I'm so pleased by this article!<p>I'm a materials junkie. My wine glasses are made of ZrO2 stabilized by Y2O3. My daily work is to convert carbon-bearing gases into diamond through plasma chemistry. I've long considered making diamond knife blades, although recent literature searches have put me off a bit, given their demonstration that brittle ceramic blades like Zirconium oxide shed sharp microparticles that I doubt are good for the ingester.<p>Nevertheless, I have made several small solid diamond blades (~15 cm long) that I've used to cut filet mignon. With load cells attached, the draw force to cut with a diamond blade is <20% of the draw force needed for an equivalent steel blade coated with titanium nitride and overcoated with a thin Teflon layer, about 5% of the draw force required by a custom Japanese knife. I have one diamond blade in my kitchen that I use as a paring knife. It's the very best tool I own.<p>I'm gratified that our ancestors figured out how to make superlatively sharp blades knowing essentially nothing of the science underlying their work. They were very smart and attuned to the aesthetics of their work.<p>Thanks again for the post. Materials are endlessly fascinating.
Great article! I'm a dev turned blacksmith, currently getting back into bladesmithing. Working on my perfect kitchen knife. Here's my first attempt (San mai, mild steel with recycled spring steel edge) : <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/ukblade_blacksmiths/comments/1g5v6sc/grape_test/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reddit.com/r/ukblade_blacksmiths/comments/1g5v6s...</a>
What a beautiful article; the author weaves together the blacksmith's story with the science of the forge and red-hot metal inside in a way that put me there, as if I was watching Sam turn a deck of metal cards into a knife. The photos that accompany the text are stunning in their own right.<p>Author Laurence Gonzales writes, "In a sense, the knife marked the birth of civilization", which reminds me of the first knives that the survivors of Verne's "The Mysterious Island" make in their desperation and ingenuity:<p><pre><code> “Ah, if we only had a knife!” cried the sailor.
“Well?” asked Cyrus Harding.
“Well! I would soon make a bow and arrows, and then there could be plenty of game in the larder!”
“Yes, a knife, a sharp blade.” said the engineer, as if he was speaking to himself.
At this moment his eyes fell upon Top, who was running about on the shore. Suddenly Harding’s face became animated.
“Top, here,” said he.
The dog came at his master’s call. The latter took Top’s head between his hands, and unfastening the collar which the animal wore round his neck, he broke it in two, saying,—
“There are two knives, Pencroft!”
Two hurrahs from the sailor was the reply. Top’s collar was made of a thin piece of tempered steel. They had only to sharpen it on a piece of sandstone, then to raise the edge on a finer stone. Now sandstone was abundant on the beach, and two hours after the stock of tools in the colony consisted of two sharp blades, which were easily fixed in solid handles.
The production of these their first tools was hailed as a triumph. It was indeed a valuable result of their labor, and a very opportune one. They set out.</code></pre>
I was curious about the "Gator Piss" treatment in the article so I searched for it on a knife forum where someone shared a label:
<a href="https://www.knifedogs.com/threads/gator-piss.54340/" rel="nofollow">https://www.knifedogs.com/threads/gator-piss.54340/</a><p>"Contains: Iron TriChloride (FeCh), Iron DiChloride (FeCh), Hydrochloric Acid"<p>Plus a long list of warnings.
Apparently it's for etching damascus steel.
Nakiri profile is such a waste of good steel. It has no point (literally) and it's only going to cut vegetables so it can be almost any steel and serve its purpose. Spending this much effort on a kitchen knife is insane. It's just a utilitarian tool, like a mop.<p>Just get a boring stamped carbon steel knife and learn how to hone and sharpen (or just pay someone to sharpen it!), and don't leave it sitting in water. I haven't sharpened my knives in 2 years, they are all <$80 and sharper than most people's. Life doesn't have to be complicated.<p>My kitchen knife layout (on a magnet bar on the fridge):<p><pre><code> 3x 3.75" stainless paring knife (precision by goodcook)
1x 5.25" stainless paring knife (precision by goodcook)
1x 6" victorinox
1x 7" random japanese high carbon knife
1x 8" zwilling chefs knife
</code></pre>
These were bought at grocery or department stores. They're still sharp [enough]. I use the big chef's knife mostly to cut pizza, cake, bread. The midsize I use to carve meat and veggies. The paring I use for everything from cheese and fruit to spreading peanut butter and opening packages. I always have a knife handy, they handle well, they aren't expensive, and they perform great.
