Kitchen knife

[Tex65]

Second try at kitchen knife. Happy with this one. 304S

[jimmontg]

But when you wrote 304S, did you mean you made it from 304S stainless steel? I ask because 304 doesn't harden and will not hold an edge as it has no carbon to make carbides and I don't see a bolster one might make out of 304.

[Rasmus Kristens]

I dont know about the steel, but the execution is much improved since your last knife.
Well done!
Does it cut?

[Tex65]

Originally Posted by jimmontg

But when you wrote 304S, did you mean you made it from 304S stainless steel? I ask because 304 doesn't harden and will not hold an edge as it has no carbon to make carbides and I don't see a bolster one might make out of 304.

So I found out after starting. Still very new at this and figuring things out. It just kept coming out good so I just kept going.

[Tex65]

Originally Posted by Rasmus Kristens

I dont know about the steel, but the execution is much improved since your last knife.
Well done!
Does it cut?

Thank you. Yes it cuts well. I have a smaller kitchen knife I’m working on now. 1095 so it should harden. I like doing the kitchen knifes and really like the Japanese style handles. This one is a little more square then I would have liked.

[Rasmus Kristens]

I tried the same.



One thing i figured out was, that I would like more space from the bolster to the heel of the blade.

[Tex65]

Nice. I’m working on that same one now. I agree more room would make it more comfortable. I like the grind on the handle.

[jimmontg]

Then take a look at their blade materials. They have a good description of each of their knife steels. Do you have a way to heat treat like a ht oven? Or do you just have a forge or no way to ht except to send it out? If you just have a forge I'd recommend you get either some of the tool steel O1 or 8CrV2 which are a lot less picky than 1095. The .2% Vanadium they have seriously restricts grain growth if you get too hot, it gives you some breathing room. Understand that in a forge you are not going to get the best the steel has, but it will still get plenty hard enough. The instructions of heat until nonmagnetic (1420F)will get the steel hard, but with the O1 and 80CrV2 can get as hot as 1550 and it won't hurt them. So heat for two minutes or longer than nonmagnetic depending on how hot your forge heats up, but at any rate two minutes should suffice.

O1 is best done in an oven at 1475 for 15 minutes to get all of the chrome and tungsten into solution for austenizing, then quench in 120 degree F canola oil. Alpha Knife Supply has ht instructions for the 80CrV2 which is a much more forgiving steel than 1095 and O1.

If you want stainless I suggest 440C or AEB-L which are fairly inexpensive and are easy to ht with an oven. You can send them out to Texas Knife Supply for heat treat or Peters ht. Tx.KS does not ht steels that have to be oil quenched air quench only, so no carbon steel, but they do cryo treatment which is a nice extra and a shallow cryo (dry ice @ -115F) or -95F is a must for AEB-L. TxKS will use a deep cryo with liquid nitrogen at -340F on the 440C as well for an extra 4 bucks, well worth it.
By the way don't buy your 01 from Alpha because they have a poor selection, try New Jersey Steel Baron or Jantz Supply.

http://https://www.knifemaking.com/default.asp

http://https://newjerseysteelbaron.com/
https://www.alphaknifesupply.com/shop/
http://www.texasknife.com/vcom/privacy.php#services
https://www.petersheattreat.com/

[Tex65]

Thanks a lot for the info. I use TXKS. Live a couple hours away and think I will try them for heat treatment. Thanks again. I really appreciate the feedback and advice.