1st Knife Pictures

Darksky

Darksky

Joined
Nov 21, 2009
Messages
141
Here it is.
O1 tool steel 3/16x1
8 7/16 OAL
4 1/8 butt to top of micarta
4 3/8 to Spanish cut at top of ricasso
4 1/4 micarta to tip of blade
4 ricasso to tip of blade
tip of blade is drop point (kinda)

I drew the pattern myself. I wanted a "companion" style knife I left the blade a little longer than I had initially planned.

I cut it out of 1 inch stock with my cut off wheel. Shaped it with an 8 inch wheel grinder. rough shaped it with a 4x36 belt grinder.

Bought Fred's bubble jig and fixed So Many boogers. Bought a used ($50) craftsman 2x42 grinder, used it to refine my blade. Filed for hours on end to make it uniform. Sanded to a consistent 400 (100,220,400)

Drilled two hole for corbys and one for lanyard. Drilled 12 more to lighten handle and provide epoxy a place to "bite".

Made a simple forge in my masonry fireplace (old blowdryer,2 1/2 inch pipe, heavy steel frame/grate, chunks of coal and cedar)

Heated blade to nonmagnetic, held it there (glowing red) for almost ten minutes, quenched it in hot mineral oil.

Tempered it in my oven at 425 for two hours, let it cool.

Sanded off the decarb to 400.

Set the edge in water in an ice cube tray and used a plumber's torch to draw out the spine, let it cool.

Sanded it to 800.

epoxied 1/8 black micarta scales to red vulcanized rubber spacer material. Ground several recesses into backside of scales for epoxy to bite.

Epoxied and clamped those to the handle using 1/4 stainless corby bolts and 1/4 stainless lanyard tube.

Shaped and sanded scales. I went to 400 on the scales, I know that is a little too smooth compared to most everyone else's work.

Cleaned everything up to a mostly uniform 800.

I am happy with it. I think it looks good. The only comment I have heard was a dig from one of my buddies. He said it looks like a steak knife from Texas T-Bone.

What do you think? What is good or bad? How can I improve the next one? Yes, I already cut the blank out...

I am going to ditch the craftsman belt grinder, it has too many issues. I can afford the Kalamazoo 2x48 ($239- Jantz) I think it is an okay upgrade for the money. Fred's jig and clamp is great for making a clean plunge, it saves me hours of "oops".

I have a small piece of carbon fiber for the next scales and am going to make some burlap "mycarta".

I look forward to your comments. Thank you in advance.

In all reality you taught me how to make this first knife. I built it from scratch with this website and it's members expertise. If only I can develop the skill set of some of the members.
 

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What a great steak knife...:thumbup: :eek::D J/K! Great job on your first one! some constructive feed back though...next time if your going to use O1 find someone with a ceramics kiln and then the proper O1 heat treat is ramp up to 1500 and let stand for 15 - 30 minutes then up to 1550 and quench. Again Great Job!
 
Good looking knife for the first one. I actually don't mind the Craftsman 2x42 at the moment. Did you modify the platen and put the ceramic glass platen, or something similar on there? Having something that is actually truly flat to grind against makes a big difference. I don't seem to have that many problems after modifying the platen and using the bubble jig.
 
JasonSCarter said:
next time if your going to use O1 find someone with a ceramics kiln and then the proper O1 heat treat is ramp up to 1500 and let stand for 15 - 30 minutes then up to 1550 and quench.
Click to expand...

I don't think I met that standard, however I bet it soaked at the lower temp( A low glow) for a good twenty minutes while I built the heat up. I initially struggled with getting the air to fuel ratio correct. Once I got the coal rolling in the airstream I was able to bring the temp up and control it somewhat.

I definitely will benefit from more education...
 
Nobody else has any opinions? No comments... Your feedback will help me become a better craftsman. 250+ people have looked at my knife and only four have had anything to say. Is this design worthy of more copies or should I scrap it and start again?
 
Coming from a new guy (That would be me), it looks like it turned out pretty good.
I am just getting started, what kind of forge options would someone have if they don't exactly have a big shop to work out of... and I havn't won the lotto yet either ;) !
 
