I was recently asked to make a demonstration knife for Uddeholm UK, the Swedish steel maker of outstanding technically advanced steels.
As this was my first attempt at a kitchen knife I had the help of my buddy Duncan Chandler for the initial grind as this was one expensive piece of steel that I couldn't afford an error when working with.
It was then professionally heat treated in a molten salt bath @ 1080 degrees Celcius then quenched in molten salt of a lower temperature. It was then put into a cryogenic soak of liquid nitrogen of around -196 C for a few hours in order to work its magic. This resulted in a Rockwell hardness of around HRC 60 and a steel of incredible wear resistance.
The steel has been hand sanded to 600 grit for a perfect satin finish, then laser engraved. The knife handle scales are book matched stabilised spalted Field Maple from a tree I removed from my land several years ago, hence the spalting pattern which is from the effect of fungus whilst it was stored. The liners are G10 and the handle has three beautiful mosaic pins.
The final edge was honed to 20 degrees per side on a Tormek water cooled sharpening system using 600/1000 grit CBN wheels. It was then honed using half speed paper sharpening wheels coated in 5 micron and .25 micron diamond paste. The latter processes were all calculated via a computer app used in combination with a jig and rest set up which ensures a perfect mirror finished edge, equal in sharpness and probably in excess of a standard Gillette razor.
Gary Kendall who is an outstanding leather worker made the protective sheath which is obviously needed for a kitchen knife this sharp.
This is lovely knife made from one of the only true stainless tool steels, so much so I believe the US Navy SEAL's have adopted this steel for their combat knives.
As this was my first attempt at a kitchen knife I had the help of my buddy Duncan Chandler for the initial grind as this was one expensive piece of steel that I couldn't afford an error when working with.
It was then professionally heat treated in a molten salt bath @ 1080 degrees Celcius then quenched in molten salt of a lower temperature. It was then put into a cryogenic soak of liquid nitrogen of around -196 C for a few hours in order to work its magic. This resulted in a Rockwell hardness of around HRC 60 and a steel of incredible wear resistance.
The steel has been hand sanded to 600 grit for a perfect satin finish, then laser engraved. The knife handle scales are book matched stabilised spalted Field Maple from a tree I removed from my land several years ago, hence the spalting pattern which is from the effect of fungus whilst it was stored. The liners are G10 and the handle has three beautiful mosaic pins.
The final edge was honed to 20 degrees per side on a Tormek water cooled sharpening system using 600/1000 grit CBN wheels. It was then honed using half speed paper sharpening wheels coated in 5 micron and .25 micron diamond paste. The latter processes were all calculated via a computer app used in combination with a jig and rest set up which ensures a perfect mirror finished edge, equal in sharpness and probably in excess of a standard Gillette razor.
Gary Kendall who is an outstanding leather worker made the protective sheath which is obviously needed for a kitchen knife this sharp.
This is lovely knife made from one of the only true stainless tool steels, so much so I believe the US Navy SEAL's have adopted this steel for their combat knives.
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