Blank blades WIP Thread.

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Oh. Might as well say now.

I'm doing one right hand biased. The other is going to be symmetrical in case a left handed person ends up wanting one. But will still be just as good for right handed people.

Also. Decided to start working on that apex ultra blade again. Still needs more forging.
 
Jaeger said:
Wow, okay!? That's heavy with those tough steels 😮
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Yeah. I do it, because it helps me avoid warps with my plate quenching.

Its especially hard getting warps out of these high carbide steels, and using carbide hammers on any steel 66 hrc or higher I've found gets riskier.

Also. I cant prove it. But i kind of think peening to straighten might not be good for the knives overall. I could be wrong. But i haven't seen anything proving it isn't bad for them either.
 
Oh, yeah for plate quenching it's not good to put a tapered blade between the plates. That makes sense. I send my blades to a well known knifemaker here in Germany for the heat treatment, so I don't run in that issue 😄 and they came back straight everytime so I have no trouble with warps on em. That's why I can most of the work before HT, that makes live way easier.
 
Jaeger said:
Oh, yeah for plate quenching it's not good to put a tapered blade between the plates. That makes sense. I send my blades to a well known knifemaker here in Germany for the heat treatment, so I don't run in that issue 😄 and they came back straight everytime so I have no trouble with warps on em. That's why I can most of the work before HT, that makes live way easier.
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Yeah. Sending it out would avoid having some issues.

Though i would loose a lot of control over the heat treatment. Which for me is worth the extra time and effort.
 
Yeah, totally understand that but I don't have the equipment to HT high alloyed steels so for best results I send them out. But they don't do stuff that you do like super high hardness for example. Maybe one day I have the equipment to test these things out too because it is a very interesting subject area 👌
 
Jaeger said:
Yeah, totally understand that but I don't have the equipment to HT high alloyed steels so for best results I send them out. But they don't do stuff that you do like super high hardness for example. Maybe one day I have the equipment to test these things out too because it is a very interesting subject area 👌
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Yeah. Its the best move if you dont have the equipment for it, for sure.

But yeah. There are really only so many makers doing kitchen knives in these steels. Its something i had wanted to see more of before I was making them. So I just decided I might as well start being one of the people that is.
 
Got something in apex ultra forged.

Running ht samples now. Gonna get this hardened today so i can grind it along with all the others im doing rn
IMG_20231212_135314339.jpg




Planning to adjust the profile a touch but its not too far off what i want.
 
This is a sample i did before the blade.

IMG_20231212_174829796.jpg


Went with a heat treatment on the actual blade that left it right at 68. So not the one in the pick. But yeah this apex ultra is no joke.

I was able to grind past the scale on the tang and test it after the first temper. And it did get to 68. And the tang wasnt even really quenches as much as the actual blade. So I'm sure the blade is hardened nicely.

I forged in a taper and everything. But when i grind I'll see how things go. Since i will probably have to straighten it. Since forged geometry, and oil quenching means some warps are pretty likely. it looked warped some. But i wanted to just get it tempered before i really check it out.
 
@NickMinton

And anyone else that has bought one of my knives.

I think i can safely endorse the Cerax 320 for thinning them. The one i had before was too thin already. To give it a go on these steels. But i went ahead and gave it a go, now that i have a new one. Its working incredibly well. If there was a similarly friable 120 out there, then that would be the perfect stone for heavy work on these steels.

IMG_20231215_014030606.jpg


But as it stands, i think the cerax 320 will actually be perfect for normal maintenance thinning. This one is 67.5-68hrc m4. On the cerax, since its so soft it just basically feels like a normal stone with this.

Trying to thin these knives on something a bit harder, just quickly glazes over them. And they need conditioning again. And if you use something softer, or san mai on the cerax. It basically melts away. But with high wear resistance steel, and the cerax. Its perfect.
 
Blank Blades. said:
@NickMinton

And anyone else that has bought one of my knives.

I think i can safely endorse the Cerax 320 for thinning them. The one i had before was too thin already. To give it a go on these steels. But i went ahead and gave it a go, now that i have a new one. Its working incredibly well. If there was a similarly friable 120 out there, then that would be the perfect stone for heavy work on these steels.