There seem to be a lot of options for making your own forge. Look on you tube, there are dozens of examples of homebuilt forges. Some propane some coal. There are even a few that use a cheapie weed burner and a simple modified five gallon bucket. I am getting redy to make a simple propane one myself. The coal route I have been using is not quite enough for my HT needs (apparently). I really have enjoyed making this first knife and am already making a second and improving my shop tools. This community is a great resource, with some huge talent. Regards, Brad
 
Darksky said:
Nobody else has any opinions? No comments... Your feedback will help me become a better craftsman. 250+ people have looked at my knife and only four have had anything to say. Is this design worthy of more copies or should I scrap it and start again?
Click to expand...


I'm not a maker so I can't comment on your design or your methods. That said, I like it pretty well. Alot of people would kill to have their first attempt come out like that. The red liners are a nice aesthetic touch.
 
That certainly is a great-looking first attempt. Good work. The only further comments I could make would regard the shape and style of blade not being of my personal taste...but that is only an opinion and doesn't reflect on what looks a far cry better than my first attempt. It seems you have patience in the workshop and that is certainly a good thing.

Cheers
 
Angus McGunnigl said:
Looks very good to me.

After you tempered, why did you then use the torch to draw the spine ?
Click to expand...

I wanted to make sure that it would not be brittle enough to beak if it were to be exposed to shearing forces (prying) I read a few different versions of how people temper. Some up to triple... I was afraid that I would "over" soften the steel by multiple tempering attempts. I realize this exposes the limits of my knowledge of the molecular configurations of steel. I thought that the draw with a third of the blade submerged would be a good compromise as the edge hardness hopefully wasn't affected. Again, this is just my rudimentary "hope"

What blade profile changes would you make?

Thanks for your input...
 
What blade profile changes would you make?
Click to expand...

I'd use less drop on the spine to bring the point up some, and increase the length of the belly to the tip of the cutting edge. The current spine profile is long and graceful, but the cutting edge has an abrupt sort of feel to it. To my eye, these two don't mesh quite right.

Also, and again just a personal preference, but I think that by simply curving the lead edge of the handle scales in lieu of the perpendicular flat look you have there, the knfie will look much more "finished" (or some other word to say "looks better").

Cheers
 
Nice! Either that stock was really thick or your handle scales look a bit thin. Overall, not a bad knife though.
 
cheekser said:
I'd use less drop on the spine to bring the point up some, and increase the length of the belly to the tip of the cutting edge. The current spine profile is long and graceful, but the cutting edge has an abrupt sort of feel to it. To my eye, these two don't mesh quite right.

Also, and again just a personal preference, but I think that by simply curving the lead edge of the handle scales in lieu of the perpendicular flat look you have there, the knfie will look much more "finished" (or some other word to say "looks better").

Cheers
Click to expand...

Thanks, I am looking at another blank I cut out today. I left the blade long and will make this one a different profie.

The steel is 3/16 and the scales are a little over 1/8 each. Do they really look too thin? I thought it felt right. I had it thicker and ground them down to fit my hand, or to a good "feel". I will revisit that decision as well.

Keep the comments coming. Thank you. Bradley
 
Looks like really good work to me...I agree with your buddy about the steak knife comment, but that's just a matter of your profile design. It does not take away from your craftsmanship.
 
Here are three different profiles I have come up with...

The "Skinny Cow" is just lightly modified from the first one, to reflect cheekser's ideas.

I am changing the scales as well. I will end the mycarta beneath the ricasso on the leading edge and make a gentle arc upwards towards the spine. Hopefully that will minimize the "steak knife" look.

What do you think of the dreawings, what would you change?

Thanks for your input and support, Bradley
 

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nice looking blade! I agree with the aesthetic comments of cheekser...however, in practice your shape may be very functional. I say this because one of my favorite knives to use (admittedly mostly for sandwich making) has a long flat blade that used to come to a point, like a fat filleting knife, but now has a sudden up sweep to the tip which I ground in after the tip was snapped off. I find that the flat blade is handy for slicing and cutting, but the steep belly right at the tip is great for fine tasks and draw cuts where you need belly. I bet after several sharpening cycles the transition from main blade to swept belly will even out and it will really feel and look good.

Awesome job. I am going to try one day and I can only hope it will look half as good as that. :thumbup:
 
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