4th knife. Almost done.

[crowncrazy87]

Well here it is. My 4th knife almost complete. Still not where I want to be but it's extremely sharp and after checking edge retention holds an edge well. Plus I actually have someone I know who wants to buy this one!

 

[David LaFerney]

That looks pretty danged good. I'm not 100% sure about the details, but I think if you talk about selling knives you might be asked to upgrade your membership. You might want to review the forum rules. Just sayin'. The knife looks good though.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I am going to tell you something you don't want to hear, but need to - SLOW DOWN!

A week ago you stated your first knife. Three days ago, your second was done. Yesterday you spent $250 on equipment and supplies so you can learn to make better knives and potentially sell them. Now the fourth is done and you are selling knives ......... All in the time you should have spent planning and getting ready to do one knife.

Because you did not fill out any info in your profile ( which I highly recommend you do), I will assume you are a teen age student or young adult and, thus, a week seems like a long time. Rest assured that taking a week to plan a knife, a week to shape it, a week to do HT and clean it up, and a week to do the handle and final edge is fast for a sales worth knife.


This knife is good for a fourth knife, but I think you have a way to go before selling knives. As David pointed out, sales talk is a privilege of Knifemaker members. My advice is to not sell your knives before they are better, as this will just lower your name/quality recognition among your future customers.

Some issues for future knives:
The handle suffers from BHS - block handle syndrome. It needs a lot more than the edges beveled. It should round into an oval or egg shape cross section. It also looks like there is a thin tip of wood at the heel of the blade that will chip of easily.
The edge grind looks like it tapers as it goes from the plunge. I can't tell from the photo, but the plunge line looks awfully deep at the spine?
The two dips in the spine are not ones that add to the look or function.
The shape is "stiff". It needs a slight curve from tip to butt to have some "flow".

What type of rivets are those, and how were they installed?

Go to "The Gallery" or "The Exchange", where the experienced makers show their knives. Look at the shape, handles, and finish of their knives, That is what you should be striving for.

 

[S.Alexander]

Another thing that will help you improve your fit and finish is to completely finish the front edge of the scales before you mount them onto the tang. They will be impossible to finish nicely once mounted to the tang, and you will likely scratch up the ricasso

 

[crowncrazy87]

I do appreciate the tips and guidance given. It's always nice to have more experienced people give ya a hand! I will for sure keep those thoughts in mind on the next one I start on! :thumbup:

The scales are not actually mounted yet they were just kind of "set up" for the pic which is why I said almost done. Sooo after reading some of the things here I will definitely get back to work on them for a better fit and finish and may try and address some of the things Stacy mentioned as well!

I apologize that I mentioned anything about a sale. I recall seeing that I could not really discuss pricing and selling, etc. without an upgraded membership and didn't think it would be an issue just to state that someone I know saw this yesterday and said they would buy it from me. Which, honestly I didn't even plan to sell but he offered to buy so I said heck why not! Again I will refrain from any future postings regarding anything of that nature until I upgrade my membership.

I am going to tell you something you don't want to hear, but need to - SLOW DOWN!

A week ago you stated your first knife. Three days ago, your second was done. Yesterday you spent $250 on equipment and supplies so you can learn to make better knives and potentially sell them. Now the fourth is done and you are selling knives ......... All in the time you should have spent planning and getting ready to do one knife.

Because you did not fill out any info in your profile ( which I highly recommend you do), I will assume you are a teen age student or young adult and, thus, a week seems like a long time. Rest assured that taking a week to plan a knife, a week to shape it, a week to do HT and clean it up, and a week to do the handle and final edge is fast for a sales worth knife.


This knife is good for a fourth knife, but I think you have a way to go before selling knives. As David pointed out, sales talk is a privilege of Knifemaker members. My advice is to not sell your knives before they are better, as this will just lower your name/quality recognition among your future customers.

My first knife had already been done and finished before I ever joined the forums here. The money on my stuff has been spent over the course of a few months. I had worked on #2(posted up the 20th of last month) & #3 pretty well together and one turned out well enough for my tool box and other is scrap, never again will I work on two at once!

This current one has been going on for right at a month and is not quite done yet. I am not trying to argue or just act like "whatever". I just don't want any of the respectable people here to think "here is some other clown barreling in here half way doing it" because that kind of stuff can taint the whole art of this for everyone. I should have been more clear with my timelines vs when I actually sit down and post things up on here. Going back and checking my posts though I can definitely see where it looks as if I have done everything I have posted about on here within a months time.

Stacy I do look forward to my next one though and I will for sure keep the things you said about some issues with the blade and all in mind!