How to make your kitchen knife better WIP

[cotedupy]

I would expect it to wash off after sharpening. I was under the impression it was recommended for soaking into the handle. I wouldn't use it for that. There's probably a pretty slim chance it would go from your hands to the food after a drying period, but I'd still feel more comfortable with something food safe.

Ah gotcha, yeah fair point - I did use it on the handle here. Just because it's what I had to hand and had set myself the challenge of doing it all with the bare minimum. It'd be vanishingly unlikely to cause any kind of problem on a handle obviously, but you're right - I wouldn't for instance use it for conditioning a chopping board.

Normally when making or restoring handles I use drying oils like Tung and BLO, or Hardwax Oil (which is Tung based usually).

Quite apart from anything else; 3-in-1 is ok for oiling stuff in that way, but it's not particularly brilliant. I suspect the other 3% is chemicals for thinning, which makes it quite good for sharpening and lubricating use, but regular uncut mineral oil or natural plant-based oils are better for finishing wood. (imo).

 

[Dnallehekaj]

I received this Harukaze vg10 petty as a gift:





This thing is over $1 per mm of blade. I didn't buy it, so it feels kinda lame to complain, but here I go!

The spine where it meets the bolster had some raised rough spots on either side. It was was pretty unpleasant to pinch until I took the advice on this thread to round it on a stone. It needs more work on a coarser stone but I didn't want to break another stone out last night.

It wasn't very sharp out of box, and the edge profile was a little wonky. A bit "S" shaped. I took care of those issues at some point last year (and that's part if the fun!), but I don't think it was acceptable at this price point.

But again, I paid nothing, and got a pretty little project.

I want to do EVEN MORE work to this. I want to try giving it a flatter belly.

I might want to thin it, but will that mess up the cladding? It looks a little fat behind the edge to me:



It's difficult to get a clear choil shot, Idk how people do it.

 

[ChefJohnBoy-ardee]

I received this Harukaze vg10 petty as a gift:

View attachment 1599739

View attachment 1599740

This thing is over $1 per mm of blade. I didn't buy it, so it feels kinda lame to complain, but here I go!

The spine where it meets the bolster had some raised rough spots on either side. It was was pretty unpleasant to pinch until I took the advice on this thread to round it on a stone. It needs more work on a coarser stone but I didn't want to break another stone out last night.

It wasn't very sharp out of box, and the edge profile was a little wonky. A bit "S" shaped. I took care of those issues at some point last year (and that's part if the fun!), but I don't think it was acceptable at this price point.

But again, I paid nothing, and got a pretty little project.

I want to do EVEN MORE work to this. I want to try giving it a flatter belly.

I might want to thin it, but will that mess up the cladding? It looks a little fat behind the edge to me:

View attachment 1599747

It's difficult to get a clear choil shot, Idk how people do it.

If the layers are laminated correctly you can thin it just fine. Otherwise all these high end layed/clad knives would be hatchets overtime. I've sharpened a few of my work knives so many times that they are noticeable shorter in blade height compared to the same knife new. No issues.

The variations in color between layers may look like disappear or get fainter. They are still there. The blade may need re-etched. AKA dipped into a oxidizing solvent. This is all if you are worried about that. Or you won't have a problem and won't need to worry about.

 

[Dnallehekaj]

Cool, thank you! I thought it should be fine, but I wanted some support from someone more knowledgeable.

 

[cotedupy]

I received this Harukaze vg10 petty as a gift:

View attachment 1599739

View attachment 1599740

This thing is over $1 per mm of blade. I didn't buy it, so it feels kinda lame to complain, but here I go!

The spine where it meets the bolster had some raised rough spots on either side. It was was pretty unpleasant to pinch until I took the advice on this thread to round it on a stone. It needs more work on a coarser stone but I didn't want to break another stone out last night.

It wasn't very sharp out of box, and the edge profile was a little wonky. A bit "S" shaped. I took care of those issues at some point last year (and that's part if the fun!), but I don't think it was acceptable at this price point.

But again, I paid nothing, and got a pretty little project.

I want to do EVEN MORE work to this. I want to try giving it a flatter belly.

I might want to thin it, but will that mess up the cladding? It looks a little fat behind the edge to me:

View attachment 1599747

It's difficult to get a clear choil shot, Idk how people do it.

Glad to hear that rounding the spine helped the comfort.

I'd say you're right that it could probably do with a bit of thinning, which won't affect the cladding apart from visually. If you want to get it looking nice again afterwards; you could either polish it on stones, or use wet n dry sandpaper to get it looking nice again.

Personally, on a smaller petty like that - I think that amount of curve in the belly is quite good, though it does depend a bit on how you use it and cutting style. But if you do want to flatten the profile out a bit, then do it before you thin it. If you change the profile after thinning then you'll end up with fluctuating thicknesses along the length of the edge.

 

[Dnallehekaj]

I ended up thinning it just a bit. It made sense to flatten before, so I'm glad it was the right path to take! I only just read your reply.

I've got one of those thick Mercers:



This one is a tiny blade. I can only imagine how thick it is on a longer blade!

 

[Dnallehekaj]

I spent a lot of time doing knife stuff yesterday. My main project was a CCK 1302. Slight edge reprofile, and tattoo removal.

Mine came etched with a stupid QR code. I hated the way it and the characters looked, but also how they would catch on my towel when drying the knife.

I tried taking it all off with stones first, but the shape of the metal made that difficult. I held the blade and rubbed the sides and corners for awhile, and decided that was the wrong way to go.

