1st knife - paring/utility knife

[zhyla]

After a brief attempt to use an angle grinder to cut this out (never doing that again) I got a cheap portable band saw, clamped it to my bench, and 5 minutes later I had this roughed out. I spent a few minutes cleaning it up with a file and started to file the bevel. I'll come back to the bevel when the baby isn't asleep -- the belt sander probably won't wake him up but I'm not taking any chances.

1/16" 1095.

Comments/critiques welcome. I'm thick skinned, no worries. My goal with this initial project was to get the process down. I have some pins for the handle but I may just epoxy the scales on without pins.

Is there a nice way to mark a line down the middle of the edge so I can see how my grinding is going?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

To mark the edge:
Sand it smooth so you can see the mark.
Take a drill bit about the same size as the metal thickness.
Lay the drill bit on a smooth flat surface, hold or clamp it tight, and slide the blade edge against the tip to make a mark.
Flip over the blade and repeat. You will have two lines down the middle of the blade for grinding reference ( occasionally only one).

I'm assuming the handle is still a work in progress.

 

[zhyla]

I'm assuming the handle is still a work in progress.

If there's some glaring mistake give me a hint. I don't use paring knives much but my wife does and the one we have I don't care for. Is the handle just too wide?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

A bit wide, perhaps, but that is somewhat personal taste. With the scales on it will be pretty large.
Mostly what I was commenting on was that the end is too sharply cornered and looks like you haven't finished it yet.

 

[EastCompassoKnivery]

Just a personal preference but may I recommend A. Rounding the handle corner and B make the handle curve more even. It looks flat in some spots and curves a lot in others. I don't know if you were still working on it but that is my recommendation.

 

[zhyla]

Thanks guys, I've got this finished and ready for heat treat. Should have made the forge first! Will post back when I get it heat treated and some handles on it.

 

[zhyla]

Just finished my heat treat oven and spent a few more minutes on the knife (finally). I used a 120 grit belt on my 1x30. It's not flawless but ok for a first blade and I'm more in a hurry to do a heat treat and make sure I've got the whole process down.

I'm going to have to figure out a better and preferablly smaller way of marking the blade. I got some cheap punches that work ok but too big and error prone.

 

[S.Alexander]

Make sure you remember to drill the holes for the handle pins before you heat treat!

 

[zhyla]

Ha! This is the quick and dirty first knife, just going to epoxy some wood scales on it and call it good.

 

[Maelstrom78]

Not too shabby for sure.

You will advance your skills more rapidly if you try to finish each knife as good as you possibly can. 1st knife will suck (second too!) but if you try your hardest on all of them you will get better faster IMO.

 

[S.Alexander]

Not too shabby for sure.

You will advance your skills more rapidly if you try to finish each knife as good as you possibly can. 1st knife will suck (second too!) but if you try your hardest on all of them you will get better faster IMO.

Yep. Faster is not better with knife making.

 

[Fletch Helical]

Ha! This is the quick and dirty first knife, just going to epoxy some wood scales on it and call it good.

Do what you want but my suggestion is don't do that. Make it properly to the best of your ability you might surprise yourself. Hand sand the blade up to 400 (alternating directions so you know you've gotten all the previous scratches out before moving up in grits) before you HT it otherwise you'll hate trying to get the marks out. Drill the pin holes and any weight reducing ones as well before HT. Then sand it again properly up to your desired finish for a satin go with a hand rubbed one to 600 or 800 sanding in only one direction so you don't get fishhooks. then pin and glue the handles and finish them out right. Doing all that will not only give you a knife you're proud of but you'll also gain the experience in making a well made knife.

 

[zhyla]

I get what you guys are a saying and don't disagree, but I have a different purpose for this knife. I'm not even sure I like this design at all. I just wanted to get some quick experience with cutting, shaping, grinding, and heat treating a blade. For my real projects I think I want to put together a filing jig.

I do think I'll do more paring knives after this. I rarely pick one up but my wife seems to use them a lot.

 

[Fletch Helical]

The rough stuff is the easy stuff in knife making. Its the detail work, hiding your mistakes (everyone has them) and making everything look pretty that is the challenge.

 

[zhyla]

Learned all kinds of stuff from the heat treat and "finishing" of this. Had some warpage of the handle that I had to deal with. I'm not sure if it was due to quenching technique or the fact that there were some accidental indentations in the handle that made it asymmetrical. Thankfully the blade itself didn't warp.

This was pretty easy. It's amazing how quickly you can turn a piece of steel into a poor excuse for a knife.

 

[S.Alexander]

You are doing yourself a disservice by not finishing each knife to the best of your ability. Listen to the advice you get on this site and try to apply it. Also, post in shoptalk if you want more responses to your posts.