2019 Summer Kitchen Kith New deadline 02 November

[DanF]

Not making much satisfactory progress with the broke-azz, mashed up, sutured finger.
Made the Saya just thick enough to lay down or stand up on edge. Stitches come out tomorrow, if the splint comes off also I can start thinning the blade down once I can feel the heat I'm generating along the edge.
At this point I'm not happy with any of it, if finger hinders fit n finish too much, I will have to withdraw.

 

[FredyCro]

As a newbie in knife making and a very passionate hobby cook, I am following this with great interest. Keep the pics coming and remember the choil shots

Next time I am in USA I think I'll be smuggling knife blanks to Europe

 

[Willie71]

Not making much satisfactory progress with the broke-azz, mashed up, sutured finger.
Made the Saya just thick enough to lay down or stand up on edge. Stitches come out tomorrow, if the splint comes off also I can start thinning the blade down once I can feel the heat I'm generating along the edge.
At this point I'm not happy with any of it, if finger hinders fit n finish too much, I will have to withdraw.
View attachment 1186848

That’s a great start. I’m looking forward to see how you finish it. I just love this profile! Is that curly maple for the handle?

 

[DanF]

That’s a great start. I’m looking forward to see how you finish it. I just love this profile! Is that curly maple for the handle?

Handle is stabilized curly maple, saya is a softer variety of maple better suited to inlay.
Found a hand sanding process that cuts a lot of time off the sanding, took a total of 20 minutes to finish the blade. Feeling better about this one now.

 

[kdnolin]

My KITH knife just got smaller Blade length is 6.75” now.
I got it too thin at the tip. Warren stopped by my shop today and confirmed what I thought. Had to lose about an inch. The good news is I got the edge to 0.005. It’s getting a handle tonight.

 

[Sam Dean]

Bumping this thread up & sharing a little progress! These 2 are my experimental blades, so I could work out grinding technique and test them in my own kitchen first. There were a lot of mistakes along the way, but they're worked out now, so I'm feeling really good about getting a KITH knife done!

The top one is the longest and thinnest blade I've ground yet, so I was super intimidated at first. Also the first time grinding a pre-hardened blade. It was actually pretty easy, just had to go slow, use fresh belts & keep it cool. The edges on both were really close to the 0.005'' target, and ended up between 0.004'' & 0.007'' along the length of the blade. Belt finish on both to 220 grit. The large one has lignum vitae scales over black G10 liners. The smaller one has burlap micarta scales. Both have stainless pins.

I finished the smaller one first, and immediately cut up a bunch of tomatoes, peppers and onions. It sliced like a laser! Definitely the sharpest and sliciest knife I've ever used. However, the veggies stuck to it like glue. So, on the larger one, I painted the edge with nail polish & splattered lacquer on the blade, then etched it in (a pretty diluted solution of) ferric chloride & vinegar for about 1-1/2 hours. The added texture helped significantly with the food stick issue, but didn't eliminate it. I'm going to try another one with a longer etch to get a little more texture & see if it helps any.

Anyway - who else is making progress on their KITH knife?

 

[Storm W]

Bumping this thread up & sharing a little progress! These 2 are my experimental blades, so I could work out grinding technique and test them in my own kitchen first. There were a lot of mistakes along the way, but they're worked out now, so I'm feeling really good about getting a KITH knife done!

The top one is the longest and thinnest blade I've ground yet, so I was super intimidated at first. Also the first time grinding a pre-hardened blade. It was actually pretty easy, just had to go slow, use fresh belts & keep it cool. The edges on both were really close to the 0.005'' target, and ended up between 0.004'' & 0.007'' along the length of the blade. Belt finish on both to 220 grit. The large one has lignum vitae scales over black G10 liners. The smaller one has burlap micarta scales. Both have stainless pins.

I finished the smaller one first, and immediately cut up a bunch of tomatoes, peppers and onions. It sliced like a laser! Definitely the sharpest and sliciest knife I've ever used. However, the veggies stuck to it like glue. So, on the larger one, I painted the edge with nail polish & splattered lacquer on the blade, then etched it in (a pretty diluted solution of) ferric chloride & vinegar for about 1-1/2 hours. The added texture helped significantly with the food stick issue, but didn't eliminate it. I'm going to try another one with a longer etch to get a little more texture & see if it helps any.