Clamps and a dremel to the rescue! It was super easy to round off the parts that touch my hand with the dremel, which made smoothing it out on the stones even less of a chore

Here's the result after trying to polish the dremel scars away on my stones, and after an onion massacre:



There are spots my stones couldn't reach well, but I greatly prefer those scars to the etching that was there before.

When I got that knife, I scrubbed it down with Bar Keeper's Friend, washed, then soaked in vinegar solution for awhile to force a patina.

This time, I wanted to just cut stuff and get a natural patina. The metal is soooooo reactive! Surface rust started forming as I gathered the onions. I gave it another BKF scrubdown, then went to town in a sacrificial onion. A few of the slices came out pretty brown, so I took to scrubbing onion all over the knife surface.

After I prepped my French Onion Soup, I let the blade sit a couple minutes, washed with dish soap, dried, and oiled with mineral oil. I'm not sure if I'm going to have to force a patina with vinegar again. Time will tell.

It sure is nice to not have that stupid QR code anymore!

 

[cotedupy]

I spent a lot of time doing knife stuff yesterday. My main project was a CCK 1302. Slight edge reprofile, and tattoo removal.

Mine came etched with a stupid QR code. I hated the way it and the characters looked, but also how they would catch on my towel when drying the knife.

I tried taking it all off with stones first, but the shape of the metal made that difficult. I held the blade and rubbed the sides and corners for awhile, and decided that was the wrong way to go.

Clamps and a dremel to the rescue! It was super easy to round off the parts that touch my hand with the dremel, which made smoothing it out on the stones even less of a chore

Here's the result after trying to polish the dremel scars away on my stones, and after an onion massacre:

View attachment 1602067

There are spots my stones couldn't reach well, but I greatly prefer those scars to the etching that was there before.

When I got that knife, I scrubbed it down with Bar Keeper's Friend, washed, then soaked in vinegar solution for awhile to force a patina.

This time, I wanted to just cut stuff and get a natural patina. The metal is soooooo reactive! Surface rust started forming as I gathered the onions. I gave it another BKF scrubdown, then went to town in a sacrificial onion. A few of the slices came out pretty brown, so I took to scrubbing onion all over the knife surface.

After I prepped my French Onion Soup, I let the blade sit a couple minutes, washed with dish soap, dried, and oiled with mineral oil. I'm not sure if I'm going to have to force a patina with vinegar again. Time will tell.

It sure is nice to not have that stupid QR code anymore!

I am 110% down with this, good stuff!

The printed logo and QR code on newer CCKs is naff as anything, and caidao always look good when they're a bit rustic/rugged, so a couple of dremel scars here or there only add to that.

Forced patina is great on them too. If you need to do it again, have a try with this...

This is a Leung Tim Sangdao #2 (basically the same as the 1302), where I removed the black laquer 'kuruochi' with acetone, and then forced a patina using instant coffee made with hot white vinegar instead of water. About 3x the amount of coffee that you'd use if making it to drink. Really cool, very dark patina in about 20-30 mins.

 

[Dnallehekaj]

I am 110% down with this, good stuff!

The printed logo and QR code on newer CCKs is naff as anything, and caidao always look good when they're a bit rustic/rugged, so a couple of dremel scars here or there only add to that.

Forced patina is great on them too. If you need to do it again, have a try with this...

This is a Leung Tim Sangdao #2 (basically the same as the 1302), where I removed the black laquer 'kuruochi' with acetone, and then forced a patina using instant coffee made with hot white vinegar instead of water. About 3x the amount of coffee that you'd use if making it to drink. Really cool, very dark patina in about 20-30 mins.

View attachment 1603020

That's a pretty nice looking patina! That handle is even nicer!

the "kuruochi" mine came with came off powdery on my hands. No way was I going to wipe it on my food...

I'll definitely try hot white vinegar and instant coffee, thanks for the suggestion! Heck, I'll even post a pic when I eventually get around to it!

 

[cotedupy]

That's a pretty nice looking patina! That handle is even nicer!

the "kuruochi" mine came with came off powdery on my hands. No way was I going to wipe it on my food...

I'll definitely try hot white vinegar and instant coffee, thanks for the suggestion! Heck, I'll even post a pic when I eventually get around to it!

Ah cheers! I've been making and selling custom knife handles for a while now, so that's always nice to hear.

The wood on that one is quite interesting I think... it's used winemaking oak staves, which originally are very light coloured, cos they're oak. The reason it's dark is because wine solids (tannins n stuff) have soaked in and permeated the wood. And I found if you oil them before starting to work and shape the handle, then it fixes the colour and comes out pretty much jet black. But it's basically just wine stained from being submerged in Cabernet Sauvignon for X number of months.

 

[Dnallehekaj]

@cotedupy after the delicious vinegar coffee soak, do I wash or rinse the blade? Do I let it sit and air dry, or pat dry?

 

[Dnallehekaj]

I gave the CCK a couple of dips in the hot vinegar instant coffee bath.

The first attempt was pretty bad. I took it out and it started rusting very quickly, gross brown rust.

I looked up what to do after forcing a patina, and saw some give a light baking soda scrub to neutralize the vinegar.

So, another clean & dip, followed by a light wipedown with baking soda, followed by soap and water scrub, followed by towel dry, and it's at least stable now!

Mine's nowhere near as pretty as cotedupy's, but I'd say it's an improvement.





I oiled it after a little while, just in case it wanted to rust again, but I'm not sure that was necessary. It seems to be a good enough starter-patina.