# New western chef completed



## milkbaby (Apr 5, 2017)

Finished this little western chef's knife on the weekend after a month of putzing about on it here and there. About 165 mm blade, 15N20 carbon steel at about 60 HRc, asymmetric righty biased grind. Started as 0.095" stock but narrows right after the handle, minimal distal taper, and was a bit thicker tip than I usually had been making. Handle is wenge and osage orange with brass and green vulcanized fiber spacers/liners, brass and mosaic pins. I almost want to keep this one for myself, but I designed and made it specifically as gift for some dear friends of mine.

Here are the crappy phone pics:














You can see some of the asymmetry from the choil pic here.








Happy with the balance point, just lucky because I never know totally for sure until I put the handle scales on and start shaping. My friends are only home users, so it probably won't be a huge issue, but I still prefer to give them a decently balanced knife.








I was really happy with how the handle came out because the final result was way nicer looking and more comfortable than what I expected from my original design. It's the most comfortable handle I've made so far in my opinion, I'm so happy especially since I thought the design was kind of crap after I made the test template. Also, I've been wanting use wenge on a handle as I really like how the wood looks.








Tried to do some photos in the sunlight but I just suck as a photographer.













On the knife rack next to my personal gyuto that was just two knives previous to this one. I feel like I made a lot of progress and learned a lot in just the two knives I've made since that earlier one.








Having a little cutting test fun... hell yeah. :knife:

[video=youtube;UCeXrAoP1dA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCeXrAoP1dA[/video]



I have a nice nakiri that I profiled out the same time I did this knife, but after making this one with a little belly towards the tip so my friends could use a rocking motion with it, I was digging using something different from my usual knives. So I designed another western chef's knife with more belly towards the tip but still a long flat area at the heel for chopping/push cuts. I'll probably make that one next even though I have the nakiri and a hidden tang petty sitting around waiting to be ground. Also, I was checking and my heat treat forge is currently too small in diameter for the nakiri to fit inside anyhow, so... :laugh:


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## jessf (Apr 5, 2017)

That....cookie.

Sweet blade.


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## valgard (Apr 5, 2017)

I think this blade is pretty cool.


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## Matus (Apr 6, 2017)

Nice work


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## Hazenberg (Apr 9, 2017)

Cool knife Mark! Nice to see you're still at it . I really like the design of that Nakiri. Beautiful lines!


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## jessf (Apr 9, 2017)

You can see how far you've come in finishing too. Watching your own progress is part of the enjoyment to this hobby.


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