Twin Damasteel kitchen knives

[Christian Trajkovski]

Hello everyone!

I’m new to this forum but I would like your thougts on the two knives (or more accurately I probably would like to show of a bit) that I finished a month ago.

They are made from the same bar of Damasteel twist (this is why I call them twins), full flat grind with an cutting angle of 19 degrees.

Full tang construction with damascus pattern visible around the perimeter of the handle. Hardened to 60-61 HRC. The total legnth is a little bit over 30cm (approx 12 incheckningen). They are ground from thick bars to get some weight into the blade which gives a spine width of 3,7mm (approx 0,15 inches)

The handles are made from stabilized maple with bronze pins.

Damasteel went as far as to include them on their website as inspiration. (See link below)

http://damasteel.se/inspiration/chef-knives-christian-trajkovski-2/

Anyhow I want your thoughts one these blades, is there something you would have done differently if you were designing them (would like some input into my next project)


Finished knives

After etching

 

[refcast]

Hi!

They look very nice. The profile is a kind of hybrid German, which is to say the edge is parallel to the spine nearby the handle, and there is belly towards the tip. There is a nice flat spot and reasonably narrow tip which is excellent knife design, and most knives I like have them, though there are some knives that function great with different profile decisions, depending on user preferences. But you got the general profile down. Most people would like a little more angle relative to the spine for extra cutting power, but the way you have it makes it more delicate. This is up to user preference. The polish and finish on the blade face and spine and handle is good and even. The hardness is good for most people, though some here maybe might like them harder -- I dunno -- because I don't know the steel properties in use and sharpening, and those matter more than hardness as an isolated value. The continual subtle then more dramatic near the tip spine drop is very nice because that makes the knife function more nimble in hand. The Shigehiro knives have that and it helps a lot in agility, or at least they're the most prominent, similar example, with Cris Anderson's knives the most extreme I've seen.

The only thing I would change is maybe make the flat spot near the heel more angle by a couple degrees and taper the tang of the handle thinner towards the butt, but those are nit picky I guess.

I also don't know the weight of the knives, but they appear to be kinda thick behind the edge. You can cut stuff and decide whether you want to change that or not, depending on usage.

Thanks.

 

[Christian Trajkovski]

Thanks for your input refcast! The steel is an stainless powdersteel it’s supposed to be one of the premier steels (According to the manufacurer anayway) see link for more info if you are interested.

http://damasteel.se/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Data_Sheet_Martensitic_Damascus_Patterned_Steel.pdf

I use one of these knives as my daily use kitchen knife, I must confess that I’m rather pleased with it’s performance. It has kept it’s shaving sharp edge for over a month now.

 

[merlijny2k]

Nice work! I agree with ref that a little more angle with the spine would improve the profile. To avoid getting harmonica cuts with this profile you would have to drop the handle a bit lower than I find comfortable. Also I think the handle shape is very... can't find the right English word. Introverted isn't used with respect to stuff. This is somewhat in contrast with the fancy stainless damascus. Imo that kind of damascus asks for a little bit more flair in handle design. Bit of color contrast, a spacer maybe, more pronounced curves. This handle with it's earthy color pattern and smooth shape kind of asks for a nice patina on a simple carbon steel blade to go with it. I like them both but would use each in a different context I think.

 

[Christian Trajkovski]

I have in a pair of earlier knives taken inspiration from japanese knives. The two knives in the picture are pairing knives with inspiration from kiridashi and deba style knives. So for this project I tried to make a more "classic" knife (I live in Sweden)


I concur with your thoughts on the angle between the knife and the handle, but the size of the steel bar made it impossible to alter the angle of the handle compared to the rest of the knife on this project.

 

[Christian Trajkovski]

And by the way the knives are rather heavy for their size. The metal stock that i began the process with were almost 4 mm wide, which is reflected in the rather thick spine of the blades.

 

[Christian Trajkovski]

Here is one more picture of the underside of the handle with the pattern in the steel clearly visible.

 

[merlijny2k]

You got the transition from profiled blade to flat below the handle invisible as far as the pictures go. Impressive.

 

[Christian Trajkovski]

Yes, it involves lots and lots of blending on the grinder followed up by even more handsanding. I think i began handsanding on these blades with 120 grit and finished with 5000 grit before polish and etching. I'll see if I can find a picture of the process

 

[Christian Trajkovski]

Handsanding of the blades.... Observe the number of used sandingpapers in the sink

 

[merlijny2k]

Yikes! That is a lot indeed.

 

[Christian Trajkovski]

"No pain no gain" merlijny2k ;-)


Usually you have to handsand twice, before and after hardening the blades....