View attachment 288063

But as it stands, i think the cerax 320 will actually be perfect for normal maintenance thinning. This one is 67.5-68hrc m4. On the cerax, since its so soft it just basically feels like a normal stone with this.

Trying to thin these knives on something a bit harder, just quickly glazes over them. And they need conditioning again. And if you use something softer, or san mai on the cerax. It basically melts away. But with high wear resistance steel, and the cerax. Its perfect.
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Thanks for the review! I've been using Shapton pro 320 between Debado200 and SG500, but it just feels too sleek for me, doesn't do much at all.
 
blokey said:
Thanks for the review! I've been using Shapton pro 320 between Debado200 and SG500, but it just feels too sleek for me, doesn't do much at all.
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Just to reiterate again. I only recommend it for these hard to grind steels. San mai or anything like that will just waste the stone.

But yeah. Np. Ive been looking around for conventional stones to help me out with this part of the work for a while. I hadn't gotten a new cerax 320 yet. Because i just assumed it being a 320 would be too high. But it is doing well. Though like i mentioned, a similar stone but like 120 grit would be killer.

Also one thing that kept me from going for the 320 cerax again, was because its so soft, when using it on softer stuff and san mai it doesnt even really cut that effectively. It just kinda of keeps releasing abrasive, to the point it slows the cutting action a bit.
 
Blank Blades. said:
Just to reiterate again. I only recommend it for these hard to grind steels. San mai or anything like that will just waste the stone.

But yeah. Np. Ive been looking around for conventional stones to help me out with this part of the work for a while. I hadn't gotten a new cerax 320 yet. Because i just assumed it being a 320 would be too high. But it is doing well. Though like i mentioned, a similar stone but like 120 grit would be killer.

Also one thing that kept me from going for the 320 cerax again, was because its so soft, when using it on softer stuff and san mai it doesnt even really cut that effectively. It just kinda of keeps releasing abrasive, to the point it slows the cutting action a bit.
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Gotcha, I’m thinning some monosteel these days, some hard some not so, Shapton 320 just doesn’t cut it at all
 
Oh. And i want to add. For anything with a lot of mc type carbide. I still just recommend using diamond. Whether it be bonded diamond, or plates.

Stuff like m2, is in a spot where you can probably get away with normal stones, along with apex ultra, and some of the others with some mc type carbide. But lower volumes of it. Though i still think for the best edges, diamond and cnb is the best. You shouldnt have any issues sharpening those on normal stuff.
 
Musing w/ wine after making dinner.... I think the micarta handle needs to be a wee bit thicker considering a blade 243x58.

I have relatively small hands (it seems on this forum) and I like it, but was using my other gyuto's during week and today and realized that all my other 240s have much thicker handles.

@NickMinton I think you have the M2 I wanted also... curious to see if you felt the same way re. the handle.
 
DoYoon Kim said:
Musing w/ wine after making dinner.... I think the micarta handle needs to be a wee bit thicker considering a blade 243x58.

I have relatively small hands (it seems on this forum) and I like it, but was using my other gyuto's during week and today and realized that all my other 240s have much thicker handles.

@NickMinton I think you have the M2 I wanted also... curious to see if you felt the same way re. the handle.
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Do you think it just needed a thicker one for the size of the knife, or just in general?
 
Blank Blades. said:
Do you think it just needed a thicker one for the size of the knife, or just in general?
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For size of knife specifically and also specifically with diameter too. The length is great.

I think Specifically I was holding my Smedja Aspen and Morihei fine finish this week (both 250g+ knives) and when prepping today it felt wow the handle is thin.
 
I know angles aren't perfect, but I think its the taper on the circle. My hand ends on blue line when in pinch grip.

(in order Blank Blade, Morihei Hisamoto, Aspen, general 240 Wa handle on Yoshikane generally prevalent). Not sure, how to describe yet, but grip i feel is much more different than others.

IMG_0260_2.jpg
 
DoYoon Kim said:
I know angles aren't perfect, but I think its the taper on the circle. My hand ends on blue line when in pinch grip.

(in order Blank Blade, Morihei Hisamoto, Aspen, general 240 Wa handle on Yoshikane generally prevalent). Not sure, how to describe yet, but grip i feel is much more different than others.


