Brisket Knife for Dad

Vaughn McMillan

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My dad's two favorite hobbies are cooking barbeque (especially brisket) and owning good knives. Darren's recent thread about the trout knife he made for his dad gave me the idea of making my dad a knife for his birthday (next month).

I found a cryogenically treated 440C stainless blade blank at Texas Knifemaker's Supply (www.texasknife.com) that looked like it'd make a nice brisket knife. I used some of Barry Richardson's desert ironwood for the handles. Throw in a few stainless steel pins, some epoxy, and a few hours of rasp and sandpaper work, and here's the end result:

Desert Ironwood Benny-Q Knife 1 - 800.jpg

I sculpted the handle to fit the hand a bit better. It doesn't show real well in the pics, but this will give you an idea of what I did. It feels real nice to me, and since his hands are about the size of mine, I think he'll like it too.

Desert Ironwood Benny-Q Knife 3 - 800.jpg

And another view...

Desert Ironwood Benny-Q Knife 2 - 800.jpg

I used no finish on this. I just sanded to 400 grit and went straight to the 3-wheel buffing routine -- tripoli, white diamond, and carnauba wax. The ironwood polishes up like cocobolo, so a membrane finish seemed unnecessary. I didn't do any sharpening. My dad's much better at it than I am, and he'll enjoy the project of getting this one tuned the way he likes it.

My dad has a number of nice carving knives, including one or two I've bought for him, but I can guarantee this is the only knife in his collection quite like this one. I'm pretty sure the fact that I made it will make it that much more special to him. ;)

And I'm liking this knife-making stuff. I've already ordered a few more assorted knife blade blanks...I think I'll see how they sell at the next show I do.
 
Vaughn that looks fantastic. I'm sure he will love it. I've been thinking about doing some sort of knife just for the heck of it. You've made that knife look so good I might just give it a try. What did you use for the pins? Looks like stainless in the pics or is it brass?
 
Thanks for the compliments, Jack. The pins are 3/32" diameter stainless. I bought a foot each of brass and stainless (about a dollar each), but I thought the silver matched the blade better. I've ordered some fancier pin material for the next ones. They've got some cool mosaic pin material at the site I mentioned above.

If you've been toying with the idea of making one, I'd say go for it. The materials are pretty inexpensive, and they are pretty quick little projects. I spent about an hour last night cutting and drilling the handle scales and gluing them on, then probably about 3 hours tonight shaping the handle with a rasp and on a little 4" x 36" belt sander and a couple sanding drums on my drill press. There was also a fair amount of hand sanding to get the contours smoothed out.
 
That's a great looking knife and I believe I'm seeing something in the handle design you won't see often in purchased knives. I call it finger relief radius for lack of a better term.
 
Very nice Vaughn, I may have to order one of those blades myself. I'm wanting to do a matching set for the kitchen, will have to see what other blades they have.
 
Thanks for the kind words, everyone.
I like it, Vaughn. :thumb: Does it feel as good in the hand as it looks like it does?

I ended up surprising myself. It feels better than it looks. :D The basic shape is similar to the handle on a Cutco knife, but it has softer edges. Now I have to hope I can do it again if I make another knife with a similar grip.

Darren, they have a few other blades in that handle shape, including a carving fork to go with the carving knife blade I used.
 
...What does the cryogenic treatment do to the blade?
I'm not sure what exact physical characteristics the freezing changes, but the end result is that the steel should hold an edge much better than similar, non-frozen blades. I really saw this effect when I started using some of Doug Thompson's cryo-treated lathe tools. They seem to stay sharp much longer than my regular high-speed steel tools.

Here are a few sites I found with a bit more info:

http://www.efunda.com/processes/heat_treat/matl_modify/cryogenic.cfm

http://www.cryogenicsociety.org/cryo_central/cryogenic_treatment_of_materials/

http://www.cryoplus.com/advantages.html
 
Beautiful knife... love the desert ironwood. I bet making knives is one of those addicting kinds of things. Kinda like once you get a little good at making bowls on the lathe. You get started and can't stop, always trying to improve on the last one, or try a different twist etc.
 
Beautiful knife... love the desert ironwood. I bet making knives is one of those addicting kinds of things. Kinda like once you get a little good at making bowls on the lathe. You get started and can't stop, always trying to improve on the last one, or try a different twist etc.

Getting serious about knife making requires a number of specialized tools. Meaning more $$$ outlay.
 
What Vaughn said, plus it makes them very expensive. :eek:
For comparison, TexasKInife.com shows a chef's knife blade for 19.95, and the cryo version of the same blade is $23.45. Not a lot of difference. This blank was about $18. At under $20, that seemed pretty affordable. (Keep in mind I have few knives in my kitchen that cost me upwards of $100 each.)

What are some of the tools the serious knifemakers rely on? I haven't really gone through the tool sections of the knifemaking supply sites. For this one I used the tablesaw to cut the scale blanks, the bandsaw to cut them to shape, a benchtop belt sander to clean up the glued-on handle, and a couple rasps to shape the wood. (And a few sheets of sandpaper to finish things up.) If I were making my own blades, I'd need some more metalworking tools for sure.

Dave, I suspect you're right about this being another slippery slope. :rolleyes: As I said earlier, I already have more blanks ordered. :D I'm probably already in trouble.
 
Well, I just looked at this and I am impressed too. I have a sister that is a Chef. A wife that LOVES to cook. A father-in-law that loves knives. Might have to try this.
 
For comparison, TexasKInife.com shows a chef's knife blade for 19.95, and the cryo version of the same blade is $23.45. Not a lot of difference. This blank was about $18. At under $20, that seemed pretty affordable. (Keep in mind I have few knives in my kitchen that cost me upwards of $100 each.)

What are some of the tools the serious knifemakers rely on? I haven't really gone through the tool sections of the knifemaking supply sites. For this one I used the tablesaw to cut the scale blanks, the bandsaw to cut them to shape, a benchtop belt sander to clean up the glued-on handle, and a couple rasps to shape the wood. (And a few sheets of sandpaper to finish things up.) If I were making my own blades, I'd need some more metalworking tools for sure.

Dave, I suspect you're right about this being another slippery slope. :rolleyes: As I said earlier, I already have more blanks ordered. :D I'm probably already in trouble.


A large belt sander/grinder is a must. Plus a selection of belt grits. Another large grinder for fast metal removal and rough shaping. A buffing, polishing set-up. The woodworking tools you mentioned. A kiln and possibly another type of kiln for hardening/tempering. Although many, if not most, knifemakers send their blades out for that process. Then come sheaths and leather working tools.
Then, you would have to join a forum.........;)
We have a famous bladesmith school in Arkansas. Built right on the site of the blacksmith shop where James Black made Jim Bowie's knives. I'll get you the info if you are interested.
 
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