Knifemaking
- Integral Damascus Kitchen Knife
A san mai damascus kitchen knife with stainless steel handles for
a chef in Spain.
Order Details:
- 8” blade according to a kitchen blade profile.
- Damascus steel with a 52100 core.
- 5" handle, including integral bolsters, in stainless steel.
- Spacer in brass.
- Sheath in brown handstitched cow leather.
Knife making process
This first pictures are not from the actual process of making this
particular knife, but they show exactly what I did with this one.
Since I already had this pictures, I thought I wouldn't need to take
new ones showing the same process.
This is the making of the canister with the different steels layers
(1010 and 1070) surrounding the 52100 core inside to place later in
the oven to heat it. On this pictures the core is O1 and the core
piece is thicker, but you get the idea. (Pictures 1, 2, 3 and
4)
Once it gets hot, about 20-30 mins, depending on the size and thickness
of the core steel, I take it off the oven and start hammering the
canister. As the two layers in contact with the canister are stainless,
I can retrieve the billet without complications later.
After the billet welds properly (You can tell by the hammering that
you're hitting a solid piece) I open the canister, and take out the
billet. (Picture 5)
Then I electric weld it to a steel rod to be able to insert it an
retrieve it from the oven easily with one hand and hammer it on the
anvil with the other. (Pictures 6 and 7)
Once I have that, I just start treating that damascus billet as any
other forging steel, heating it and hammering it to make it thinner
and longuer. (Picture 8)
Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3
Picture 4
Picture 5
Picture 6
Picture 7
Picture 8
This are pictures of the actual knife.
After much hammering, I got the almost final shape of the blade. (Pictures
9, 10 and 11)
When making an integral, I have to keep the blade thicker at the ricasso
area, so I can hammer it back to add steel on the "bolster"
part. (Picture 12)
Once I had the forged blade, I used the grinder to take it to the
exact desired shape. (Picture 13)
For the handle, I started with a piece of 304 stainless steel, then
I drilled to make it lighter and to insert the tang of the blade.
On the marked spot is where I welded both steels togheter. (Pictures
14 and 15)
For extra resistance, I also made a small hole to pass a stainless
steel peg. (Picture 16)
