Knife #5- Chopper/slicer

[Mike Stafford]

In my continuing efforts to make a knife for slicing and chopping vegetables I decided to try and make an improvement over the Nakiri that is currently my favorite knife.

Here is my version of a chopper/slicer handled in zebrawood; about 9 3/4" long. It does a pretty good job but despite the fact that the steel is thicker than the steel in my Nakiri it does not weigh as much as that knife. My wife likes this chopper because it is not as heavy.

 

[Jonathan Shively]

Mike, I assume you are quenching in oil. Then, this is the circular blade's natural finish after sanding? Do you have a plasma cutter and are cutting the initial shape out with that? How are you finishing? Sanding, using a lap/flap disc to grind? Another excellent knife!

 

[Mike Stafford]

Mike, I assume you are quenching in oil. Then, this is the circular blade's natural finish after sanding? Do you have a plasma cutter and are cutting the initial shape out with that? How are you finishing? Sanding, using a lap/flap disc to grind? Another excellent knife!

Yes, I am quenching in used motor oil from my lawn mowers and garden tiller. The finish you see is the result of sanding with wet/dry silicon carbide papers in grits from 80 through 600. I was able to get hook and loop silicon carbide discs from which I cut 2" discs to use with back up pads with which I sand bowls. These discs are used wet and do a great job. From 320 to 600 I used a sheets of the silicon carbide paper and sand in a straight line to get a uniform scratch pattern. I am cutting out the blades with a cutoff wheel in my 4 1/2" grinder. There is more to it than that since I cannot make the concave cuts with that tool so I recommend reading the details in my post Adventures in Knife Making. I am sanding to shape on 1x42" sander and its 8" disc using ceramic discs and belts. The bevels are ground very slowly and carefully by hand using the 1" belt.

I will refer you to my thread Adventures in Knife Making which describes in more detail all of the steps in how I am making these knives.

 

[Jonathan Shively]

I am sorry I was asking questions concerning material you have covered.

There are nasty things in the fumes of the used motor oil. Thus new motor oil, at school I use restaurant food oil (usually have a kid that works somewhere that can get a couple gallons of it used).

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

Very nice, Mike. That one would get a lot of use in my kitchen.

 

[Mike Stafford]

I am sorry I was asking questions concerning material you have covered.

There are nasty things in the fumes of the used motor oil. Thus new motor oil, at school I use restaurant food oil (usually have a kid that works somewhere that can get a couple gallons of it used).

Not a problem Jonathan, I am too lazy to type all that stuff out again but I do enjoy sharing what I have learned. From my first knife to my last I can really see improvement.

I am too cheap to use new motor oil. One of the videos suggested using old motor oil and another suggested Canola oil. I am too cheap to waste good cooking oil.

 

[Bob Gibson]

Those are great. I would use the heck out of the chopper !!

 

[Brent Dowell]

Mike, You really have to stop this, I only have so much time and too many hobbies already!

Just kidding, keep it coming, I love these knives. I'd love to try this out someday, but as I get a bit older and have accumulated too much on my plate with music the last couple years, I'm learning to back off on my desire to start new hobbies.