I read this with an echo of the Douglas Adams passage about the Sandwich Maker in Mostly Harmless.<p>> many was the evening when the Sandwich Maker and the Tool Maker could be seen silhouetted against the light of the setting sun and the Tool Maker's forge making slow sweeping movements through the air, trying one knife after another, comparing the weight of this one with the balance of another, the suppleness of a third and the handle binding of a fourth
It's a bit of a nitpick, but I hate the term "Damascus steel" used in this context. This is pattern-welded steel, which was first called Damascus by Bill Moran in 1973. It offers few (if any) benefits that a solid billet of a single high-quality steel wouldn't, and it offers none that the original Damascus was said to have.<p>Damascus steel was originally a crucible wootz steel that came from India or Iran and was sold to Europe through Damascus. The alternating colors came from the grain structure of the steel, not from different steel types layered together. As far as I am aware, we still do not know the exact process used to create it, although we have come close, and it's likely that modern CPM (Crucible Particulate Metallurgy) steels surpass it due to more consistent measurements for the components of the alloy.<p>I am only an amateur blacksmith, but I have spent the last 15 years dreaming and researching to prepare myself. Given that I live in an apartment, I am limited to a small mobile forge that I can wheel out to the complex's grill area where I am actually allowed to have a fire, which limits the projects I can do due to the forge size and temperature. Crucible steel is a dream one day, but for now I just nitpick and try to tell people about the original Damascus, which is (in my opinion) much more fascinating than what gets the label today.
I get the nostalgia, but it’s worth noting that modern metallurgy has far surpassed classic knife-making techniques. Industrially-made knives are stronger and hold an edge much better.
Laminate welding is easy.
Keep everything clean, wire brush,
use flux, certain types of sand, borax or store bought
never push past a welding heat.....either way.
Oh and even if the boss says you can use anything
you find out back, he does not actualy mean anything, a horse shoe, fine, AND the coil spring for his car,not so much.
Just came across that knife the other day.
Made a bit of chain on the anvil
I mostly fire weld for the look, as the tapers are
impossible to get any other way.
If you want a related subject, then fire brazing ox bells has as much lore and mystery as knives, way, way more skill required, but again
uses the simplest of materials.
I want a nakiri too and have been eyeing this one. No Damascus but the Spanish point is interesting.<p><a href="https://www.messermeister.com/products/oliva-elite-6-5-inch-nakiri-knife" rel="nofollow">https://www.messermeister.com/products/oliva-elite-6-5-inch-...</a>
One can say a video version of the article - similar process of making a Damascus sword<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53_cuLhObr8" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53_cuLhObr8</a>
"Sam is harnessing powers that few of us ever encounter in our lives. He’s directing them in order to reach down inside of this deck of tarot cards and transform the very atomic nature of its being. He’s doing what sorcerers do: magic."<p>This is how I feel when I practiced welding. It really is truly sorcery. All the fantasies and stories of olde, with wizards wielding wands that spout lightning. This is it! We can actually do it! But I'm not very good at it :)
This reminds me of that almost-philosophical discussion about the two types of consumers: the ones who carefully research, and then buy, the very nicest forks and spoons available to buy on the global spoon market, vs. those who agglomerate "whatever" in their flatware drawer, and never think about it.<p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4755470">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4755470</a> (<i>"The Best (dcurt.is)"</i>, 298 comments)