1-Piece Forged Knife

Background

Some of you may a little while back, I began a kitchen utility knife. Well, that's all nice and finished, sent off to its new owner. They were kind enough to provide with some thoughts on how it performed, and using what they gave me I decided to make a mock-production version of that knife!

Planning

So, based off the I received and what I considered most efficient and practical, I planned the new design. The first thing was the blade. It worked quite well, but kitchen knives that it resembled usually had a straighter spine and a thinner blade. So this new one would straighten out a little more, but I'd keep the blade width for another reason.

The handle was fine, the contours and planes I made were easy to hold and looked nice. However, it was such a time consuming process to make that it wouldn't be practical to make it standard. So I decided to opt for a one piece design that had a swell that shrank back down, then do some embellishments.

The whole knife was now resembling a more versatile and rugged design, so it was no longer just a kitchen utility knife. It could be taken camping, or used smaller general needs. The new design then made sense for me to leave the wider blade that I mentioned above.

Forging

The forging process was very similar. I barely strayed at all from the path of making the original, so I made the blade from the same stock and cleaned it up a little.

This is where the first of the changes came into play. From this point (no pun intended), I straightened the spine just a little bit.

Then, it was time for the handle. I cut off the stock I was using to hold the piece just after the shiny bit started, and began drawing it out.

As you can see, I did the trademark swelling bend with a scroll where the tail meets, and twisted it around. That left me with the rough look you see here. This is what I wanted.

Finishing

To finish the knife, I simply heat treated, tempered to a light straw, and sanded the blade. Then I took to a wirewheel, and gave it a matte shine.

Apologies for the poor lighting.

Questions and comments more than welcome!