Making a kitchen knife. Need advice on the handle.

sogflash

sogflash

Joined
Aug 28, 2011
Messages
1,588
I'm planning to make a kitchen knife. I'll have a blacksmith make the blade, and I'll make the handle myself. It'll most likely be a chefs knife, but I've not yet decided the exact shape of the blade.

Do you have any input on what shape the blade should have? The knife will be used to cut meat and vegetables. Anything I can't easily do with my pocket knives. I'll most likely use it for both big and small task in the kitchen. I just don't know if the tip should drop down like a sheepsfoot blade or not.

The second thing I need help with is the handle. What should I use?
I want to use wood, but I'm worried it'll become a vacation resort for bacteria. How do you deal with that?
Bolster will be made from either brass, aluminum or stainless steel.

I hope I asked in the right place.
 
Shape of the blade is very individual, handle in stabilized wood is preferred,
keep in mind that your fingers fit so your knuckles do not take the cutting board. Good luck and show the results.
 
If you go for wood, make sure it's stabilized. You should also consider micarta — it's completely stabile, very strong, attractive, and it gets even more grippy when it's wet.
I'd go for a gyuto shape myself, but there are a lot of good shapes. This website will tell you most of what you need to know about blade shapes (for Japanese knives, anyway): http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/misc/usetype/all/index.shtml

- Chris
 
I thought micarta would suck up moisture. At least that's what I red here on BF. What is the difference between paper, linen and canvas based micarta?

Would moose antlers work?

The gyuto blade looks nice. What are the advantages with anything else than full flat grind?
 
rosewood was the most common for kitchen knives until some time in the 80's (I have cooked many places over the years). For the purpose of microbial resistance I would say ebony if you can find it. Very hard and doesn't take moisture quickly. You could also go with the Lexan, now the food industry standard. I believe it comes in many colors. When I was apprenticed as a butcher Lexan was everywhere.
 
Micarta is made of a pressurized stack of fibrous materials (commonly paper, linen or canvas) with a phenolic binder. Paper micarta is a little bit heavier than the other two, and has only a very subtle pattern visible in it. It can be polished to a very high luster but is not attractive with a coarser finish. Linen micarta has an obvious pattern in it (what you see is just the stack of linen) but can also be polished to a high luster. It is still attractive at rougher finishes. Canvas behaves just like linen but the visible pattern is different. I have used all three, but I like linen the best because I think it is more attractive than canvas and has all of the positive attributes of it. When wet, the exposed ends of the fibers of linen and canvas micarta will absorb a tiny amount of water and swell up, increasing the grippiness. The finer the finish on the handle the less this will happen. To say that they "soak up" water is not really accurate. Micarta is used on lots of high-performance knives by professional chefs with no problems. Bob Loveless believed that micarta was the perfect material for knife handles.
The gyuto is best with a full flat grind. What grind did you have in mind for it?

- Chris

ETA: A couple of more questions that will help with future answers:
Are you having the blade made by a blacksmith or a blade smith?
Is the smith going to be finishing the blade or just doing the rough work?
Have you ever done something like this before?
 
I'm not sure if I know the difference between a blacksmith or a bladesmith.

The smith will make and finish the blade for me, and I'll make the handle.

i have made handles for fixed blade knives before, but never anything as big as this.

I had full flat grind in mind for the best slicing, but then vegetables especially might stick to the blade. It's not a big problem, and not a big trade off for superb slicing.
 
as far as blade shape choices you basically have 3 options as far as shape-- german, french, or japanese/gyuto

basically:
german- a more distinct belly or upward curve
french- less distict belly
gyuto- kind of in the middle, and often have a more drop point style

this explains a little more in depth: http://www.cheftalk.com/t/62065/french-and-german-chefs-knives-profiles-in-cutting


it really comes down to taste but if i had to recommend i'd recommend french or gyuto
 
a properly designed japanese Santoku is IMO the best all around knife for the kitchen. get one in about seven and a half inch length. handle design is not too critical but blade shape is. Most of the knives posted here that are being called santoku are not even close so make sure whoever makes your blade knows what the H*ll they are making. this applies to whatever blade design you go with.
 
Bill, I'm interested in hearing what you consider to be the ideal shape for a santoku, or at least what are the common mistakes in variants that you have seen.
I have used santokus from a few different manufacturers and also noticed quite a difference in shape and resulting performance between them.
 
photonjunkie said:
Bill, I'm interested in hearing what you consider to be the ideal shape for a santoku, or at least what are the common mistakes in variants that you have seen.
I have used santokus from a few different manufacturers and also noticed quite a difference in shape and resulting performance between them.
Click to expand...

Since santoku is an all purpose knife, "santoku" meaning three uses or three virtures, there is probably not an Ideal shape for everyone but there are several things that make it santoku.

The biggest things I see are too much belly and weird handle to blade angles. For a true japanese style santoku, the spine of the knife should be straight or very slightly upswept and should be angled down toward the edge, ie... if you extended the line of the spine far enough it would meet the edge, this gives some knuckle clearance without have to make the blade overly tall. This line should also extend through the handle. The edge should have most of the curve/belly in the front/tip part of the blade and the rear should be almost but not compleatly flat. the distance from the heal to the spine should be the widest part of the blade. since santoku are more of an all around use knife they should be thicker behind the edge than say a gyoto or a sujihiki, tips are very rounded but there is enough point for scouring etc. but it is not acute enough for any type of carving or delicate work.

these two linked pages show various santoku from different makers in japan notice how all blade shapes are very similar and pretty much follow what I have outlined above.

http://www.epicedge.com/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=110&cat=Santoku

http://www.japaneseknifeimports.com/kitchen-knives-by-type/santoku.html
 
Last edited:
Bill Burke said:
...the spine of the knife should be straight or very slightly upswept and should be angled down toward the edge, ie... if you extended the line of the spine far enough it would meet the edge, this gives some knuckle clearance without have to make the blade overly tall. This line should also extend through the handle. The edge should have most of the curve/belly in the front/tip part of the blade and the rear should be almost but not compleatly flat. the distance from the heal to the spine should be the widest part of the blade. since santoku are more of an all around use knife they should be thicker behind the edge than say a gyoto or a sujihiki, tips are very rounded but there is enough point for scouring etc. but it is not acute enough for any type of carving or delicate work.

these two linked pages show various santoku from different makers in japan notice how all blade shapes are very similar and pretty much follow what I have outlined above.
Click to expand...

I'm a bit slow today, so please excuse my questions.

Why should the spine be slightly up swept?

What exactly do you mean when you write "This line should also extend through the handle."?

Where exactly is the heal?
 
sogflash said:
I'm a bit slow today, so please excuse my questions.

Why should the spine be slightly up swept?

What exactly do you mean when you write "This line should also extend through the handle."?

Where exactly is the heal?
Click to expand...

Sorry I was unclear on this. if you re-read my post it says the spine should be straight or very slightly upswept. the only reason for any upsweep is looks.

the second sentence "this line should also extend through the handle", means that the top line of the handle should be parallel with the top line of the spine. look at some of the knives in the links I provided and you will/should see what I mean.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top