a pack of parers?

S

scott.livesey

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Nov 10, 2011
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hi,
latest batch. all the blades are Aldo's 1084. all the handles are from "scrap" wood, maple and dogwood from yard, walnut from gun stock maker. any and all comments welcome.
scott
apr3new.jpg
 
Hesparus said:
what's the thickness on those?

- Chris
Click to expand...

they are all 1/8", the thinnest 1084 Aldo sells. I guess you could call the edge a scandi type grind, there is no secondary bevel. I have tried to keep the total angle between 20 and 25 degrees. The hardness is Rc60-62. I will post more pictures when they are done.
 
franzb69 said:
i like the 2nd one and the 5th one from the left.

love the nakiri up top too.

=D
Click to expand...

Interesting. I am still trying to figure the difference between a nakiri and a cleaver. The one at the top I think of as a cleaver, it has a taller blade than the Old Hickory cleaver I have been using for the last 15 years, but I know it is not as tall as some "Chinese Cleaver" I have seen in the stores. It is the second "Nakeaver" I have made. I personally prefer it over a chef's knife or deba for kitchen prep. The total angle on the edge is about 15 degrees and I tempered the steel to Rc62. It will fall thru a ripe tomato and cut winter squash(acorn) almost as easily.
The handles are larger than "normal" on most of the paring knives so they are easier for folks like me with large hands and arthritis to use. I will post some pictures when blades are sanded and polished.
the old sailor
 
a nakiri is a shorter knife overall, shorter in height and length. to define the nakiri by it's name. it literally means veg cutter. "na" means veg and "kiri" means to cut.

it's just a japanese vegetable cleaver that's all. =D

a chinese cleaver is usually just a regular meat cleaver thinned down to near anorexic levels so it works better for veg and not anymore for cutting down bones and harder material.

well, at least that's how i interpret it.

if you're talking about a western deba which is just literally a chef knife that's been beefed up to chop down bones or crustaceans then i guess you can get away with prepping with that. but for a fish deba, a deba for filleting fish, that'd be pretty tricky in my experience.

western deba and chef knife together

images


western deba thickness compared to other knives

images


fish deba

images


large handles are great on parers, it makes them easier to maneuver, even for medium hands like mine.

lookin forward to what you have to post!
 
A couple of recommendations:
1) your handles are fairly square. Rounding off the corners will make them much more comfortable and attractive.
2) Maybe it's just the photographs, but some of your handles look thicker than they are wide. I think you'll find that your knives are more comfortable and easier to use if it's the other way around. You can still have big handles, but they will work better if they are wider than they are thick.
3) If you bring your grinds up a ways, your knives will cut better.

It looks like you're off to a great start. You've got a lot of different shapes and that shows that you're thinking a lot about design. Keep it up and you'll do fine.
Also, how are you estimating hardness?

- Chris
 
Hesparus said:
A couple of recommendations:
1) your handles are fairly square. Rounding off the corners will make them much more comfortable and attractive.
2) Maybe it's just the photographs, but some of your handles look thicker than they are wide. I think you'll find that your knives are more comfortable and easier to use if it's the other way around. You can still have big handles, but they will work better if they are wider than they are thick.
3) If you bring your grinds up a ways, your knives will cut better.

It looks like you're off to a great start. You've got a lot of different shapes and that shows that you're thinking a lot about design. Keep it up and you'll do fine.
Also, how are you estimating hardness?

- Chris
Click to expand...
for hardness, I used the machine at the office. please explain thick/wide related to blade
 
i think hesparus was referring to more blade height as width

=D

and spine thickness as thickness
 
thanks for comments. still trying to find that magic combination of handle to blade. I think some is due to the angle i shot the knives at. all of my knives are tested in my kitchen for handling and cutting(onions, peppers, carrots, potatoes, boneless meat)
my next batch of paring knives will use 3/32" 52100 and 1/8" & 3/32" O1, should have them ready for heat treat later next week
I am looking at some 2 to 3 inch wide O1 for next nageavers
my main restriction is a small furnace that limits me to a 6" length
what i was trying to say is that i prefer to use my cleaver or nakiri or cleaviri or nakeaver instead of a chef's knife for almost all my kitchen work. and i have a very nice 8" sabitier 4star/elephant chef's knife that just doesnt work for me. and that seems to be the rule with kitchen knives, everyone has their own preference on what to use. I do think everyone should try a small cleaver/nakiri, I find it so much more comfortable and controllable than a conventional chef's knife.
scott
 
Last edited:
I think the blade widths are fine — it's the handles I was talking about. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but a couple of the handles (the cleaver and the parer in the middle) look like the width (the distance from exposed tang to exposed tang) is greater than the thickness (the length of the pins).
With respect to the grinds, I think they are too narrow for the thickness of the steel. 1/8" is fairly thick for a paring knife, but it can be manageable with the right grind. At .125" thick, 20º scandi grinds will leave you with a grind height of a little over a third of an inch (0.36" if my math is right). This will lead to significant wedging when you try to cut through hard materials. Doing a full flat grind will make the best out of the steel you're using. Your 3/32" 52100 will be much better for paring knives (and is more typical for nakiri) but you'll still want to do a full flat grind on them.
On your cleaver, you can get away without a full flat grind because it is so wide, but you'll find that bringing the grind up to at least an inch will make it cut much better.
I hope I've been more clear here.
Good luck!
- Chris
 
thanks. still learning on belt sander. need to find belts with thinner joints, last batch thumps alot when i try to use platen.
will post updated pix when they happen. just found a bunch of figured red oak for scales(you would be amazed what you can find in a fire wood pile.)
scott
 
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