Knife Kit Suggestions

[Chuck Darney]

My son will be getting married in a year or so and I thought a nice wedding gift would be a good set of kitchen knives. I would want to make and add the scales to make them at least somewhat personalized. Perhaps a nice knife block as well.

I've seen some from Hock but the selection is very limited. I've also seen the ZHEN Premium Damascus kits and there's a pretty good selection but I only have the advertising to guess at the quality.

Does anyone have any experience with knife kits and perhaps suggestions on where to look for them?

Thanks for any suggestions...Chuck

[Mike Henderson]

No experience but I believe Lee Valley offers knife kits. Based on LV's reputation, I'd take a chance on those.

Given that, I now use Japanese laminated kitchen knives. The chef's knife is thinner than most western chef's knives, and I like that. Also, the edge on those knives seems to hold up well.

Mike

[Rick Whitehead]

I've done just that. I got a selection of blades from Jantz Supply and put handles on them, giving them away as a wedding present.
I used domestic hardwoods beacuse that's what I had.However,the plastic-impregnated woods are a lot tougher, and will last longer in a dishwasher!
Rick

[Shane Copps]

Try some of the stuff at www.usaknifemaker.com I don't know if they have they have the stuff you are looking for but they are great people to work with. I've made a couple dozen knives with their blanks.

Shane

[Tom Scott]

I made three knives to give as Christmas presents last year from the Zhen blanks. I used some cocobolo that I had laying around. They turned out really nice,we're simple to do and seem to have nice steel.
I looked around at others, and even considered the Hock blanks, but went with the Zhens when they went on sale.no regrets and have been told they work great.

[Dell Littlefield]

I have made 2 sets from Jantz . In both cases I used their impregnated scale material. The last kit I bought from them had 3/8 inch scale material for all the knives. I found it too thick for the paring and stake knives.

[Dave Cullen]

I persued that question on a knife making forum last year, meaning to make a couple chef's knives for xmas gifts. I never got around to doing it, but here are the suggestions they gave me for blades:

http://www.knifemaking.com/category-s/43.htm

http://www.knifemaking.com/category-s/41.htm

http://www.knifemaking.com/product-p/hd904.htm

[Ben Kiefer]

If you'd like a really fine kitchen knife, consider a Japanese tanged blade. These are meant for a traditional "wa" handle.
In my experience, these outperform western blades in the kitchen.

http://www.chefknivestogo.com/knwinoha.html

[Chuck Darney]

Thank you all for your suggestions. They're certainly good starts. I like the looks of the Damascus steel and may end up going that route. The ones from knifemaking.com may be a little higher end than I want to do for now, but perhaps.

I have some time to work on these so I'll look closely at the links.

Thanks again...Chuck

[Dave Cullen]

If you'd like a really fine kitchen knife, consider a Japanese tanged blade. These are meant for a traditional "wa" handle.
In my experience, these outperform western blades in the kitchen.

http://www.chefknivestogo.com/knwinoha.html

Rather steep in price. How does one fit a handle to a tanged blade?

[Ben Kiefer]

Yes these blades are more expensive. In my mind they are worth it. It is similar to using a fine plane. I smile a little each time I pick up my Lie Nielsen smoother. Same with a fine kitchen knife. Hey, a Bob Kramer knife will set you back $500....per inch!

The tradition Japanese way of attaching a tanged blade is to heat the tang and burn it into the handle. This works better with the softer ho-wood traditional handles. I've done it in harder woods by drilling a pilot hole, and shaping the hole with needle files, then attaching with epoxy.

[Christopher Collins]

I made two of the Zhen damascus paring knifes as Christmas presents this year.
The VG-10 is very good steel compared to most stainless steels. it holds a great edge, but can take a while to sharpen.
They had nice thin blades, reasonably sharp out of the box.
I used tulipwood for the handles. They turned out pretty nice for my first attempts.
100_2785c.jpg100_2788c.jpg100_2790c.jpg

By the way, if you want some inspiration, or need advice on techniques like wa handle installation, go to kitchenknifeforums.com.
The knives on that site will blow your mind. Many of the makers on that site are pros, and they take kitchen knives reeeeeeaaaallly seriously.
Careful though, after a while on that site, regular store-bought knives will be ruined for you.