255mm W2 Gyuto 'Laser'

So...most of you guys know that I've been building my shop for the last month. Some of you know that prior to that, I was having some major issues with my heat treat process. My knives just wouldn't harden predictably in my fast oil. I switched over to brine for a quenchant, and out of probably ten blades, only two lived (both ko-gyuto).

Enter this blade. It was one of my final experiments prior to talking to a very helpful gentleman at Maxim Oil, who helped me determine that my oil was contaminated with water on a microscopic level...which was doing weird things to the quench. This blade was forged out very thin...ground with the bevels intact, and only received the barest hint of clay along the spine. As you'll see in the pictures, it still hardened unpredictably, but it was the first and only of the knives I have hardened in oil this year to harden completely along the edge. My Rockwell files showed that the entire edge was 67HRC as quenched, which tells me I achieved full hardness for the steel.

Anyhow, since the hamon was so unappealing to me, I decided to get back in the groove with my grinder by experimenting with a very thin grind for a gyuto (you guys know I like thin knives...so if I'm differentiating this one as a 'laser'...you know it's thin!). The grind on this blade is much like the two previous ko-gyuto I made recently. I'm not really sure what to think of the results. The blade is a bit flexible, but it's still stiffer than the few 'lasers' I've had the opportunity to handle. It's also thinner. My battery on my digital calipers went south tonight, so I'll have to get numbers up tomorrow...but by the hash marks...the thing's only a bit over 1.5mm at the thickest point. I brought the blade road on this knife up to about 2.5cm, for a nice, thin behind the edge blade (less than 1mm 1cm above the edge).

This one will definitely be a cutter.

Here's some pictures:


I almost always start out by defining the blade road. From there, I work in a back and forth manner to maintain the 'shinogi'. I made Japanese swords before I made kitchen knives...and I don't know what else to call it for you guys. It's the dividing line between the blade road and 'flat' of the knife.


After that, I work on the flats. Again, this is basically a back and forth game of reducing the knife thickness to my desired range.



You can see a hint of the hamon here. It's NOT pretty. This things going to have a sort of unapologetic 'in your face' demeanor, I think...





See? I warned you it wasn't pretty. I don't even think they match. All the more reason to nail the profile and geometry, eh?


A cleaner shot of the blade road. I don't worry too much about keeping that ridge dead sharp...since it all gets a light blending during polish. Mostly I just worry about maintaining it's position on each side of the blade.


And here's a fun picture! Looks kinda fat through the middle...until you realize it's only 1.5mm or so at the thickest point. Good stuff!

More to come tomorrow. I'll be finishing the polish on this one out while my other blades are thermal cycling!

 

Looks great my friend

 

I'm digging the profile and wide bevels on this...nice work!

 

BAD ASS!!! I think it looks pretty darn purdy to!

 

Thanks guys!!

Its definitely growing on me. At first I wasn't very happy with this knife. But as its coming together I'm really getting into it. The wide bevels won't be the best for anti-stiction, but the geometry break will help there some.

But, boy is she thin! Pre-polishing thickness was 1.57mm. Its not as stiff as I like my knives generally, but its still stiffer than cheaper production stuff.

Besides, at that thickness...I should be grateful for any stiffness at all, lol.

Oh, and yeah…she's as mean as she is ugly. She's tried to bite me a handful of times already, lol.

 

Oh, and by the way…taking grinder marks out of properly hardened W2…sucks.

That is all.

 

looks great cant wait to hear how it cuts with that grind.

 

Thanks! I can't imagine it being anything but great at cutting, as thin as it is. I mean, it's .80mm or less 1cm above the edge lol. For me though, stiction and stiffness are as important. Those are the things I'm most curious about with this one.

By the way, I told you guys she was an ugly one…and 'in your face' may have been an understatement lol.

Rough etch at 120 grit to see what there is to see:



At first I was thinking 'Ugly Duckling' lol, but now I'm thinking 'Junkyard Dog' .

 

Well it's certainly unique. I quite like the hard shinogi look, too.

 

Oh, what a nice tang template! Thanks Cris!

 

Those are on my bench as we speak Anton!!

 

Here's a couple pictures of tonight's work:





She's ugly, but man...she's really growing on me.

Picking handle wood will be fun. Bog oak with a human bone spacer has been suggested . Maybe if I had a legal source, eh? I don't know which material would be more expensive though!

Anyhow, the blade should be finished tomorrow, and the handle by the day after (whatever I decide to make for it anyhow)...then this one's going up for sale. Feel free to spread the word if you know anyone interested .

 

Nice looking blade. Oh! I meant to say tang template!

btw, I googled it for you: https://www.boneroom.com/welcome.aspx?c=1864&n=PostCranialHumanBones bones are pretty affordable

 

Wow, you learn something new every day, lol. I'm honestly not even sure what to think about that!

 

cris if you need help finding the human bone for the handle lemme know.

it was my idea after all lol!

 

Lol, Brad, if you want to buy this knife...I'll make a handle out of whatever you want buddy .

More seriously though...I don't think it's going to end up for sale. The shinogi near the choil got washed out somehow (whether with the grinder or hand sanding I don't know)...and while it doesn't affect the functionality of the blade at all...it's noticeable if you look at how it reflects light in that spot. I may end up passing this blade around to you all though, just to get your thoughts on whether its too flimsy for actual use. As far as functionality goes...I edged it tonight...

It most definitely cuts.

 

is it just super thin and flexy?

 

i have a shig handle i could send you so you dont have to use expensive handle materials if you are gonna pass it around.

 

Its not really 'flexy'…kind of hard to explain. It IS flexible, and the last 2-3" is moreso.

I'll just have to decide what to do with it after I've played with it myself, lol.

Thanks on the handle btw…I've got some stuff laying around though that I thought to use.

 

Yeah Cris certainly has enough spare wood to squeeze out a handle.