D. Martell Help to Design a Forum Knife!

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obtuse said:
I think cladding would bring the price up too high. Also a steel that needs cryo will bring the price up. I say stick with O1 or AEB-L at 58 rockwell. The handles should be simple wa, or bolsterless western to keep the price down. AEB-L and O1 can be bought in strip form and water jet cut to cut costs.
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Some heat treat processes are a must for a quality product, so I see no point of skipping them for the sake of lowering costs. At the same time, one doesn't have to go crazy with some time-intensive multi-step HT process, if it might only provide some marginal benefit.

Water jet cutting blanks, less expensive handle options for sake of keeping costs down would be fine.

I think 60-62RC hardness would be more desirable for fine grained steels, like O1 for the edge retention. For the abrasion resistant steels, 57-58RC would be more appropriate.
M
 
Ashi Hamono and other makers seem to make quality blades out of AEB-L at 58 Rockwell. Cryo would be nice, I would love a Devin Thomas style AEB-L heat treatment.
 
obtuse said:
Ashi Hamono and other makers seem to make quality blades out of AEB-L at 58 Rockwell. Cryo would be nice, I would love a Devin Thomas style AEB-L heat treatment.
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It depends on what quality IS. Ashi Hamono is a production-oriented company and produces knives in high volume inexpensively, as they do a lot of OEM for other brands. Ashi has plenty of equipment, so labor input there can be reduced. I think the consensus has been that in a production knife-making, heat treatment is often not optimal as no company will spend 6-8 hours on heat treating a knife to get most of a steel.


Forum Knife would be a custom or semi-custom (depends how you look at it) knife, the only exception is that steel is not forged. Anything that labeled custom or semi-custom, should have an appropriate quality and an appropriate price, in my opinion.

M
 
If it's within the means of the knife maker I'd be very happy with a better heat treatment. I just don't know what kind of equipment Dave has or if he's going to out source HT.
 
i think a carbon suji would be neat. wa or yo, either would be great. 270-300mm. a little bit of meat to the spine, but not too much.
 
If a single-bevel knife is a possibility, I'd be all over a nice deba.
 
I would like to see a Kiritsuke or that style design, a well made honesuki, or something that differs or distinguishes itself from the usual/already available options of previous forum knives! Carbon (O1) would definitely be a plus, and I think a little bit of heft in it wouldn't be a bad thing whatever style it ends up being.
 
So we have votes for a lot of different things, almost all over the place, but yet a few common things have come up. First you guys would like to see something different being done, second is the call for boning knives (the assorted family) to be made, and third is a cleaver. Well since I'm not trying to be masochistic I will steer away from the cleaver which then leaves boning knives which of course fulfills the requirement of being a bit different. Why don't we head in that direction then?

If I we are to go that way what patterns should we consider? There's western and Japanese types. I know that I'd be loving to try doing some scimitars (I already have a great pattern) but what about the rest?
 
For a boner, I'd like a stiff one about 6 inches long; also, I'd prefer if it were western. O1 60-61, 13C26 58-62. Scimitar! O1 60-62, CPM or traditional D2 61 with cryo, just think of that toothy edge. Maybe there should be a poll =)
 
obtuse said:
For a boner, I'd like a stiff one about 6 inches long; also, I'd prefer if it were western. O1 60-61, 13C26 58-62. Scimitar! O1 60-62, CPM or traditional D2 61 with cryo, just think of that toothy edge. Maybe there should be a poll =)
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+1 on all of that!
 
I don't think that I want a toothy edge on my boner..............
 
Dave Martell said:
If I we are to go that way what patterns should we consider? There's western and Japanese types. I know that I'd be loving to try doing some scimitars (I already have a great pattern) but what about the rest?
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Western boning with good steel and handle. For pros that style is useful, and it basically doesnt exist, save for the tojiro boning knife, and one know those DPs leave something to be desired in the handle department. Japanese style you can get, either a hankotsu or honesuki. If you made a "butchers set" with a boner and scim i know id buy one.
 
