Turned Handle Bread Knife
by Joseph M. Herrmann
For many years, I have been making a simple, flat bread knife that I sell at craft fairs and on the Internet. They are functional, easy to make, and, better yet, they sell well. If you are interested in how they are made, a reprint of the complete article from Creative Woodworks & Crafts can be found on my website at www.timbertreasures.com.
My first love in woodworking, however, is the lathe and I wanted to design a knife that would incorporate turning with the bread knife that I already make. A knife with a simple turned handle is what I finally decided upon.
The knife can be made from any cabinet grade hardwood. I chose tiger maple for the handle and walnut for the blade section for the knife featured here. Maple turns extremely well and tearout, a problem often encountered when using a highly-figured wood such as tiger or birdseye maple for cabinet work, is virtually eliminated. Besides, the tiger maple really catches the eye and could help to justify the higher price demanded by this knife!
STOCK PREPARATION
One piece of walnut 9/16” x 1-9/16” x 19” and two pieces of curly maple
9/16” x 1-9/16” x 5-1/2” are required for this project. Run all three stock pieces through the planer at the same time to ensure that they are the same thickness.
The two pieces of tiger maple will be glued on so they flank the walnut, which makes up the main body of the knife. It is important that these two flanking pieces be in a single plane where their tops intersect the body of the knife. If they’re not, one side of the knife handle will stick out farther than the other side. Draw a reference line 5-1/2” away from the end of the stock (see Fig. 1). When gluing, line up the flanking pieces with this line.
I used a white-colored pencil that I bought at an art supply store to mark the walnut. As you can see, it shows up much better than an ordinary graphite pencil on the dark wood.
GLUE-UP
Apply a coat of Titebond II wood glue to both sides of the main body and to just one side of each of the flanking pieces. I like to use Titebond II because it is stickier and doesn’t seem to slide around as much when clamped. Align the top ends of the flanking pieces with the reference line drawn earlier (see Fig. 2).
Adjustable hand screws work best to clamp the assembly together. They apply sufficient pressure across the joint and, by using them in multiples, uniform pressure can be applied along the entire length of the joint as well.
The glue is going to squeeze out along the joints. This is good because it shows that adequate glue was used and equal clamping pressure was applied (see Fig. 3). Just be sure to wipe off any glue that might have seeped out along the top of the handle adjacent to the end grain. If you don’t wipe the glue off with a damp cloth now, it will stain the wood and be much more difficult to remove than you might think. Rub the joint until all the excess glue appears to be gone...and then rub some more just to be sure!
Allow the glue to cure for 24 hours, remove the clamps, and scrape off any dried glue along the edges. Remove about 1/32” from both edges of the stock on the jointer just to clean up the edge.
PREPARING THE STOCK FOR TURNING
The handle end of the knife must be squared up to provide a flat surface for the spur center. Cut off the end of the glued blank so the handle is approximately 5-1/4” long.
The center of the turning must be positioned along the axis of the long piece of stock in order for the handle of the knife to be symmetrical. Therefore, locating the center point is crucial. With a straight edge and a sharp pencil, connect the corners of the walnut; ignore the flanking pieces entirely. Carefully centerpunch the intersection with a sharp awl, being sure to hit the exact center (see Fig. 4)!
Mount the assembly between the centers of the lathe using a small 3/8”-diameter spur center in the headstock end of the lathe (see Fig. 5). The standard spur center that comes with most lathes is too large and will interfere with the turning toward the end of the process. Use a revolving cup center in the tailstock end of the lathe.
Always remove any nicks and scratches from the tool rest with a mill file and abrasive paper before starting any turning. The goal is to create smooth, flowing lines. You can’t do this if your chisels are bouncing around as they ride over the hills and valleys created by the nicks and scratches in the tool rest.
TURNING
I used a large roughing gouge to turn the built-up handle portion to a smooth cylinder approximately 1-1/4” in diameter. Use care, however, not to remove any stock on what will later support the blade of the knife.
Measure over 5/16” to the left of the joint of the handle. Make a 1” diameter groove with a parting tool and outside calipers to the left of that line.
