Chapter 106: Making a Kitchen Knife Is Not Easy

The heavy rain continued all night and gradually turned light only by morning.

News outlets reported on this sudden heavy rain. Some meteorologists even provided “very reasonable” explanations that sounded quite convincing, though the truth was something one had to figure out on their own.

The rain was indeed heavy, directly filling up the originally somewhat dry river channel. Fortunately, the river channel was still clear, so the water didn’t flood into Liu Heming’s ranch, which eased his worries a bit.

He drove his daughter and the two bear cubs to the town. Wow, Lewis was probably going to make a fortune this time; his parking lot was already full of trucks.

The rain this time was too heavy. Unless the goods were extremely urgent, no one would risk driving on the highway.

Liu Heming didn’t come to the restaurant empty-handed this time. He brought fish slices and seasonings, and used the restaurant’s kitchen to specially prepare a pot of Boiled Fish in Chili Oil for his three employees.

The girls ate happily, and not just them—Lewis’s restaurant waitstaff and chefs also had some. Basically, whoever was around got to eat; it wasn’t like it was some rare delicacy.

“Dexter, why does Alex’s face look a bit red to me? Did she get a chill from going into the water yesterday?” After arriving at John’s place, John looked at Alex’s little face and asked with concern.

“Maybe she ate too much fish yesterday. I took her temperature today, and it was normal. She doesn’t feel unwell either,” Liu Heming said with a laugh, patting the little one’s head.

He had been worried too, but the little one was perfectly fine. He thought it might be because she hadn’t eaten much fish, chili pepper, or Sichuan pepper before, and she had overindulged on the Boiled Fish in Chili Oil yesterday. Fish can cause internal heat, and meat can cause phlegm.

When they arrived at John’s Blacksmith Workshop, John had already prepared the materials.

“These materials are all ones I’ve collected over the years. Take whatever you need,” John said with a smile, noticing Liu Heming’s gaze on the materials.

“Well, John, actually, I don’t understand these materials at all. I plan to forge two knives—one for cutting vegetables and one for chopping bones. Then, I want to make two pots—one for the stove and one for outdoor use,” Liu Heming said, a bit embarrassed.

“The outdoor one should be bigger, so in situations like yesterday’s, I can cook more food at once without having to do it in several batches.”

He really was a bit embarrassed. He had come here all excited, but how was he supposed to know what materials to use for making knives? The only thing he knew was that knives for cutting vegetables and meat had to be different from those for chopping bones.

“I see. If you’re cutting vegetables, you should choose these materials—they have higher hardness. For chopping bones, I think materials with greater toughness would be better, or else they might break easily. As for the pot materials, I’m not too sure,” John suggested after thinking for a moment.

“John, wait a minute,” Liu Heming quickly took out his mobile phone. Regardless of the time, he sent a request for help in the group chat, asking his friends to look up what materials would be best.

He had been so busy playing with his daughter lately that he hadn’t had much time to chat with his friends. His message caused quite a stir in the little group he had created, and his mobile phone kept beeping with notifications nonstop.

He had no choice but to explain his situation again, after which his friends sent him their suggestions.

They said that for such a wok, it would be best to use cast iron. Although it’s a bit heavy, it has unique advantages for making Chinese Cuisine.

He handed the mobile phone to his daughter, letting her chat with them in English for fun, while he discussed with John. Casting was straightforward—just melt the iron—but the tricky part was making the mold.

Liu Heming couldn’t handle this problem, so he left it to John. After writing down the shape and size requirements for the two iron pots, Liu Heming started to suit up.

While melting the iron, Liu Heming glanced over at his daughter. The little one was happily chatting on the mobile phone. She had never had such an experience before—chatting with so many people she didn’t know.

When he first arrived, Liu Heming was full of ambitious ideas, thinking that forging a kitchen knife would be a simple task. He thought he could arrive in the morning and, by the time he went home in the evening, he’d be carrying a kitchen knife that could cut through wires, with sparks and lightning flying.

He thought that with his experience in making horseshoes, forging a kitchen knife would be a piece of cake. But when he actually started working, he realized that knowing was one thing, doing was another.

To forge a good knife, you needed to hammer it repeatedly. Even if the original material was already good, spending effort on hammering could still improve the knife’s performance.

He could reduce the hammering time somewhat, but ensuring the knife blade was flat was truly a skill. If you hammered too hard, you’d leave dents on the blade—and who wants a kitchen knife full of bumps? If the blade wasn’t hammered properly, the balance would also be off.

This task kept Liu Heming busy from the moment he arrived until lunchtime, and he still hadn’t mastered the technique.

John didn’t help him; this was actually a matter of controlling one’s strength. For someone with less strength, it wouldn’t be a big issue, but John had seen Liu Heming’s strength. If Liu Heming could figure out how to control it himself, he would find it easier to make other tools in the future.

The blacksmith’s craft might seem complicated, but it really boils down to a few basics. Though simple, they are hard to master. John had been forging for years, while Liu Heming had only just started.

For lunch, they went straight to Lewis’s restaurant. Unbeknownst to them, the rain had finally stopped. Checking on his daughter, he saw that her mobile phone was giving a low battery warning.

This wasn’t a big problem. After lunch, he let his daughter play on John’s computer. After all, many of his friends were night owls, and it was their honor to stay up late chatting with his daughter.

After another afternoon of hammering, Liu Heming finally grasped some of the techniques. But there was no hope of finishing the kitchen knife today. John could have done it, but Liu Heming definitely couldn’t.

By the time he finished work, John already had a general idea for the pot molds, including the materials to use. They could start making them tomorrow.

Liu Heming was deeply impressed. This was a true expert in action—you could tell just by watching. John usually didn’t talk much, but when it came to blacksmithing, Liu Heming truly believed John was a master. John had a real talent for it.