View attachment 289224
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At least the idea with the bolster was to make it somewhat like how an integral bolster can almost blend to the blade. Then just museum fitting the handle to that.

The design it is based off of then tweaked is schleepersbuilt's decagonal handle design.
Screenshot_20231221-214220.png



At least to my hands i tended to like it more with less of a sudden drop from the handle down to the bolster, and then chamfers going on the sides of the bolster to the blade. For my hand to rest in.

Though it could maybe be something that is more hand size dependent.

I'm trying to think of who else besides who you mentioned has gotten one of these handle shapes from me, that is on this forum.

I feel like a good bit went to instagram people.

Well. The 4v one is owned by someone here for sure and that one got basically the same handle from what i recall.
 
A thought: thicker where your two fingers grip it is good, thinner where your thumb lands can be fine for a pinch grip. So that would be tapering for only an inch or so. That scheepersbuilt photo you posted probably takes the taper back too far.

I have one that has a notable taper for like an inch in a style like your scheepersbuilt photo and it feels good. I showed it to a handle maker once and he hated it. I also have many typical WA handles with very gentle front to back taper that feel fine and are my general preference. I have a couple coffin handles and they are fine too.
 
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DoYoon Kim said:
I know angles aren't perfect, but I think its the taper on the circle. My hand ends on blue line when in pinch grip.

(in order Blank Blade, Morihei Hisamoto, Aspen, general 240 Wa handle on Yoshikane generally prevalent). Not sure, how to describe yet, but grip i feel is much more different than others.

View attachment 289224
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You can have "small" hands and still have hands that are better fit with a wider handle. I don't have particularly large hands, and I prefer handles that are more wide than is standard. The combination of the tapers narrowing in all directions on the passaround handle as it goes to the front wouldn't really jive with me either. I think the personalization of these tools is part of the fun, so I'd either ensure I specified my handle preferences on a custom, or I'd just ask for it without a handle.
 
deltaplex said:
You can have "small" hands and still have hands that are better fit with a wider handle. I don't have particularly large hands, and I prefer handles that are more wide than is standard. The combination of the tapers narrowing in all directions on the passaround handle as it goes to the front wouldn't really jive with me either. I think the personalization of these tools is part of the fun, so I'd either ensure I specified my handle preferences on a custom, or I'd just ask for it without a handle.
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And I have larger hands and actually prefer slightly smaller handles.

@Blank Blades. I think the pass-around had a handle this shape / size. I enjoyed it quite a bit and didn't find it dramatically undersized. I do think it could have carried more width further down the length of the handle and tapered more dramatically towards the end. This would give a little bit more to hold onto through the meat of the hand and let you have the graceful taper into a pinch. But this is a matter of taste not a definitive thing IMO
 
ethompson said:
And I have larger hands and actually prefer slightly smaller handles.
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I also have not too small hands with long fingers, might be around ethompson size, also prefer thin handles. Pretty much grip over the front and don't want to feel it.
@Blank Blades. that taper looks great and comfortable to me
People have different preferences and ways to grip
 
ethompson said:
And I have larger hands and actually prefer slightly smaller handles.

@Blank Blades. I think the pass-around had a handle this shape / size. I enjoyed it quite a bit and didn't find it dramatically undersized. I do think it could have carried more width further down the length of the handle and tapered more dramatically towards the end. This would give a little bit more to hold onto through the meat of the hand and let you have the graceful taper into a pinch. But this is a matter of taste not a definitive thing IMO
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The main issue with that is pushing the balance point further back towards the handle.

Though of course i could shorten the handle to make up for it.

Or maybe do more drilling inside, but i feel like the weight reduction i get from drilling more tends to be negligible
 
This discussion is interesting to me. And definitely useful.

I think my hand size is overall kinda average for a mans. I where a large sized glove, xl for ones that run smaller. But i think i tend to opt for slightly slimmer handles over all.

Tbh i dont think i even really mind the feel of wider or thinner handles. Its more just i think slightly slimmer handles are more visually appealing.

Where an overly thick handle has a more clunky look to it. And because it seems fairly easy for me to personally use a wa handle in just about any size i go for the one that looks better to me, while still feeling good, and leaving the balance in a place I like it.
 
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