bowmakers knife

[violins88]

I have some CPM-10V steel. Pretty expensive in small quantities. It is 3mm thick. I think it might be very useful to bowmakers. Are there bowmakers here who can tell me the dimensions of a bowmakers knife that is 3mm thick? I have enough for perhaps 4 to 6 knives. But if it turns out to be useful, I can try to find more. The plane blade I made and had cryo hardened turned out to be too hard to be useful, and perhaps too grainy (a function of the high temp. value). It could not be sharpened adequately for violin makers. But if heat treated to a lower hardness, I am hopeful about it.

Thanks

[Josh Henry]

Hi John,

There are two knives that I primarily use for shaping pernambuco and ebony. My main one is made from an old straight-edge razor and is slightly over 12 mm wide (at the widest). The edge is double beveled, and slightly curved, and the the back edge is rounded to ease cutting on the back of the head. I also have a knife that use primarily for cutting around the throat on the frog that is about 8.5mm wide. This blade is also double-beveled, but the edge is straight. I have no idea what angle I grind the edges on either blade, but the bevel angle is greater than what violin makers typically use--this makes the edge a bit thicker, and gives a bit of extra resistance to chipping. Violin makers would call my knives dull, but they work quite well on pernambuco. I usually only hone the curved blade (the one in the ebony handle, and used primarily for pernambuco) up to 1000 grit on my Japanese waterstone, but will hone the other blade (used primarily on ebony) up to 6000.

I don't think it makes much difference in making the blade, but many bowmakers glue their blades into the wooden handles, and then grind away metal and wood together when sharpening. As the pictures show, I have removable blades, which is what I prefer.

Josh

I have some CPM-10V steel. Pretty expensive in small quantities. It is 3mm thick. I think it might be very useful to bowmakers. Are there bowmakers here who can tell me the dimensions of a bowmakers knife that is 3mm thick? I have enough for perhaps 4 to 6 knives. But if it turns out to be useful, I can try to find more. The plane blade I made and had cryo hardened turned out to be too hard to be useful, and perhaps too grainy (a function of the high temp. value). It could not be sharpened adequately for violin makers. But if heat treated to a lower hardness, I am hopeful about it.

Thanks

[Janito]

Are there bowmakers here who can tell me the dimensions of a bowmakers knife that is 3mm thick?

Not a bowmaker, but here is an alternative design, FWIW, that functions well. The blade is 3mm thick and is ground with 2 angles - the cutting edge is sharp, but has a wide angle.

[danielmiller]

I don't have any photos of my knives, will take some tomorrow at work and upload.

I think every bowmaker I have met has a different type of knife. I have a knife I made from an old handy file that is about 5mm thick and an inch wide. It has a single right hand bevel with a burred edge and works as a cutting scraper. This is the style of knife that Lynn Hannings uses (single bevel with burred edge) although hers is a Japanese laminated blade. Mine is pretty hefty and probably over kill, but it is what I use for now.

I also have a Hock knife that is double beveled that I use for cutting plugs for re-hairs. It is about 3/4 in. wide but probably not quite 3mm thick. I have two small Hock knives single beveled for right and left side. I use these for mortise cutting along with chisels.

Finally, I have a curved edge knife made in Germany that is double beveled that I just added to my collection. The goal is to use this in for the same applications that Josh mentioned.

I probably have too many but I definitely use them all. Would like to see what other bowmakers are using out there.

[violins88]

A big thank you to all who replied.

I appreciate your thoughts and info.