Delbert Ealy Chef's Knife

Sweet! Yup, Del is modest. He told me you'd looked at that (or one very similar) and gave him some
helpful pointers but not that you'd bought one.
 
Most people I know would show everyone they know that knife if they made it.
Me Like. Dozier
 
Dan,
Dave doesn't own this one, He's selling them for me. He has done a good job so far, this one only lasted 25 hrs.

Boss,
the balance on this one came in great and its really thin too about 2mm on the back, its almost 16 inches long, but only weighs in at just over half a pound.
After I sharpened this one I had the urge to go after some killer carrots.

wdtorque,
Thanks, Daves pics came out a lot better than mine.
More to come, I have damascus in the works for half a dozen more.
 
How about so info on how it's made? I.E. Stock removal or forge to shape. You make your own Damascus? How hard? Convex, flat? Ext
Colin
 
I do make my own damascus, for this blade it is around 300 layers of O-1 and L-6. I make a big billet of damascus which is enough for 3 of this sized knife. I forge the damascus down in thickness as far as I can go with my hydraulic press and then it is rolled in a steel rolling mill I built myself. I then send the steel off for blanchard grinding, which saves me about 2 hours grinding by hand. The steel is ground to .095". After I get the steel back from grinding, I cut the profile out with my bandsaw and refine it with my grinder. I then drill the holes for the handle, there are 3 of them, although you can only see one pin in the handle. The other 2 holes are for hidden pins, I like the look of the single pin, but I prefer the strength of the 3 pins, it also helps keep everything aligned. Then the blade is heat treated, I heat treat the blades full thickness to cut down on the chances of the blade warping. I take them to full hardness and temper back to Rc 61-61.5. Then it is time to grind the bevels in. Great care must be taken not to overheat the blade at this point. If the balde is overheated it will ruin the temper, therefore I always grind with bare hands. I have ground out more than a thousand blades, but up until I started with the kitchen knives I always ground the blades soft. It was a real wake-up call. The first blade I ground took me over 4 hours. I do a full flat grind on these blades. After the blade is rough ground it is time for finish grinding. This takes almost as much time as the rough grinding. For a final finish the blades are hand sanded with 400 grit sandpaper. Then it is on to the handles. I select the materials, size them and glue the bolsters to the handle material. I then drill the holes, and glue up the handles. I try to do this at the end of the day, because I use a very slowcuring epoxy (acraglass), and I like to let them sit overnight. Then its finishing the handles. This is when I put the facets in to form the octagon handle shape. Like the blade the handle get a final sanding by hand.
 
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The chocolate monster
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That's some shop you have there & some fine looking knives, I look forward to getting one. That is if Dave can keep one in stock for more then 3 hours.
Colin
 
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