What size steel for a Wharncliffe?

A Wharncliffe's bar width comes from its height at the ricasso. The preset is a 3 1/2 in blade, 0.95 in tall at the ricasso, with a 5/32 in (0.156 in) spine and a 4 1/2 in full tang. Add 1/8 in for clean-up and you need 1.075 in. The next listed width is 1 1/4 in, so it comes out of 1 1/4 × 5/32 in flat bar, whichever method you use. That is the same bar as the sheepsfoot preset. The sheepsfoot's blade is 1/4 in longer and its tang 1/4 in shorter, so by stock removal the two take the same length of bar as well.

The matching KraftyDesign blank (the "Draw this blank" link) is drawn with a straight edge. The spine tapers down to it gradually over most of the blade and meets it at a sharp point. That means the blade is only at full height close to the ricasso, so that is the place to measure. A taller blade keeps the same 1 1/4 in bar as long as the ricasso is no more than 1 1/8 in tall. Past that, the calculator moves you up to 1 1/2 in.

The calculator starts this one on 1084 and on stock removal. 1095, AEB-L and O1 give the same 1 1/4 × 5/32 in bar, and the calculator doesn't flag that width or thickness as uncommon for any of them. Still, check what your supplier stocks before you order.

Ground from the bar, the whole 8 in profile plus clean-up takes 8 1/4 in per blade. That is about 7 oz of steel for a blade that finishes around 4 1/4 oz. A 12 in bar yields one blade. An 18 in bar yields two, and so does a 24 in bar, with more left over. A 36 in bar yields four and a 48 in bar five. The 18 and 36 in bars tie for the lowest cost per blade.

Forging stretches the blade as you set the bevels, so about 6 1/4 in of the same bar will do. That is about 6 oz of bar, and the blade finishes around 3 3/4 oz. A 12 in bar gives one, 18 in two, 24 in three, 36 in five and 48 in seven, the last at the lowest cost per blade. To start thicker and forge down, set "Forged thickness" to "One size up". That puts you on 1 1/4 × 3/16 in, and it only applies in forged mode. The calculator won't forge AEB-L, CPM-154, 14C28N, MagnaCut or A2. Pick any of them and it works out the bar as stock removal, even with Forged selected.

The tip needs care when you sharpen it. One BladeForums poster who sharpens Wharncliffes on a belt sharpener found he tended to grind a little too much at the end of the edge and "lift" the tip. His fix was a light touch, drawing the tip no more than a third of the way across the belt, and stiff belts. He stopped using thin, flexible polishing belts, which he says are very likely to fold around the tip.

What a Wharncliffe is for

A Wharncliffe is a straight-edged utility blade. The edge runs flat all the way out, and the spine drops toward it over most of the blade until the two meet at a sharp point. Wikipedia says the sheepsfoot has a similar profile, but on a Wharncliffe the back starts curving down nearer the handle, and more gradually. The sheepsfoot (it has its own page on BladeStock) keeps its full height for longer and ends in a blunt nose. A Blade magazine article on the Wharncliffe says its biggest advantage is that it cuts with full power all the way to the point. The same article notes that razor knives, box cutters and similar utility tools are typically Wharncliffe patterns. People on BladeForums use it for the same kind of work. In one thread on what the shape is for, one poster, an electrician, prefers them for stripping wire and opening boxes at work. Another poster there finds it good for blister packs and for cutting around body openings in taxidermy work, but less ideal for skinning animals. Some use the point for fine carving: in another thread, one poster says the blade allows very precise cuts in detailed carving, such as a ball in a cage and chains. In a third, one poster finds it very useful for straight draw cuts, such as in leather, and says all the downward pressure from your hand goes to the cutting tip.

The Wharncliffe is an old Sheffield pocketknife pattern. Geoffrey Tweedale's directory of Sheffield cutlery makers counts it among the patterns that Joseph Rodgers & Sons designed for themselves. It describes the knife as having a serpentine handle and a beaked master blade. So on old folders the name covers the handle shape as well as the blade. On a Sheffield history forum, one poster identifies a knife as a Wharncliffe from its handle shape and master blade together. Tweedale calls Lord Wharncliffe Rodgers' patron. He was James Archibald Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, who was elected MP for Yorkshire in 1818. In 1826 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Wharncliffe, of Wortley in the County of York. Today the blade shape also turns up on its own, on fixed blades like this preset.

Nothing in this paragraph is confirmed, so read it as tradition rather than history. Tweedale's directory says the Wharncliffe was apparently designed after a dinner that Lord Wharncliffe attended. It adds that in 1821, while he was MP for Yorkshire, he apparently presented John Rodgers to King George IV. A Blade magazine article tells a fuller version. Around 1820, it says, Lord Wharncliffe and his relative Archdeacon Corbett were drinking wine after dinner and designed a new blade pattern, which Rodgers adopted. That date sits awkwardly, since he only became Lord Wharncliffe in 1826. One poster on the All About Pocketknives forum says there is no solid evidence for the Rodgers story, and that it can't have happened before 1826. The same poster has seen an 1850s Unwin and Rodgers advertisement showing a Wharncliffe whittler, and says the blade was first meant to be extra heavy, with a thick arched spine for strength. One knife maker's online glossary says the blade was first made in 1832 and calls Lord Wharncliffe the proprietor of the Rodgers factory, which doesn't match Tweedale. Wikipedia says sailors used Wharncliffes because the shape of the tip kept it from going into the work, or into the sailor's own hand, when the ship lurched. Wikipedia gives no source for that. It also says the blade is much thicker than a knife of comparable size, citing only a 2005 web page. On BladeForums, one poster has heard the blade was meant for sharpening quill pens a couple of centuries ago.

Stock for a Wharncliffe

One for-sale post on BladeForums lists a 1095 Wharncliffe from 5/32 in stock with a 3 1/2 in blade, the same blade length and thickness as this preset. Another lists one in 8670 from 5/32 in stock with a 3 1/4 in blade and a full flat grind. AEB-L Wharncliffes in other for-sale posts there run from 3/32 in up to 3/16 in thick.

Widths assume blade height + 1/8 in rounded up to stock; thickness is the finished spine rounded up. Change the inputs above for your own pattern.

Steels that suit it

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