Official 2012 Mini Knife KITH - closed!!

[zaph1]

Someone cleaned my office and threw away the tsuba from last year thinking it was garbage! It was awesome and I hope I can recreate it as well this year. However, I need advice on flat string for wrapping the handle. I've thought about ironing some waxed thread flat, but not sure if that would work.

On a side note: As a summer job, Graham is going to be making knives and selling them. One of the collectors at the show last weekend was very impressed by his knife from the hammer-in last fall and has offered to buy the first mini he is willing to sell. I think it beats mowing lawns.

[fast14riot]

Aw man Charles, that sucks! For flat string I have seen silk embroidery thread used, or if you have a fly fishing shop near by that sells fly tying materials, there is colored unwaxed floss that is used all the time. Many, many colors to choose from too.

Hell of a summer "job!" I spent my summers at my grandparents running through gold mines and playing with old mining equipment near Sutters mill. My grandmother would take me to the fleamarket where she sold coins (they used to have a coin shop) and I would look at all the old pocket knives and ask if I could buy one. Never thought once about making my own at that age.

Tell Graham he's a lucky dawg!


-Xander

[RyanW]

I have my Mini almost finished up. I still need to put the final edges on her. I also need to figure out what to do for the sheath...

[panch0]

Ryan thats just plain awesome!

[fast14riot]

Way cool Ryan! I have one started, three in various states of completion. I am trying something different for me right now as well with one.

I can personally attest to Ryan's work as I have a mini of his from last years KITH, and his work is super clean! Hopefully I can make something as well put together as it this year!


-Xander

[Mike Turner]

Ryan you need to mark that buddy .

[thegeek574]

OK, I am not really getting anywhere with the forge for right now. is there anyone who could sell me a 6" chunk of carbon steel of some kind in 1/16th inch?

[Mike Turner]

Sent you an email Geek

[fast14riot]

Ok totally botched my first blade, I may try to salvage it still, but turned my efforts to this blade. W1, .025" at the ricasso, fully distally tapered and sortof hamon.

Using Ryans standard unit of scale...




I may try to redo the HT the hamon didn't come out the way I had hoped.




Still undecided if I am going to do a full D guard or an S guard with this one.


-Xander

[tryppyr]

I finally started on mine today. I'm using a piece of 1084 that was cut from the billet used to make the last full sized dagger. I'm planning on using another piece of stabilized koa for the handle, this one having much tighter chatoyance waves, which I'm hoping will achieve a scaled down version of the look I achieved with the full sized dagger.

What I haven't figured out yet is how I'll make a scaled down version of the makers marks.

[tryppyr]

BTW, very nice knife, Ryan... but seeing yours reminds me why I chose not to use damascus... you can never get the pattern to scale down to a size that makes the knife look full sized.

[Mike Turner]

You could with this Greg ,

[tryppyr]

WOW!. Yes, that would work, Mike!

I amazed myself by actually using my grinder with a 50 grit belt on the mini tonight... and the results weren't nearly as disastrous as I thought they would be. The first two pictures here are fresh off the grinder.





Of course, I am who I am, so I switched to a needle file to be able to control the cut more effectively, especially at the plunges.





BTW, I think I have figured out how I will do my maker's mark etch!!!

P.S. I've decided against using the koa. The grain on it is too large and would spoil the effect. I've decided to use some scrap mammoth ivory instead.

[fast14riot]

Looking good Greg! I botched my mini dagger on the disc grinder. I should of hardened it before grinding because it was fully distally tapered and it flexed without me noticing completely rounding the grind lines. It was only 1.2" long on the blade, so maybe the disc was a little overkill...


-Xander

[tryppyr]

Yesterday I finished the rough bevel grinding. Today I'm hand sanding the bevels prior to HT. I'm using a variation of the Nick Wheeler sanding methos, in which I wrap the sanpaper around a small file and draw that along the length of the blade. It's working great and preserving the sharp center line very well.

DSCN6153.jpg

[tryppyr]

I heat treated the blade just now... on to doing the other parts.

[fast14riot]

Nicely done Greg! I had a small battle with the spinning blade of doom on the drill press this morning so I bandaged up my hand and decided I would work on some scales for another knife. Then I got called in for work, so my shop day is over 'til tomorrow. I plan on re heat treating my mini and laying out the guard in either bronze or .999 silver. Planning on walrus ivory for the handle. We'll see how that goes...


-Xander

[tryppyr]

Yeah, I cut myself today too during the hand sanding. The blade, it turns out, had already been ground/sanded to a zero edge (despite several times removing the edge). Oh well... small blade, small cut. Nothing to write home about. But I did baptize it in blood, so it's a proper blade now.

I have it in the oven tempering as we speak (along with the meatballs for tonight's dinner)..

[buckmaster96]

I'm in I will make a knife by july first

[fast14riot]

Thanx for joining in Buckmaster96! Please visit the first page with the outline and be sure to email me your info. Feel free to ask any questions you have here or email me.


-Xander