Anyway - who else is making progress on their KITH knife?

Those turned out nice.

 

[Storm W]

I got some of the rough grinding done. I'm probably going to go with this last blade. I'm in Greece on vacation and once I get back have to finish moving so this will be hard to get done in time.

 

[Willie71]

Bumping this thread up & sharing a little progress! These 2 are my experimental blades, so I could work out grinding technique and test them in my own kitchen first. There were a lot of mistakes along the way, but they're worked out now, so I'm feeling really good about getting a KITH knife done!

The top one is the longest and thinnest blade I've ground yet, so I was super intimidated at first. Also the first time grinding a pre-hardened blade. It was actually pretty easy, just had to go slow, use fresh belts & keep it cool. The edges on both were really close to the 0.005'' target, and ended up between 0.004'' & 0.007'' along the length of the blade. Belt finish on both to 220 grit. The large one has lignum vitae scales over black G10 liners. The smaller one has burlap micarta scales. Both have stainless pins.

I finished the smaller one first, and immediately cut up a bunch of tomatoes, peppers and onions. It sliced like a laser! Definitely the sharpest and sliciest knife I've ever used. However, the veggies stuck to it like glue. So, on the larger one, I painted the edge with nail polish & splattered lacquer on the blade, then etched it in (a pretty diluted solution of) ferric chloride & vinegar for about 1-1/2 hours. The added texture helped significantly with the food stick issue, but didn't eliminate it. I'm going to try another one with a longer etch to get a little more texture & see if it helps any.

Anyway - who else is making progress on their KITH knife?

I’ve got mine rough ground, and scales (liners/bolsters) glued up. Might get back at it Sunday.

 

[kdnolin]

Almost done, still need to sharpen. The handle is box elder stabilized in cactus juice and wenge stabilized by K&G. Working on the saya now, something new to me.

 

[Storm W]

Nice pieces this KITH.

 

[kdnolin]

October 5th already, I’m still not done my KITH knife! Work has been extremely busy and I’m not getting any shop time
I don’t have much left to do, some final sanding on the handle and saya, then sharpen.

How is it going for everyone else?

 

[JTknives]

How has the grinding been? How do you like the steel?

 

[kdnolin]

I’ve used it on a few blades, Warren gave me a slab to try a few months ago. I like the way it grinds, orange Blaze belts made short work of the full flat grinds, but I haven’t fully finished a knife with it yet, so I haven’t actually used it.

 

[Willie71]

October 5th already, I’m still not done my KITH knife! Work has been extremely busy and I’m not getting any shop time
I don’t have much left to do, some final sanding on the handle and saya, then sharpen.

How is it going for everyone else?

I’m in the same boat as you. Very busy this past couple weeks. I’m 90% done grinding. I’ve changed my mind on handle materials (again!)

 

[Storm W]

I might be back up and running by the end of the week. I'm not sure that I will finish it in time

 

[A.McPherson]

I might be back up and running by the end of the week. I'm not sure that I will finish it in time

I'm in the same boat. I moved to a new place, much further south out here in w. Texas.

I might (probably) not make it in time... I don't have a shop setup yet, and I've got a whole house full of gear that I haven't stowed yet...

That being said, the lady of the house won't be around for most of the week, so I may F-off and finish whole she's away, consequences be damned!!

Lol! I sure talk big on the internet don't I?

 

[DanF]

How has the grinding been? How do you like the steel?

If I didn't have two boxes of your 15n20 I'd go ahead and use your profiling and h.t. services exclusively. Saves a lot of time in the shop.

 

[Willie71]

If I didn't have two boxes of your 15n20 I'd go ahead and use your profiling and h.t. services exclusively. Saves a lot of time in the shop.

Same here. I’m going to get a box of Damascus sized pieces to save time prepping.

 

[daizee]

I just started a new full-time job after a 6mo sabbatical. I'm afraid there's virtually no way I'll be able to finish in time. :-(