The front portion of the handle is now approximately 1” in diameter at its widest point, while the flat portion of the knife is still 1-1/2” wide. Obviously some transition shape must be turned to join these two different dimensions into a cohesive form. A half-bead on the blade side and a chamfer on the handle side will solve this problem and can be easily turned with a small spindle gouge (see Fig. 6).
Interrupted turning can be difficult if the speed of the lathe is not high enough to produce a “ghost” image of the blade. 2000 RPM appears to be an optimal speed to turn this area.
I grind my gouge almost to a sharp point as shown in Fig. 7. Ground this way, I find that it will do the work of a skew and allow me to get in tight at the base of the chamfer and half-bead much easier. And, I don’t have any of the problems normally associated with the skew.
Measure over 1-3/8” to the left of the handle joint and make a 3/4”-diameter groove with a parting tool. Finally, measure over 5” to the left of the handle joint to mark the end of the handle; the ball detail will be to the left of this mark.
The rest of the handle can now be reduced to a long, flowing cove and bead. As before, this is best accomplished with a spindle gouge or even with the large roughing gouge. The handle will want to flex, so a light touch is necessary and support should be provided with the fingers of your left hand.
Turn a small 5/16”-diameter ball with a small spindle gouge on the very end of the handle to finish the turning (see Fig. 8). This shape is easier to sand than if the handle were reduced to just a point. Besides, it adds more visual interest to an otherwise simple handle form (see Layout Diagram).
SANDING
Like just about everyone else who works wood, I hate to sand. However, I consider it to be a necessary evil because I know that the secret to a great project is a good finish. And, a good finish starts with a good sanding job.
A small sanding disc in a hand-held electric drill reduces the drudgery involved with this task. Start with 150-grit abrasive paper attached to a padded Velcro sanding disc and progress to 320-grit. The padded disc works great on the long, flowing portions of the turning but is a little difficult to get into the corners, so use the more rigid, hard rubber sanding disc to do this.
This method works so well and is so efficient that it didn’t even take two minutes to sand the bulk of the turning! Ordinary hand sanding techniques, however, are employed to sand the small ball at the end of the handle.
Remove the completed blank from between centers, being very careful that you don’t tilt the turning and snap off the small waste nub still attached to the ball (see Fig. 9). If you do, it often will undercut the wood, leaving a crater in the turning that is virtually impossible to remove. Simply nip the small nub off with a bandsaw, allowing enough waste stock so you can round over the top of the ball to a circular shape. FORMING THE BLADE PORTION Now that the handle is completed, you can begin to form the rest of the bread knife. The blade portion of the Layout Diagram is drawn on a grid. By enlarging that portion of the diagram by 250% on a photocopy machine, you will get a full-size pattern if desired. When full size, each square of the grid will measure 1/4” square and the pattern should be 1-9/16” wide and 12“ long. Trace the pattern (or make your own pattern using the measurements given) and cut out the profile with a bandsaw.
Because the blade is thinner than the handle, it will be necessary to elevate the blade portion to bandsaw its shape. To do this, cut into a thicker piece of stock (I used a piece of 3/4” x 10” particle board), stopping about 1/2” away from sawing through its front edge. Attach this piece to the table with double-stick tape so it can’t move (see Fig. 10). Cutting the profile is easy now.
Do not cut out the inner “belly” of the knife at this point. This area will be cut out AFTER the top edges have been rounded over. I found that this provides a little extra support for the base of the laminate trimmer that is needed to prevent it from “tipping” as the curves are shaped.
An oscillating spindle sander works best to sand the inside and outside curves. (However, a drum sander installed in a drill press could also be used.) But again, just as before, the blade portion must be elevated to do so. Draw a circle in the center of a piece of waste stock slightly larger than the 2” drum used. Cut it out on the bandsaw and use the double stick tape to attach the scrap to the table of the sander (see Fig. 11).
I like to round over the top curves of my knives. It is more visually appealing and definitely feels better when held. Use a 3/16” roundover bit in a small laminate trimmer to do this. |
