Do I even bevel?

Kevin McGovern

Kevin McGovern

Joined
Jul 31, 2015
Messages
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I have a close friend who's asked me to make him a set of steak knives. (being a close friend is the only reason i'm considering it) I have some .040" stock, and it seems that these would require very little primary bevel. Is it an option to forego it all together, and just put an edge on? I can play around with it, just wondering if anyone has noodled that before. For something as single purpose as a steak knife, I don't think that thickness behind the edge would be a big deal. But who knows. Also want to keep cost down, and not having to flat grind something that wispy is a plus as well. Thanks in advance.
 
Hi Kevin. While I'm obviously not the most experienced maker here, I wouldn't worry about it. Also, as you've probably already thought about, IMO, edge retention is more important than ability to hold a keen edge like a chef's knife because most folks don't eat on wooden plates.
 
HSC /// said:
I think you need a bevel. .04 is too thick to pass thru food well
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not beveling goes against every fiber of my being, so I may have to. I may make a jig for these, so i have a hard backer to reduce flex, and get consistency while being able to be fast about it.
 
Do HT first.
Two options on the bevels:
Start with a 120 grit belt and make a convex bevel rounding down to the edge. Put the edge on around 15 DPS.
or
Grind a short bevel around 1/3" high with a near zero edge. Then put on the edge.
 
I agree with Stacy, I go about half height with a chisel grind on thin stock like that.
 
How long do you plan for the blades? .040" is pretty thin and flexible. I made the wife a 3" paring knife using .040" and she hated it - blade to flexible she says. I thought it was just fine. I used .062" AEB-L for the last set of steak knives I made. While I called it a FFG, it's actually more of a convex grind for the bottom half of 1" wide blade. If used solely as steak knife I agree with prior post that edge strength to hold up is more important than razor sharp edge when cutting against the usual plate.
 
Ken H> said:
How long do you plan for the blades? .040" is pretty thin and flexible. I made the wife a 3" paring knife using .040" and she hated it - blade to flexible she says. I thought it was just fine. I used .062" AEB-L for the last set of steak knives I made. While I called it a FFG, it's actually more of a convex grind for the bottom half of 1" wide blade. If used solely as steak knife I agree with prior post that edge strength to hold up is more important than razor sharp edge when cutting against the usual plate.
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I think I have some .062 (also AEB-L) i think. I may go that way. blade length around 5" i think?
 
i would make a test blade with the soft .040" just sharpen it and see how it feels going thru as far as geometry is concerned.
 
Even the cheapest steak knives from the dollar store have a bevel on them, and those are usually pretty thin as well. A 1/3 to 1/2 width bevel should be fine, and only take a short amount of time per side. Just think of it as sharpening the blade twice. ;)
 
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