[Misc] Vintage High Carbon Chef's Knives

[McTavish]

Another random challenge for the great and the good of NSC...

Just before Christmas I dropped my wife's favourite knife and broke the tip off the blade so I am (desperately) looking for an vintage, hi-carbon chef's knife, 6-7 inch blade, preferably with a rivetted wooden handle similar to this:



Following legislation to stop yoofs stabbing each other, it is now almost impossible to buy knives on ebay, gumtree etc and so getting hold of second-hand knives is very difficult. Does anyone know a shop in either Sussex or London that has this sort of thing?

Does anyone have one that they no longer need?

 

[AmexRuislip]

Another random challenge for the great and the good of NSC...

Just before Christmas I dropped my wife's favourite knife and broke the tip off the blade so I am (desperately) looking for an vintage, hi-carbon chef's knife, 6-7 inch blade, preferably with a rivetted wooden handle similar to this:

View attachment 92554

Following legislation to stop yoofs stabbing each other, it is now almost impossible to buy knives on ebay, gumtree etc and so getting hold of second-hand knives is very difficult. Does anyone know a shop in either Sussex or London that has this sort of thing?

Does anyone have one that they no longer need?

Could you get the point re-sharpened, I did this with my wife's pairing knife, the one she had from college cheffy days

 

[AmexRuislip]

https://www.nisbets.co.uk/kitchenwa...es/victorinox-rosewood-handled-knives/_/a33-4

 

[Yes Chef]

Another random challenge for the great and the good of NSC...

Just before Christmas I dropped my wife's favourite knife and broke the tip off the blade so I am (desperately) looking for an vintage, hi-carbon chef's knife, 6-7 inch blade, preferably with a rivetted wooden handle similar to this:

View attachment 92554

Following legislation to stop yoofs stabbing each other, it is now almost impossible to buy knives on ebay, gumtree etc and so getting hold of second-hand knives is very difficult. Does anyone know a shop in either Sussex or London that has this sort of thing?

Does anyone have one that they no longer need?

If you tried a commercial supplier, like www.nisbets.co.uk, you may have more joy, won't be second hand of course but you can get a knife that will last for decades at a reasonable price.

 

[Yes Chef]

https://www.nisbets.co.uk/kitchenwa...es/victorinox-rosewood-handled-knives/_/a33-4

Beat me to it!

 

[McTavish]

Could you get the point re-sharpened, I did this with my wife's pairing knife, the one she had from college cheffy days

Probably not, the blade is bent as well so will be very difficult to get it true again.

 

[McTavish]

If you tried a commercial supplier, like www.nisbets.co.uk, you may have more joy, won't be second hand of course but you can get a knife that will last for decades at a reasonable price.

Thanks. I really wanted one of the old-fashioned type that discolour and rust a bit rather than a stainless one, but that is a great option.

 

[AmexRuislip]

Probably not, the blade is bent as well so will be very difficult to get it true again.

Could always try the blacksmith at Amberely Chalk Pits.(to straighten and sharpen)
They are an Albion sponsored attraction, from what I can remember the last time I went.

http://www.amberleymuseum.co.uk

 

[AmexRuislip]

www.knivesandtools.co.uk

 

[happypig]

Another random challenge for the great and the good of NSC...

Just before Christmas I dropped my wife's favourite knife and broke the tip off the blade so I am (desperately) looking for an vintage, hi-carbon chef's knife, 6-7 inch blade, preferably with a rivetted wooden handle similar to this:

View attachment 92554

Following legislation to stop yoofs stabbing each other, it is now almost impossible to buy knives on ebay, gumtree etc and so getting hold of second-hand knives is very difficult. Does anyone know a shop in either Sussex or London that has this sort of thing?

Does anyone have one that they no longer need?

Looks like an old(ish) Sabatier, I have an identical one that I rehandled a few months back. Grinding it back to a point and sharpening is a fairly simple job but will, obviously, change the blade geometry. I suggest you ask over at https://edgematters.uk, there's a lot of skilled makers on there; one of them might be willing to do it for you (I would offer but some of the guys on EM are much more skilled than I am).

 

[Brian Parsons]

Although now retired, I worked with metal all my life. You say it is a high carbon steel knife. High carbon steel is not brittle so the tip should not have snapped off.

