#17 &18 Done... Comments Welcome!

[Nic.]

`Hey all! Here are two 1084 Hunter/ Skinners I recently made. The first has cocobla scales and is fully polished to 1500 grit. It is a fantastic cutter and Ive been very happy with it! The second is a blade I made awhile ago and just got back to, I etched the blade with hydrochloric acid and used curly maple for the scales. The fit of this knife is very comfortable; I like this one a lot! What do ya’ll think? Im going to start doing makers marks soon, I just cant figure out what I want mine to be

 

[Lu1967]

Pretty darn nice. Maybe a little more pointy.

 

[Nic.]

Pretty darn nice. Maybe a little more pointy.

Thank you! I was trying to make them not too pointy since they are skinners, but is that too blunt?

 

[i4Marc]

You're doing well Nic. Now that you have a few knives done what do you feel you've learned since the first few? What improvements do you feel you've made in your techniques or final fit and finish? What are your goals for your next knives?

 

[Redmeadow Knives]

This is just me, but whenever I can find anything that remotely looks like a 90° angle on a handle, I try to blend it in. Always seems to make things flow better. Personally, I don't think the file work matches your style.
My two cents. Keep up the good work!

 

[Nic.]

You're doing well Nic. Now that you have a few knives done what do you feel you've learned since the first few? What improvements do you feel you've made in your techniques or final fit and finish? What are your goals for your next knives?

Thank you! Gosh, I've learned so much! My first few knives were almost entirely self taught, until I found this forum and started reading and looking at other peoples work. First off, tools have been a big help...I went from a filing jig to a grinding jig which had helped a lot. Also, lots of sandpaper and patience was something I had to learn! Proportions are also something Ive felt I'm improving on a lot. Handle shapes have gone from broomstick to nice fitting and more flowing designs. I've gone from saw blade steel to 1084 and have realized how much quality steels help. Basic things like learning to shape the front of my scales before I epoxy them on have been such a huge help, silly stuff that you never get told when your self taught that you learn by trial and error. I've greatly improved on learning where to put pins and peening them and whatnot. I would like to start using G10 liners to class up my knives ( would look really good with my burlap micarta I think) and figuring out what I want my makers mark to be. I want to keep improving, mastering the ever so suckish grind lines being nice and crisp.
On the saftey side... I've learned buffers can really hurt you if your being dumb and that cocobola dust really really sucks when you breath it.

 

[Nic.]

This is just me, but whenever I can find anything that remotely looks like a 90° angle on a handle, I try to blend it in. Always seems to make things flow better. Personally, I don't think the file work matches your style.
My two cents. Keep up the good work!

Ok. How does it not match my style? And purely out of curiosity, what is my style in your eyes? Thank you!

 

[Redmeadow Knives]

Well, you've mentioned reenactments, and your knives being a hit there if I'm not mistaken. Your "style" I would say is a functional working knife, along the purpose of say a "Kephart". The file work to me at least, draws away from that simplicity. But my brain work in crazy ways!

 

[Matt Rochester]

Well, you've mentioned reenactments, and your knives being a hit there if I'm not mistaken. Your "style" I would say is a functional working knife, along the purpose of say a "Kephart". The file work to me at least, draws away from that simplicity. But my brain work in crazy ways!

I think what he's saying is "lessismore"

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

What I see as the style of the knife is a simple re-enactor style knife. What I see that isn't in that style is the filework down the handle scales on the second one in the photos.

There are a couple other things that immediately catch the eye. The handle butt, pin placement, and the little tit of wood going down the ricasso on the second one.
Handle shape at butt - the squared off end will be very "hot in the hand". That means that it will rub you and be uncomfortable to use. A slight rounding of those 90° corners will help this.
Pin placement - the pins are too far apart and too close to the ends. Either add a center pin, or move the pins in a bit. I don't understand the double pin in the front, either.
Little tit of wood - that thin piece of wood is going to break off in a heartbeat if the knife gets used. The first time it gets bumped in a cut or in use it will pop off. The front of the handle should round back into the handle bottom, not follow the ricasso on down. I would pop them off with a sharp knife and carefully round them over now......or you may want to just remember that for the next ones.

 

[Nic.]

Well, you've mentioned reenactments, and your knives being a hit there if I'm not mistaken. Your "style" I would say is a functional working knife, along the purpose of say a "Kephart". The file work to me at least, draws away from that simplicity. But my brain work in crazy ways!

Yea, that's totally correct. I want to make something as functional as possible! For me though, something to class up a knife every now and again is fun , and if the customer wants it...well that's even better. I appreciate your opinion, thank you!

 

[Nic.]

What I see as the style of the knife is a simple re-enactor style knife. What I see that isn't in that style is the filework down the handle scales on the second one in the photos.

There are a couple other things that immediately catch the eye. The handle butt, pin placement, and the little tit of wood going down the ricasso on the second one.
Handle shape at butt - the squared off end will be very "hot in the hand". That means that it will rub you and be uncomfortable to use. A slight rounding of those 90° corners will help this.
Pin placement - the pins are too far apart and too close to the ends. Either add a center pin, or move the pins in a bit. I don't understand the double pin in the front, either.
Ok, so could you give me an example of some file work that would fit what's my style?
Little tit of wood - that thin piece of wood is going to break off in a heartbeat if the knife gets used. The first time it gets bumped in a cut or in use it will pop off. The front of the handle should round back into the handle bottom, not follow the ricasso on down. I would pop them off with a sharp knife and carefully round them over now......or you may want to just remember that for the next ones.

Ok, so could you please show me a fitting file work pattern for my knives? I want to make sure I understand what your saying so I can improve... Rounding the butt as a whole or rounding the wood in towards the tang? Ok, I'll move them around. I thought the double pin was kinda fun, it broke it up a bit...I've and tons of makers that do super intricate pin work and think it looks classy; I was just trying to bring a bit of that into my work. So far it's been very functional. I was trying to do something like this with the front of my scales.. so what did I do wrong?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Look at that photo and your knife...vastly different shaping of the corner at the ricasso. The pins on the photo are also better placed and sized than yours.

File work is fine, and what you did is OK. What we are saying is it isn't a re-enactor type knife, as that type filework was not done on simple primitive knives. If you like doing it, no one is saying you can't or shouldn't. I would simple call it a hunter, not a period piece.

If you look at the top view of the butt you will see the corners are sharp and at 90 degrees. Round or chamfer them a tad and it will look and feel a lot better. No need to fully round the butt.

 

[Nic.]

Look at that photo and your knife...vastly different shaping of the corner at the ricasso. The pins on the photo are also better placed and sized than yours.

File work is fine, and what you did is OK. What we are saying is it isn't a re-enactor type knife, as that type filework was not done on simple primitive knives. If you like doing it, no one is saying you can't or shouldn't. I would simple call it a hunter, not a period piece.

If you look at the top view of the butt you will see the corners are sharp and at 90 degrees. Round or chamfer them a tad and it will look and feel a lot better. No need to fully round the butt.

Ok, so that will work, but with a differently shaped knife. Ok. Ido some period correct stuff, but that's not what I want to focus entirely... I made it to be a hunter skinner, not a period correct knife. On my next one I will try that, thank you very much!