times on here that the usual grinds seen are more like partial flat grinds that are smoothed out, instead of one continuous convex.

Maybe I'm just remembering wrong all this time... :dazed:


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## Marko Tsourkan (Mar 10, 2013)

Don Nguyen said:


> I remember being told a couple times on here that the usual grinds seen are more like partial flat grinds that are smoothed out, instead of one continuous convex.
> 
> Maybe I'm just remembering wrong all this time... :dazed:



yes, but when you look at convex grind illustration, convexing could starts as high 3/4 or as low as 1/3 above the edge. Different degree, but ultimately the same grind. True, some makers convex is up to the spine, but it is less an intention, rather than their grinding setup. Other grinds are flat - spine to edge straight line, saber (like Heiji) and others. 

I think talking in terms of flat/convex(instead of blended) is a bit more clear, and clarity is what we should strive on this forum. Too many things are surrounded in clouds of vagueness.


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## Erdbeereis (Mar 10, 2013)

I don't think I'd have to worry about warpage if I send the blades out for HT would I? I would still leave the edge about .05-1mm thick.

How does this step-by-step sound?

1) Shape the profile

2) Bevel pre-grind to about 0.5mm thick edge

3) Drill handle/lightning holes

4) Send out to HT

5) finish the bevels

6) Fit and shape the handle


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## Marko Tsourkan (Mar 10, 2013)

I don't pre-grind before HT.

PS: you might have to clear with forum mods if you plan on posting pictures of you work-in-progress.


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