Hi Dave, I made a design of the kind of knife I would really like, namely not to much curve and above all elegant, hence the worktitle I gave them; Chowa.
I posted a few drawings some time ago on KF, but I returned the designs to the freezer. Personally I'm a stainless steel guy and I prefer western handles. These drawings were made on my computer, so I printed them out in a 1/1 version. There are 2 slightly different western handled ones. Actually, I can't decide which one. I cut out the prints and glued them on a piece of cardboard. Here they are compared to my Hattori 240.
Oh, yes, isn't a 240mm version something probably most viewers are after?
compare.jpg


The following drawing is what they could look like. Same knives as above, but pimped on my computer.
I already have a slight preference for the first handle. It also feels better in hand (well, the cardboard version does);
ChowaWestern4.jpg


And since most knifenuts prefer wa-handles, here is the whole family in uni-clothing
chowaCollectieUni.jpg


And the same ones in fantasy-clothing.
chowaCollectieDiv.jpg
 
Just to make it all a little more confusing (the best ideas occur in total chaos), these slicers.
I'd love to hear suggestions on these, since the latest post are all about "boning". Would you guys use the short one as a de-boning knife?
asadoCollectie.jpg
 
Damn, You put a lot of thought into that! Just one suggestion from me, the gyuto's tip is really low--almost santoku like. I like a flat profile, but with a tip a little higher.

I like the BBQ slicers. I think the small one is too big for boning. Right now I'm deboning chicken with a 210mm yo-deba and it's too clumsy.
 
ChrisBelgium said:
Just to make it all a little more confusing (the best ideas occur in total chaos), these slicers.
I'd love to hear suggestions on these, since the latest post are all about "boning". Would you guys use the short one as a de-boning knife?
asadoCollectie.jpg
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I really like the 240 here. I want a custom carving scimitar in a similar shape to this, something I can bring to friends and family's house when I am in charge with carving something. But the heel is still big enough for knuckle clearance if I have to use it on a board for misc prep tasks. I was planning on getting a damascus one with an exotic handle, since it would be used mostly for presentation carving, i feel something elegant and fancy is appropriate.

The 210 would be useful as a boning knife if the heel was like 18-20mm tall, the profile is good for one, just too tall. You could also shorten it to about 190-200mm.
 
The western 240 looks great, you could put it into production just like that. I don't think I have seen anything like that BBQ slicer it looks just right for brisket. It might be better at 300mm but 270 is more versatile.
 
I forgot about the Barkie. if I remember correctly, it was only 9.5 inches, so 240mm territory, a little short for a BBQ slicer, but great for a fancy carving knife at the table. I would have bought one, but didn't realize they were a limited run. They were discontinued before I got around to it.
 
obtuse said:
Damn, You put a lot of thought into that! Just one suggestion from me, the gyuto's tip is really low--almost santoku like. I like a flat profile, but with a tip a little higher.

I like the BBQ slicers. I think the small one is too big for boning. Right now I'm deboning chicken with a 210mm yo-deba and it's too clumsy.
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The idea behind the gyuoto was indeed to have a flatter curve than usual. It's a matter of preference.
The slicers are ment to be nothing else, but the idea of a deboning knife in the same shape could be done. I would also make a deboning knife shorter and lower like you and JohnyChance suggest
 
so_sleepy said:
The western 240 looks great, you could put it into production just like that. I don't think I have seen anything like that BBQ slicer it looks just right for brisket. It might be better at 300mm but 270 is more versatile.
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Thanks! I really like that western 240 too. I cook a lot as a home cook and this is what I'm looking for. I'm convinced it is a very usefull design. The low tip makes it more user-friendly; you don't have lift the handle too much when cutting with the tip. The flat curve makes it ideal to make long and steady slices. There's also not one single straight millimeter in that curve, imo something really necessary in using a cooking knife on a cutting board.
 
JohnnyChance said:
If you made a "butchers set" with a boner and scim i know id buy one.
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Now we're onto something, a butcher's set would be totally unique in the annals of Forum knives not to mention totally cool for both knife nuts and pros.

I really don't think we need more gyutos at this time, besides Dave is already doing one for his first run of knives.

Next, I think a (relatively) reasonable-priced AEBL paring knife with a thinner profile micarta handle would be very useful and popular.
 
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