u/kenmizell

150mm Kengata Ko Sujihiki

(Texas Toothpick)

25mm heel height

0.7mm behind the edge

L6 Stock removal (former sawmill bandsaw blade section)

hand tools only (and a drill and angle grinder). no forge, just a propane torch, ball peen hammer, some files, sandpaper, and a makeshift grinder from hole-saw scraps and sandpaper in a drill in a vise.

Handle is eastern red cedar, plywood from a brie cheese crate, and scrap walnut (from making cutting boards) as a ferrule.

it’s a pretty good slicer, used it to eat a ribeye tonight.

i still need to work on steadiness while thinning…. critiques welcome.

i don’t have a forge and didn’t do any heat treating aside from the torch and hammer to add the texture to the spine. i’m guessing that removed some hardness from the blade, but i sharpened another one and it seems to be holding an edge, so i decided to finish this one as well. i don’t have hardness files yet so don’t know HRC but i’m guessing it’s somewhere between 50 and 58 (wide range I know) maybe I’ll buy some soon and test it.

Hi all, I made a Kengata Gyuto 204mm 50mm height, 0.7mm behind the edge, 2mm spine; out of L6 steel. After thinning it some more yesterday I tested it out by cutting Fillet steaks from a prime tenderloin… then my wife tried it on some lemons. i cleaned the knife after and dried it. and didn’t notice a patina last night, but this morning it has quite a bit of patina… some blues and some oranges. is there a chart somewhere that lists what colors come from what? I know you can get black with instant coffee, and I’ve heard onions and lemons (acidic things) cause a patina… but is there a list?

it’s actually the second knife I cut from L6 (Stock removal) bandsaw stock, but the first one that I put an edge on and finished (and the 3rd ever handle I’ve made and burned on).

204mm Kengata Gyuto (8-1/32” cutting edge)

1.6mm spine

0.72mm behind the edge

50mm tall

Handle is Eastern red cedar with plywood stripe and walnut ferrule.

It was supposed to be 210… but when I was grinding with improvised tools I overheated the tip and had to file it back (I’ll post a comment pic with the improvised grinding tool)

The last pic in this set has my:

150mm Ko Sujihiki (Top- unfinished first knife, 2nd handle- still needs sharpening and potentially heat treat)

180mm Hatsukokoro AS Kurosagi Bunka (Middle- my first handle, bought the knife)

204mm Kengata Gyuto (this knife)

I plan on making a set… I also have a Nakiri and a Tanto Chef cut out and profiled…

I don’t own a forge or kiln yet and was originally planning on making 10-12 knives before getting one and then practicing with coupons to get the heat treat process dialed in before doing the whole set, but I started wondering if they would hold an edge as-is (I mean they came from hardened high carbon L6 that spent years ripping trees into boards) what if I didn’t need to heat treat?

So this is a test. I will use this next to my AS bunka for the next few months while I make more knives and if it doesn’t roll an edge and performs well, maybe I’ll just sharpen them all.

This is my 4th knife ever, made using Stock removal from an L6 bandsaw blade. i think i may have gotten a little thin at the edge pre-heat treat, I guess I will find out when i get a forge, or kiln.

Thoughts? critiques?

This was all done with hand tools except for an angle grinder, I don’t have a belt grinder yet.

I saw a video of a guy who made a sled and table for a power plane and he was able to flatten a large cutting board in under a minute…. made me curious.

if so what brands are good and what are crap. there’s a vast difference in price from $38 to $300.

and how hard is it to find the hardware to build your own sled? (the rods and sliding holes)

so in my other post i mentioned meeting an old knifesmith teacher who was selling off his tools. I’m now 3 weeks into making my first knives (working mostly on weekends).

I plan to make a set. Don’t own a forge yet or a bench grinder, but i do have a propane torch, a bench vise with a small 3x4” flat area, a ball peen hammer, a few files, sandpaper, an angle grinder (which i used to cut out the stock).

I’m making

#1 a texas toothpick petty

#2 a k-tip Gyuto

#3 a nakiri

all with a light tsuchime and kurouchi finish

i still have some geometry refinement to do on #1 & #3, but today i worked on the Guyto. draw filing, then hand sanding with a jig i made using my bench as a flat surface for the sandpaper and moving the jig-mounted blade… (120,220,400,800).

this is all pre-heat-treat but the bandsaw blade it all came from was likely hardened. it takes forever by hand.

how am i doing for a first attempt?

what tips or feedback do you have for a total noob?

pics get older as you scroll, last 2 show my tools.

I plan to draw file the toothpick and nakiri and then sand similarly.