As a fairly new knife maker, yesterday I showed a chef my first chef's knife. He suggested I taper the blade, and afterwards I realized I don't know the best way to go about that. I first thought about tapering the blade before grinding the bevels. In grinding my bevels, I use a jig through about 120 grit, but if the blade were tapered, it wouldn't sit flat on my jig (without spacers or something else). I then wondered if I should just grind my bevels as normal, and then taper the blade. Basically I don't know what order to do things. I was thinking of doing it by hand, but I do have a surface grinder with adjustable angles, so I could probably taper a blade on it, using spacers for one side. Obviously I don't know where to start, and any suggestions would be appreciated.
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How to taper a knife?
- Thread starter Ricky-O
- Start date
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith
ilmarinen - MODERATOR
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It is so much easier freehand!
I do the rough taper on the blade vertical on the platen and then cut in the bevels and refine the taper.
On smaller knives, I just do the tap.er while grinding the bevels. It is pretty easy.
A jig limits you to the angles it is set at. To taper on a jig, set it to 0° and file in the taper by eye. Then raise it to the bevel angle and file the bevels.
I do the rough taper on the blade vertical on the platen and then cut in the bevels and refine the taper.
On smaller knives, I just do the tap.er while grinding the bevels. It is pretty easy.
A jig limits you to the angles it is set at. To taper on a jig, set it to 0° and file in the taper by eye. Then raise it to the bevel angle and file the bevels.
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2011
- Messages
- 16,358
I just drew this up in CAD, .100" Knife at 12" long with .010" thick tip tapered all the way from pommel to tip is .019 (359.81 from flat) degree taper. Now that is an extreme example and you really want to taper from the front of scale to the tip in a downward fashion. Point is you just barely need to shim it before you grind, do a little math first to check if you want. I probably figured this out wrong too, lol..
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I’ll share some videos below that helped me when I first started. Depending on the design the bevels could just do the tapering but on taller chef knives it’s generally not enough.
I used to taper by hand but it take time and consumes more abrasives than how I do it now which is on my surface grinder.
I mark my center, I break my 90s, and then do a little bit of grinding on the edge mostly as a reference point. I then slap on the surface grinder and do a bit if math and grind in my distal taper. I leave my tip thick at this point about .06 this allows me the room I need to complete the bevel grinding in the end I have a very nice thin tip.
Video that helped me
I used to taper by hand but it take time and consumes more abrasives than how I do it now which is on my surface grinder.
I mark my center, I break my 90s, and then do a little bit of grinding on the edge mostly as a reference point. I then slap on the surface grinder and do a bit if math and grind in my distal taper. I leave my tip thick at this point about .06 this allows me the room I need to complete the bevel grinding in the end I have a very nice thin tip.
Video that helped me