Chop Chop!

[NorCal Nate]

Just finishing up this little chopper. Santoku inspired.
Edge quenched 1084
3/16 think
OAL 10''
2.5 wide
Cocabolo scales
7/16 aluminum tube for pins

All feedback is much appreciated...just trying to learn!

[Hunter10139]

I'm a newbie at this but that a pretty impressive looking knife. Good work!

[ferris]

Looks real nice...bet it would make a great camp knife

[Ray Rogers]

Probably a good bit heavier than a Santoku would usually be but a good looking knife nonetheless. I would point out that on kitchen knives solid, smooth surfaces are best as they don't provide places for bacteria to sit and breed so holes in the handle and filework in the handle aren't desirable for that reason ...

[NorCal Nate]

Ray, It is pretty heavy. I was really trying to make a cleaver of sorts. Anywho, chopped through a bunch of lumber yesterday with it and the edge was still real sharp after I was done. I'll do some more testing today but Im real pleased with the HT on this guy so far.

Maybe I should have quenched it in Simple Green for bacteria purposes JK

Thanks for the input Ray!
~Nate

[Ray Rogers]

That's the great thing about making our own knives: we can do it anyway we want. Traditionally, a Santoku is simply a chef's knife with a different blade shape and cleavers are generally rectangular. There's no law that says you can't mix the two concepts. Just be aware of the hygiene issues if you do use it for butchering ...

[NorCal Nate]

Ray, what grit would/do you take your kitchen cutlery up too with regards to bacteria?
~Nate

[Ray Rogers]

I don't think there's anything to worry about with bacteria relative to the finish of your materials assuming your finish is more or less what any good knife would have. A 220 finish can look good and is more than enough to foil bacteria (I would hope) and most any knife is finished well beyond that.

Actually, it's the wide smooth places or the really deep crevices that can house bacteria. Oddly, those smooth cutting boards are more likely to grow bacteria than wooden boards. Research shows that the small grooves in the wood grain cannot hold a large enough number of bacteria for the culture to become self sustaining. That seems contrary to 'common sense' but there it is.

So, I feel sure your blade and you handle would be fine in this regard. My concern is only with the holes in the handle and the filework. Those areas might or might not be able to grow a culture but they can definitely hold small bits of meat that can later drop back into something you're working on. All this 'if' and 'maybe' stuff could be a little fanciful but if you have ever eaten any tainted food you would probably do just about anything to avoid even the remotest possibility of eating it again. Leaving those details out of your handles in the future is a good way to avoid the possibility of a problem.

For what it is worth, if you ever make a knife for a real pro chef you'll probably need to avoid those fancy embellishments because if a health inspector sees it he'll probably insist - right or wrong - that it not be used ....

[NorCal Nate]

Thanks for the insight Ray.

~Nate

[Walt-]

Nate,

Good looking project. Thanks for posting

[snaps]

Love that style, I think it would be a great little helper to make "small" firewood.

[WynnKnives]

Well the hole in the handle seem big enough to be cleaned, and I would imagine if the filework was filled with epoxy or whatnot it would be ok would it not?