2011 mini knife KITH

[RyanW]

I don't know how you guys grind those without loosing your fingernails. Lets see a photo Mike!

 

[Daniel Fairly Knives]

Acid etch time...

Don't drink this shot!

 

[Daniel Fairly Knives]

Glue up! I made the phenolic burlap "mycarta" myself. (ignore the green marker, it was just for layout) I tried to make it glow in the dark but it is very faint. I'm surprised how tough this home-made material is, it grinds slower than any G10 or micarta that I have ground yet!

I'll have more updates in a couple of days... this epoxy needs to cure now.

 

[Atlas Knife Company]

How do you file the slot in the guard? None of my files are small enough and if I try to grind one down it destroys the HT and the teeth deform as soon as I try filing with it. Can I redo the HT on a small file without annealing? What would happen if I HT like 1084(non-magnetic and quench)?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Don't let it get hot when grinding.
If you can't control your belt grinding, use a diamond wheel ( HF) and your Dremel to grind down the needle file.

Needle burrs, Krause burrs, and reamer burrs are often an easy way to clean up and size the slot on a mini guard.Other burrs, like wheel burrs and slitting burrs can be useful ,too.

 

[Atlas Knife Company]

Very slowly grinding down the file at 800 grit, holding it with an ice cube, did the trick. Not the best slot I've ever made, but I'm not sure I can do much better on this scale at this point. Got the front and butte glued to the ebony. Looks like I will get it finished in time!!!!! It's gonna be fun working on such a small handle!

 

[Southclaw]

I am sorry guys. I will not make it. I have hardly had any time to work in the shop, and have not been able to work on the mini at all.

 

[Daniel Fairly Knives]

I am pretty close on mine, I have it essentially finished up but it isn't done until I have it in the box, lol. I need to look it over tomorrow when I'm not so tired and also see if I can make a mini lanyard... anyone know where I can find some 135# paracord like they use for mini parachutes?

I ground some thin kydex down even thinner for the sheath so I have a tactical style mini sheath, lol. Where do I get the mini tek-loks and hardware?

 

[RyanW]

I am pretty close on mine, I have it essentially finished up but it isn't done until I have it in the box, lol. I need to look it over tomorrow when I'm not so tired and also see if I can make a mini lanyard... anyone know where I can find some 135# paracord like they use for mini parachutes?

I ground some thin kydex down even thinner for the sheath so I have a tactical style mini sheath, lol. Where do I get the mini tek-loks and hardware?

Looking forward to seeing it! you could pull strands out of the 7 strand Para Cord that should work great as a lanyard. I am not sure of the exact dia. of the stuff though. Dental Floss Maybe?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Don't despair the deadline guys. Info coming soon from the KITH director.

 

[fast14riot]

Hey everyone, I hope all is well. I am seeing some nice looking little knives here, but there have been some concerns about participation with the deadline fast approaching. So after thinking about it I have decided to extend the deadline to JULY 1, 2011. All rules still apply, but the new deadline gives you all a chance to get done. I neglected to think about makers who might be in school and not have much time between studying and finals, so if this is the case for you, his new deadline should help out!

Have fun making those little knives, and let's see some nice work!


-Xander Holman

 

[Daniel Fairly Knives]

Hey everyone, I hope all is well. I am seeing some nice looking little knives here, but there have been some concerns about participation with the deadline fast approaching. So after thinking about it I have decided to extend the deadline to JULY 1, 2011. All rules still apply, but the new deadline gives you all a chance to get done. I neglected to think about makers who might be in school and not have much time between studying and finals, so if this is the case for you, his new deadline should help out!

Have fun making those little knives, and let's see some nice work!


-Xander Holman

That means more people can join up! I was intimidated at first but mine went better than I expected and was a lot of fun, now I want to make more! I'm not good with small objects and I have never tried anything like this... try one maybe you'll enjoy it!

I didn't have to buy any extra tools, just used a grinder and an inexpensive file set and sandpaper.

 

[RyanW]

With the deadline extension, can I join in on this KITH? I will be able to make the deadline!

