1st decent knife finished !

Bfusmc03117

Bfusmc03117

Joined
Dec 29, 2008
Messages
697
Finally finished my first knife since I broke down and bought a little craftsman sander . And boy do I have to say that it defiantly works like a charm. Way faster than hand filing the bevels, but also causes mistakes a lot faster as well . I'm pretty happy with it .

I went through about 5 blades kept messing up rushing things am pretty much just still learning . I'm very far from perfect but was wondering if you guys can take a look and give me your opinions and tips. Thanks again guys!
 
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1382642820.801724.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1382642837.201553.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1382642847.934774.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1382642857.586417.jpg
Here's some pictures.
 

Attachments

  • ImageUploadedByTapatalk1382642865.857128.jpg
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1382642865.857128.jpg
    21.2 KB · Views: 84
For your first finished that is not bad at all. Some things in my opinion that would make it better.
First I think a full flat grind would have made a much better cutter on that size knife.
I would take the spine down just a touch at the tip so it would come to a point,not the flat tip you have.
Also smooth out the sharp transitions on the handle to make it feel better in the hand.

You did a fine job,now go make a better one. Always strive to make the next one better than the last one.

Stan
 
This did once have a sharp tip on it. But Each pass on the grinder made it slowly go away . Thanks a lot for the helpful hints
 
It actually feels pretty good in the hand. I can see using it as a skinning knife . But it feels very very light I think I could of gotten away with some thicker steel.
I did the heat treat myself. Not by the books. I heated it to about almost red hot and quenched it in old used motor oil. It's 440 stainless I bought off USA knife maker'a website. And I doubt that's the proper HT but I don't have a forge or thermometer or anything .
 
That method of heat treat will not work for stainless. I made similar mistakes on my first knives. I just got a hardness tester, and one of my first knives was only Rc27!or something like that. Each one kept getting better, and the last five were all pretty close to the Rc# I was aiming for. Try a steel like 1084 if you have basic heat treat equipment. It's more forgiving.
 
A quick and dirty way to test hardness is to take something like a small strong knife that you know is well heat treated and scratch the test subject with the sharp tip, compare it to other knives, axe heads, meat cleavers. Obviously do not put a scratch in a $10,000.00 jewelled dagger or something like that. If you test something like an edge quenched axe head on the hardened part and on the softer poll, you will be able to see the difference in hardness.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top