Well It only took me 6-years to finally make myself a knife!...one to keep for reals!
Anyhow, this knife was a journey, that headed was intended to be a large integral chef knife.
I started with a 1" square bar that I forged down at my buddy Jerry's shop. Jerry has a hydrolic press.....so i figured it would be great to diminish this large bar down a biut there first, then finish the forging back at my shop.
Well.....since I am not used to using a press, I got what was to be the Bolster-part too thin.
This piece of steel...intended to be a knife, out of that 1" square 1095 bar, sat in my studio for over a year. Finally I cut off the handle and integral bolster, leaving a blade-shaped piece of steel. This to sat for another 6-months..... I finally said what the heck, I will make myself a knife out of it. So I cut the handle shape into the blade, and forged-in the taper to the tang. And it sat again for 4-months, because I was not sure I would like the foat bottom to the handle. I thought it would be uncomfortable, and was reluctant to finisht eh knfei at all.
BUT I figured why not just heat treat it, and finish it anyhow....since I was going to keep it, no one would see it and I would have a perfectly fine knife of my own to use in my kitchen, a place where I spend lots of time.
So I finished it.
Time goes by and I love this knife! I have many friends that are avid cooks and some professional chef friends that visited my kitchen when I would have food events, All fo them loved that knife!
...I I made it part of my regular line-up.
I have added in some more recent images of knives I have made, patterened after the original forged blade. Only a few have been forged sice then, and none out of 1" square bar.
This new Model is called The Personal Chef.
Ehibits a blade with 7" of cutting edge
and the OAL is 12.25"
Plenty of clearance for knuckles over the cutingboard for detail cuts, and is weighted just for me:)
Featuring some side-cut Westinghouse Linen Micarta with peened bronze pins and detail carving.
I hope you enjoy seeing it.
More will be made and mostly all will be stock reduction and be in stainless steel.
>>> See the new images blow this original posting to see some of the new ones, that were stock reduction 52100, the next generation will all by as I said, in stainless steel.
Thanks for looking.
Blessings of Health and Goodness to You All
-DON:)
And...because this started as an integral, I posed this shot with one the largest integral knives I have forgd to date. 1 16.5" long slicer I made for s customer:) You can read more about the journey in making that big slicer
HERE.
A Few Shots of the Personal Chef Model in it's new incarnation. Stay Tuned for more to come!
Top image is a father and son set I made for my massage therapist (who is also a chef) and his son who he is teaching to cook. The smaller knife is my Tribal Utility Model.
And here is the only XL Personal Chef Made to date with an 8.25" blade.
