I was fortunate to move in with someone interested in the art/science of making knifes and metallurgy. The following are a few outcomes from my time having been allowed access to their workshop. I have outlined a few of the steps necessary in making knifes for culinary purposes.

Forge and Blade Profiling

If desired, a knife can start from un-formed piece of various material forged into a rough form prior to profiling.

(Left) Required PPE when running the forge or blade profiling (Middle) Home built propane forge (Right) Example "test" blades to be profiled.

Kife Geometry

I played around with a few different knife designs. One of the first was a full tang design (knife material runs the full length of the handle) and the others were a partial tang design (knife material extends partially into handel).

Full tang

Knife made with tang extending into the handle and attached with epoxy and "rivets".

Partial tang

(Left) Gluing handle host material in make shift press (Middle/Right) Test fit handle with profiled blade and brass inset.

Example of knifes blades that have been profiles and handles which are rough shaped prior to glue up.

Cryogenic Tempering

For some knives made of stainless steel, a cryogenic tempering process was applied in the attempts to increase the hardness of the blades. A Dewar of liquid nitrogen was acquired for such tests.

Extraction of knife from liquid nitrogen.

Final Knives

Knife 1

Knife 2

Knife 3

Knife 4