Completed my first knife

R

Ryan J

Joined
Jul 14, 2014
Messages
233
Finally finished my grinder a few weeks ago and got started attempting to make knives. This is actually number five, but the first four didnt make it past bevel grinding. We wont talk about those. Anyway here it is.
Its mild steel so unsuitable as a tool. I wanted to practice before I spent money on steel. This was a piece of angle iron. Dont make fun of my birdy frames. =) The handle is some pine that was laying around. I have some g10 but I didn't want to use it on this since the knife cant be used. I don't think I'll use wood again. It wanted to seperate at the butt of the tang as you'll see. Also it was hard to polish the pins without the mothers mag discoloring the wood.[img=http://s30.postimg.org/x0o4su3il/IMAG0496_BURST005.jpg] The *cringe* spine. This pattern I tried didnt work out. Its not very repeatable. I use a dremel. I use the rubber sanding drums, put double sided carpet tape on them, and attach my own sandpaper. Sanded to 2k this way. When I epoxied thw handles on it squeezed out into the pattern. Couldnt wipe it out so i thought I would experiment and fill it and sand it down. The effect was less then spectacular here but I feel like the process has potential. Next time I'll pigment the epoxy. And use a different handle material so it doesn't smear into the wood when I sand it. [img=http://s12.postimg.org/7tl534ibd/IMAG0497_BURST012_1_1.jpg] heres the underside. I like this simple pattern much better. It's quick too. I know the handle finish is rough on places.. I didn't go the extra mile because it's mild steel. I'm very particular though and the next one will show much more attention to detail. Mainly this was to get practice grinding bevels. Had to take it to a full flat grind because I couldn't get the line at the top of the bevel straight. I built a jig and thats helping. Here's a a pic of it. I think I'll make my tool rest tip like I've read about on here so that i don't have to take the knife out and switch it end for end.[img=http://s13.postimg.org/dj4gmd71v/IMAG0462.jpg]
Also I had only a 36 grit belt and an 80 grit belt. Had to file out the 80 grit scratches before I could even start sanding. Let me tell you its gonna help me to appreciate finer grit belts when I get some.

Heres a pic that shows the profile better. I know that front pin is all kinds of wonky. Needs to be back further and higher. I changed the handle shape after the holes were drilled and learned why you don't do that. I like the shape though. I think I had a kukri mind a little. My theory is the belly is better presented for cutting with the blade tipped down like that.
 
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Ryan I like the looks of that.

I'd definitely stick with it. I think it looks good.

:thumbup:
 
Congrats!
It was/is smart to start with mild steel to learn on. Most new makers want a knife so badly they refuse to do a few practice blades in mild steel.

Many great makers have said "make one knife, ten times".
This has really helped me work out my process without waisting good steel.

Keep at it.
 
Looks good to me, I am as newbe as they come, so I hope I have come to the right place for advice...
 
NCBIKKER said:
Looks good to me, I am as newbe as they come, so I hope I have come to the right place for advice...
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Anything and everything you need and want to know is on here. Read the stickies at the top of the shop talk page. Invaluable information. I can't imagine how I would of learned how to do any of this absent bladeforums and YouTube. No knife makers in my area that I know of.
 
Not trying to be a front door nobb here, but a quick wipe of the camera lens would be cool :0)

Sweet knife :0)
 
John Katt said:
Not trying to be a front door nobb here, but a quick wipe of the camera lens would be cool :0)

Sweet knife :0)
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Man. I watched Walter Sorells video on photographing knives, took his advice and watched more then one tutorial on my phones camera features and how to use them, played with the settings untill I figured it out, then forgot to wipe off the lens. In my defense its hard to see if the pics are worth a damn on my phone though. But thanks, next time I'll do that. The simple things elude me.
 
I have taken an entire truck load of pictures and forgot to wipe the camera lens ;0)
 
Haha relax man. It's great you seem to know the basics, and what you can improve on in the near future, but as far as looks go, that is a very nice first knife. I expect with the right materials you will make some fine blades indeed.
 
Thanks for the encouraging words everyone. By the time I finished building my grinder I thought I'd lost the drive. Quite a few men hours in it. Of course I'd never made anything from metal before either, and Frankenstein MKI got scrapped. I call this one Frankenstein MKII because it's all scrap parts that were laying around. Total cost was about $60. That's another story and I'll post some pics if anyone wants to see it. It runs great. About 80 pounds and rock solid. Just under 4900 fpm.
Anyway getting this one finished really lit the fire again. Just watched Nick Wheelers hand sanding tutorial and I'm having a small internal battle as to if I should go out there and build sanding paddles and a sanding table like he has, or go to bed. Probably I'll just daydream around on here and Texas Knives. Can't wait to use what I've learned to make the next one better. I read a post here once where a member stated his goal is to make each knife better than the last. I adopted the philosophy.
 
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i4Marc said:
That's a very fine effort for a first knife. Looks comfortable too.
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Thanks it really is comfortable. I like the handle on my CS recon 1 the best out of my knives. So I used the fundamentals of that handle and tweaked enough so that is mine. And added the angle on the butt for retention. Not that you'd need it in a knife this size anyway. I always liked the looks of the handle on a kopis also , and I tried to incorporate that a little to a less extreme extent.
But yeah it fits me like a glove. Can't put it down for long. Walter Sorells said that's something he looks for in his blades. So mission successful there.
 
It looks like you are getting the basics down.

Some thoughts for the next one:
The narrow strip of wood on the handle at the finger guard will pop off in use with no effort. Making the handle go more-or-less straight from the main body to the ricasso will avoid this.
The bird's head butt is a little too thin, also. It should be more rounded as it drops

Look in the gallery and other places at photos of drop point hunters and you will see how a more sleek shape makes a great improvement.
 
It's a good start, always keep improving them. - :thumbup:

IMAG0495_BURST012.jpg


IMAG0493_BURST015_1_1.jpg
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
It looks like you are getting the basics down.

Some thoughts for the next one:
The narrow strip of wood on the handle at the finger guard will pop off in use with no effort. Making the handle go more-or-less straight from the main body to the ricasso will avoid this.
The bird's head butt is a little too thin, also. It should be more rounded as it drops

Look in the gallery and other places at photos of drop point hunters and you will see how a more sleek shape makes a great improvement.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. I know that piece by the finger guard is weak. Thought about that while I was making it. I'll take your advice on the handle with the next one. I thought making the handle go straight off the body would look strange, but since you said that I've looked at some pics and see what you mean. And thanks for letting me know that style of butt is called a birds head. Didn't know that either.
 
Properly shaped, a bird's head butt will look a lot like a bird head....especially with a lanyard hole.
Just make the "beak" more like a sparrow than a crow and keep the point small.
 
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