I was given 4 OLD Japanesse cooking knives. One very large vegitable knife, a smaller Veg. Knife and two long(12" blade) sushi knives. They are in various states of corosion. But, all are razor sharp. They are ground on one side.

I'd like to try my hand at reshaping. I thought that one of the long sushi blades might make a nice neck knife.

Would I be able to cut down the blade with a hack saw without ruining the temper?

All advice is welcome. Thank you.

Make sure they aren't collectible. If you say OLD- think of someone reshaping a samurai sword. Uncommon yes but possible. There were some very famous bladesmiths who made kitchen knives. It would be a shame to ruin one. Would you be willing to post pics? Maybe someone in here would buy them from you and you could make/buy the knife you really want.

the chef

Still thinking here. You probably know that the japanese kitchen knives have a sandwich construction. The middle layer is very hard for wear resistance and the outer layer is softer for strength. If they are sharpened only on one side it might be only two layers not a sandwich. Most modern knives are stainless outer layer with high carbon cores. If the whole knife is corroded it's obviously carbon steel. Very hard to find carbon steel chefs knives nowdays. I have some french and german ones all are about 75 yrs old. Don't sharpen or clean them until you know for sure what you have.

You'll never cut it with a hacksaw, a grinding wheel/cut off wheel would be necessary. Care must be taken to not over heat and ruin the temper. You could re-heat treat but that's a problem if you don't know what steel you have !.....Watched a History Channel program on butchering last night .There was a bit of film taken in the 1930s showing a real cleaver !!! The handle and blade each about 20-24" long ! He used a two hand hold.

I'm not of the opinion that they are collectible or historical pieces. I think they are just kitchen knifes that were neglected. The handles do not show the signs of great age.

3 of the 4 have a neat wood sheath. I got most of the rust off with a scotch brite pad & some rust remover.

The Sushi knife in the worst condition has the better handle, some type of hardwood & game horn. I'd like to retain that. Hence I was hoping to cut-down and reshap vs. having to attempt to retemper. This is also the one in the worst surface condition.

At the lest I can clean them up & have a nice set of camp knifes.

If I get some time this weekend I'll post a pic.

we used to use a cleaver with about a 40 inch handle. the head of the cleaver was I suppose about 16-18 inches long. It was great for chopping up buffalo. The chef I was working for at the time used it one handed-he was a huge Hungarian. Strongest man I've ever seen, also the slowest witted and the meanest. One thing he had good control of the kitchen staff!!

the chef

I enjoy cooking. Life too short to eat boring food.

I use a small cleaver a lot, it's great tool once you get the hang of it.

I suspect they are laminated blades, but only 2 pieces of steel. When you hold the knife in your hand, the hard lamination will be on the left side. Often you can tell by polising the edge bevel with 120 grit sandpaper or so, and putting a weak muriatic or sulfuric acid solution on it for a few hours. If there are 2 separate steels you will see where they are laminated together. If the bevel looks the same all the way across then it most likely is only 1 piece of steel.

The way that I would suggest to you to regrind these is with a 6 X 48" belt sander. Keep the blade continually wet, and never let all of the water boil off the blade while you are grinding on it. Spend some time with a fine tip sharpie and get the profile how you want it, then grind to that line. If these are traditional styles, the handle will be a bit thicker than the blade. Clamp a board to the table of the sander with the right edge of the board flush with the right edge or the belt, then you can have the handle overhang and the blade still lay flat.

Any other questions feel free to send me a PM

Mark