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

 

[maffew]

only on NSC

 

[marlowe]

Although now retired, I worked with metal all my life. You say it is a high carbon steel knife. High carbon steel is not brittle so the tip should not have snapped off.

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

It depends on the heat treatment. If high carbon steel is annealed, then it can become less brittle than if quenched. But, in the case it is annealed, the higher % of cementite will lead to less ductility than in low carbon steel. If high carbon steel is quenched, then martensite and other metastable structures may be formed. These structures are very hard, thus rendering material brittle.

 

[happypig]

It depends on the heat treatment. If high carbon steel is annealed, then it can become less brittle than if quenched. But, in the case it is annealed, the higher % of cementite will lead to less ductility than in low carbon steel. If high carbon steel is quenched, then martensite and other metastable structures may be formed. These structures are very hard, thus rendering material brittle.

A blade should be tempered after heat treating, that makes it less brittle.

 

[McTavish]

Although now retired, I worked with metal all my life. You say it is a high carbon steel knife. High carbon steel is not brittle so the tip should not have snapped off.
https://nortr3nixy.nimpr.uk/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=8268063
Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

Thanks. Maybe high carbon is not what I mean - it is what I had been led to believe the metal was called. It is the old style knife - as in the picture - that is not stainless, discolours easily and can rust a little if not dried after washing. It is very easy to sharpen to a very fine edge (and also loses the edge quite quickly.)

 

[clapham_gull]

It depends on the heat treatment. If high carbon steel is annealed, then it can become less brittle than if quenched. But, in the case it is annealed, the higher % of cementite will lead to less ductility than in low carbon steel. If high carbon steel is quenched, then martensite and other metastable structures may be formed. These structures are very hard, thus rendering material brittle.

I was just about to post the same thing.

 

[marlowe]

I was just about to post the same thing.

Well its just common sense really. As most people will tell you the high carbon steels contain from 0.60 to 1.00% C with manganese contents ranging from 0.30 to 0.90%. The pearlite has a very fine structure, which makes the steel very hard... It is made up from a fine mixture of ferrite and iron carbide, which can be seen as a "wormy" texture. Unfortunately this also makes the steel quite brittle and much less ductile than mild steel. Actually, this is a typical system, which has BCC structure and shows brittle-ductile transition, where the cleavage fracture mode is replaced by shear mode. In any given material existence of the flaws in the forms of micro cracks (in the bulk or at the surfaces), grain or phase boundaries and inclusions can't be avoided. For the elastic fracture we have Griffith criterion, which gives the mathematical connection between the stress intensity factor K = Sigma (Pi x a)*1/2 and the critical stress intensity factor KC= (E GC)*1/2 which is also known as the Fracture Toughness. Where Sigma is the applied stress, a is the micro crack length, E Young modulus, GC is the total work for fracture (Theoretical value is twice the surface free energy, and it is given by 2E/ (ao20), ao is lattice parameter). When the stress intensity factor for given stress and the crack length becomes equal or greater than the Fracture toughness, the crack becomes unstable and grows or propagates unless it hits a barrier along its path. The most critical parameter here is GC,, which is two to four orders of magnitude greater than the true surface free energy term. This is due to the fact that the local stress concentration at the crack tip reaches the yield point, which is much smaller than the cohesive strength, and causes localized yielding before localized fracture (bond breaking). This zone extends over a region called plastic zone, within which tensile stress becomes equal to yield stress. The size of plastic zone determines the value of GC the total work for fracture. The microscopic scale of plastic deformation is an inhomogeneous process and involves dislocation pile-ups or blocked slip bands at the grain boundaries or at the inclusion or phase boundaries. In the case of very fine pearlite structure the thickness of the pearlite lamelar, which is about 200-300 nanometers, limits the size of the plastic zone almost to nil. Any fool can tell you that.

 

[SeagullinExile]

 

[exKT17]

Worth trying to save if you like it. I've used this guy in the past for similar, he'll do a good job and won't rip you off. Get him to regrind it while he's about it.

Robin Bailey
Glen View
Timsbury Road
Farmborough
Bath
BA2 0AB

Mobile: 0791 900 6766
Tel: 01761 470 149
Website www.sharpknives.co.uk
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