Hello from me and my knife block

Hi, new member, from Australia.

Have mostly Asian knives: Chinese, Japanese, Korean. Some Western. An outdated picture of my block:


L to R: Cheap old bread knife, carving knife, Wusthof 9" chef's knife, Scanpan Damastahl paring knife, Kanetsune yanagiba, Shun santoku (my main knife), smaller lighter damascus-clad santoku (my wife's main knife), cheap stamped single-bevel santoku, ditto small deba (now replaced), santoku, nakiri, nakiri, usuba, Dexter Russel nakiri.

More than I need for home cooking, but I like them.

Welcome! You would hard pressed to find anyone here only having what knives they 'need'!

Welcome man!

I thought you were Finish from your name... Am I right?

hi

Welcome welcome!

Welcome!

Welcome mate.

erikz said:

I thought you were Finish from your name... Am I right?

Click to expand...

Born in the middle of the Australian desert, of Finnish parents. 'Tis a common name; I share it with a famous tennis player and an Olympic ski jumper.

Welcome, Timo! Nice collection you have going there.

welcome!

Welcome to KKF

Great looking knife block there, I really like it.

It's a prototype. I had a commercial block with open-at-the-front slots, done by saw cuts in a block made from glued-together pieces, with a wire behind the handles. I liked it, since I could put in under a shelf. But the wood warped somewhat, which made many of the slots too narrow for anything except a very thin knife. And it was too short for my yanagiba. And it only held 6 or 7 knives (and a steel). So I made this, out of 3 6 foot pine boards (19mm by 85mm). The base and back are some scrap plywood nailed to the slats.

To do it better, I'd put some spacers between the slats, clamp the lot together, and then drill-and-screw the base and back on. Then the slats would end up even. And I'd cut the slats so the top was deliberately angled, maybe with the front about 1cm higher.

I need to make another one for my Chinese knives, which are too wide to fit without sticking out the front.

Maybe I am thinking of it incorrectly, but should it be back tilted or have a magnet at the back? Just wondering about the possibility of a knife falling out, say if you bump it wrong

It's up hard against the wall behind it, and I put a screw into the underside of the shelf above to stop it from moving forwards. It isn't being bumped anywhere. If it hadn't been for the tiles behind it, I would have just screwed it to the wall.

The tops of the slats are sloped, but they're only about 2mm higher at the front. Bumps, vibration, people jumping up and down in the kitchen, etc., can make the knives walk forwards by a few mm. More slope would stop that - a plan for the next time I make one.

couldn't you just get a big block of wood and run it through the table saw multiple times are varying widths (and more than one for many knife slots) and then you would have one solid piece? I like it tho, gets me thinking about making something half-assed for myself

That works. That's how this block's too-small commercially-made predecessor was made (with a composite block, rather than a single piece block). Pine boards are cheaper than big blocks, and I don't have a table saw.

Apart from making one for my Chinese knives, I'm thinking about making one for about 3 knives, to wall mount next to the kitchen window. To fit my 16" pizza knife.

Welcome aboard