Thickness of a chef's knife

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pcohen04

New Member
Now I've read older threads about this subject, so I know the question will raise a few eyebrows. Here goes nothin'. My brother makes tactical knives, and I've recently joined his production team to come up with a culinary line. I've got some drawings and mockups in the works, and the chef's knife I have in mind is a big boy. Blade is about 9 1/2" to 10" long, and 2 1/4" wide. The question that we now face is the thickness. I know for slicing purposes, everyone seems to agree on around 3/32" for the spine to start. However, being that he is a tactical maker, he and I would like to also have that influence on this blade without taking away from a true culinary blade (we are both chefs at heart, him being an actual trained one). Is it truly a sin for the spine to be around 1/4" or 3/8" thickness? Give me your thoughts people.

-Preston

http://www.jericohblades.com/
 
I've had customers request large chef's knives made from 3/16" steel but never any thicker. I think a chef's knife that thick would be too heavy to handle well. But there is only one way to find out. Since you're both knowledgeable about kitchen cutlery make one and let us know how it handles.
 
I use 1/8" thick or less steel with a full vee and then convexed grind for my culinary knives.

The European/Americana chef's knives tend to run on the heavy side. The Japanese are rarely over that 3/32" or 3mm of thickness.

Michael's point is correct about larger ones Wedging on potatoes,etc..

I started making Hunters & Tactical's, These days I am of the belief that the best tactical knife is the one you have with you!

Each to his own!
So make some fat boy Chef knives and let us know how it works?

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com/
 
I made one for my wife from 3/16 steel and it is a miserable kitchen knife. It wedges in everything. She hates it, but refuses to get rid of it since it's the first knife I made her. I have since made her a 5" Santoku from 3/32 and she loves it.
 
Preston,
Checked my largest knife, it is an older(1982) Sabtier elephant four star chef's knife. blade is 9 1/2" long and 1 3/4" wide at the handle. blade thickness is 3/16" at the handle then immediately begins to taper to 0.0165" at the point. it cuts well and does not wedge. BUT it was machine forged, warm formed in a 4 stage forge(probably a Schuler). could not imagine trying to make a knife like this using the stock removal method.
scott
 
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..that knife has still been ground, unless it has forging scale on it.

I've found kitchen cutlery varies alot from region to region.

western countries seem to like thicker/heavy knives while japanese like laser thin/light. There are exceptions to everything.

alot boils down to personal preference, which makes it good for us knifemakers:3:
 
Must balance ability to slice and if for a pro chef who might be using it for a long time fatigue if your cutting fast you have to stop the blade and change direction on the up and down stroke I can see it not being much fun after a few hundred weight of veg prep (more weight means more inertia) tho weight with gravity will technically help on the down slice and the board will do the stop

for Home use where these factors wont pay as much influence a heavier blade will be less of a problem as you wont be using it for so long at a time

I would work on cutting geometry from the edge and see what spine thickness you get as that is the important part of the blade.

ATB

Duncan
 
I grind some Chef knives up to 11" and over 2 1/2" at the heel. Most are 9 3/4" or less.

I was thinking about this thread while grinding on a Chef knife on Saturday. As long as the Vee grind is on a tall enough piece of steel, 2 3/4- 3 1/2 inches or taller, You could use 3/16 or larger.

It would be a bit of a Broad Sword and way too heavy for most people.
But it wouldn't wedge on foods.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
S.Shepherd said:
..that knife has still been ground, unless it has forging scale on it.
Click to expand...

with a modern automated forge there is very little scale on parts once they leave warm form press. more than likely, the blades are cooled, aligned, then enter a grinder/heat treat line where they are cleaned up, heat treated, a very narrow sharp edge is ground, handles applied and bolted (holes for handle are done by the forge), then a sleeve placed over the blade. maybe 1 in 100 knives is checked by a person, any other quality checks could be done with automated cameras. from billet to in the box should not take longer than an hour.
this is why i am learning how to make knives for my use and maybe someday to sell. the people at the knife factory could be making car parts (like me) or wrenches or sockets for all the actual interaction they have with the product. and i definitely agree, that makes it good for all hands on knife makers.
scott

"Old sailors never die, they end up forging car parts and complaining about the heat"
 
S.Shepherd said:
scott, I worked in a forging plant for 7 years.

here's a vid from wusthoff, you can see the scale on the blade. Grinding thin is just a matter of keeping things cool.
Click to expand...
neat video. i am amazed they are using such old equipment. what did you forge? we make cv joints and axles. the Schuler press is the ultimate big boy's toy.
 
steel, brass, and of all things.......aluminium ! I ran everything from a 4 story coining press to a 1000ton forge "press"( it would close a 15" gap in less than a second)
 
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