 

[fast14riot]

With the deadline extension, can I join in on this KITH? I will be able to make the deadline!

Ryan, you are more than welcome join in! The KITH is open to anyone and anyone can join in at any time as long as their knife is done by the deadline. Thanx for joining in!


-Xander
P.S. - Ryan, I got your information and will update the participents list shortly. Thanx again!

 

[RyanW]

Alright, So I have had a busy day I worked all day on this KITH and tried to take Photos when I thought about it. First off I want to say this was a BLAST, I decided to use the same LORIEN design in the "Pay It Forward" thread HERE I am finishing up.

I dug through the scrap bucket and found a suitable piece of 5/32" (I was hoping to find thinner stock) 1095 Dropped Lorien's design on the Copy machine and set it to 25%. Traced the design on my piece of steel:

Drilled Pin Holes:

Profiled:

Ground:

Clay for Hamon (Attempt):

Post HT:

I cleaned up the blade and it looked like I got a great Hamon, but there was something funky going on, on the tip. Almost like a secondary Hamon, I should have left well enough alone but I didn't.

I Ran the blade through 3 normalizing cycles and Clay/HT'd again. This time I got a very faint Hamon but the strange thing is, the blade now looks like very mild Damascus? WTF? I am guessing that I messed up the HT and caught it in some type of transition... I left it cause it looks cool and this is a Mini not something that will be cutting and chopping.

I wanted to do the two tone scales like I did on my PIF, which is a difficult task for me. So unfortunately I did not take any photos of that process. I am pretty happy how it turned out.

Fast14Riot's Mini-KITH:

Lorien's PIF:

Now the question is do I send this little guy off to Kiah to get a matching sheath?

 

[Daniel Fairly Knives]

Ryan that is incredible! The damascus effect is really cool. I can't believe the detail you got on something so small.

How did you attach the scales?

 

[RyanW]

Ryan that is incredible! The damascus effect is really cool. I can't believe the detail you got on something so small.

How did you attach the scales?

Thanks Dan! I used 5 min. Epoxy instead of acraglas, and pins just like my full size knives. Here is an in hand photo. I had a lot of fun on this one.

 

[fast14riot]

HOLY COW! Ryan, that is awesome and you didn't even need the deadline extension! Very nice work. I will have to find time to get mine finished up this week. I need to finish the guard and figure out how best to do a stacked leather handle. I have leather the right thickness and may just try to super glue the entire thing, kinda like stabilizing it.

Let's see how everyone else is doing.


-Xander

 

[Daniel Fairly Knives]

Ryan,

Wow! I really like the flared tube also. On a side note I have a bottle opener which was my first knife related project hanging from my fridge door, it gets used daily and was glued with 5 minute epoxy. I have been abusing it and let it bang on the fridge every time I use it and it is holding up great. My first knife and edc, same thing.

I still need to clean up my chamfered tube, it looks good to me but bad in a photo. I hand chamered the aluminum tube with a standard 82 degree countersink (?) and it looks rough. Aluminum likes to smear around, I don't like working with it... having a hard time keeping it clean.

I have to make another now, I want a mini for my keychain!

 

[RyanW]

Ryan,

Wow! I really like the flared tube also. On a side note I have a bottle opener which was my first knife related project hanging from my fridge door, it gets used daily and was glued with 5 minute epoxy. I have been abusing it and let it bang on the fridge every time I use it and it is holding up great. My first knife and edc, same thing.

I still need to clean up my chamfered tube, it looks good to me but bad in a photo. I hand chamered the aluminum tube with a standard 82 degree countersink (?) and it looks rough. Aluminum likes to smear around, I don't like working with it... having a hard time keeping it clean.

I have to make another now, I want a mini for my keychain!

HAHA... I want to keep this one and hang it on a necklace or key chain. When I started making I used 5 min epoxy on a few knives (They are still in a box somewhere). I figured it was definitely safe on this little guy. I chamfered (Carved out) the tubing with a little Dremel Carving Cone I had laying around. worked perfect on the brass, I imagine it would work well on Aluminum.