The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Wow! Awesome write up, awesome story and awesome knife design!Finally time for an update!
So, as a reminder, Nathan's directions for this project were:
1. Come up with a design
2. Nate sends me steel and micarta for handle scales
3. I get as far as I can then send it back to CPK
4. Nate sends the blade for heat treat then Mark will fix everything I screwed up
Shortly after the new year Nate sent me this piece of steel, cross-rolled so that I could lay out my design in whichever direction I chose
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Also some off cuts of maroon and od green micarta for the handle scales, which I don't actually have a picture of at the moment.
While at the CPK gathering in October, I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with the singularMatthew Gregory , whom until that point I knew only for his online witticisms and exquisite knife designs.
After the cutting competition, I was discussing my thoughts on the project with Matt, and he extended the offer to assist me with the initial stages of completing the knife.
I jumped at the chance to accept his help because my knife making experience consisted of cobbling together a couple of knives with files and a 1x30 harbor freight special- here's a photo of those two roughshod specimens from 6 or 7 years ago:
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I was excited to receive instruction from Matt because I have been impressed by his work for a long time, and because I wanted to make this knife something special.
I live in central Pennsylvania, and Matt lives in upstate New York. Our first challenge was getting me to his shop without the roads managing to kill me and my Toyota Corolla in February.
We made the decision to reschedule to the second week in April, when I would have a reasonable chance of not ending up in a snowdrift 30 miles from anything but deer with icicles coming out of their asses.
I arrived at Matt's place last Friday evening needing only a light jacket, but quickly realized that the climate was not the only dangerous feature of the landscape, as Matt's gentle natured dog (a beautiful 80lb pit rescue named Huck) immediately tried to eat me and barely stopped trying for the rest of the weekend.
Huck is definitely a good boy and I even got him to snuggle with me on the couch at one point, though he may have just been trying to get close enough to get me by the throat. I think he and Nate and Jo's Sadie would have gotten along great.
Jokes aside, Matt and his wife Jill were wonderful and gracious hosts. We enjoyed several meals together, discussing a wide range of topics, from knife making to music to healthcare policy.
But most of the time was spent in the shop, getting shit done!
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Matt has a meticulous and defined process for knifemaking that produces high precision results. I learned how to locate, drill and ream a hole properly. There were more steps than I expected during this whole process, and I gained a new respect for what Nate and crew do at CPK, and for machinists in general.
After laying out the blade profile from my template, I cut it out on the bandsaw, then profiled it on a 10 inch, 8 inch, 5 inch and 3/8 inch wheels.
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We then cut holes to mount the handle scales, and we also milled a lanyard hole. My goal when starting this project was to make this knife compatible with DEK series scales.
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I was pleasantly surprised that it worked!
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We then further refined the profile, and this is what we had at the end of day 1:
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I'm super sensitive to caffeine, so Matt and Jill offered me many cups of mint tea to unwind after our long days in the shop. Check out this badass mug
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The next day, it was time to start grinding the primary bevels. Matt had advised me to temper
my expectations for this project going into it, and reminded me once in awhile that I could irrevocably ruin it at pretty much any time.
He demonstrated correct grinding technique and then I got to work. I'm closer to 5'6" and Matt is closer to 6'5", so I needed to use an old log as a "high chair" for much of the process, since Matt's shop is set up for the height he works at. We do share the handicap of being left handed. Nathan has talked about Matt's other handicaps, but I don't have a doctor's note to use the word.
I'm kind of hoping Matt got some photos throughout the grinding process, because I was in a cold sweat much of the time and was solely focused on not gouging the hell out of the edge, and didn't get a photo until the end of the day
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I had some sketchy moments where I bobbled above the primary grind height, gouged the hollow grind toward the tip multiple times, and screwed up the plunge grind. Matt came back in at the last minute and, in a few seconds that felt like an eternity, cleaned up most of my mistakes and helped me leave the shop with something presentable and ready to send back to Nathan.
We began to work on handle scales, but put that part of the project on hold almost immediately after we realized we had run out of time and I needed to get home Sunday afternoon. I still have the handle scale material and am planning to produce some scales unique to this knife prior to sending it back to Nate.
I want to express a huge amount of gratitude to Matt for hosting me, and for offering his time and expertise to get this project off the ground. He is a brilliant knifemaker and a very clever human. He is extremely patient in his very detailed instruction. I never felt rushed by him, even though he could have finished this process in 30 minutes, he took 3 days with me so that I could understand and execute on each step of this process. He has an exacting standard of excellence for each step of the knifemaking process so that he can produce the best work that he is capable of, and for the joy and art and love of making knives just for its own sake.
Matt, thanks again for helping me make this happen. I am really proud of what I accomplished this last weekend, and I couldn't have done it without you.
I had a blast hanging out with you, Jill and Huck. I'm not quite sure how you convinced Jill to marry you, but I know it wasn't so she could listen to you go on all day about how Kenny G is the greatest jazz musician of all time. I enjoyed our walks in the woods with Huck and eating a lot of lunch with you guys. I'm honored to call you friends.
Stay tuned for more updates over the coming weeks and months. Next steps are to work on scales, and decide about whether or not to leave the tang of the knife slightly proud from the scales as a design feature, or to grind it flush with the scales.
At the moment I'm considering calling this blade the N.E.K.K. knife: "Not Eligible(for)Kitchen Knife"
For two reasons:
1. When I initially mentioned to Matt that I was planning to use this in the kitchen, he was quick to point out that the design (.162 stock with hollow grind) and steel are all wrong for that kind of application. This knife is to be a utility field knife with something resembling a wharncliffe blade.
2. We could all breathe a sigh of relief once CPK has finally produced at least one "NEKK" knife @dtmbinb
Thanks for following along, I'm really excited to see this project start coming together.
- Steve
Non.Nisi.Te
!!! This whole project is the best ongoing story I have read on the forum in a long, long time. I am so impressed with the design concept that effectively marries Lorien’s and Nathan’s design elements with a blade shape that is uniquely yours.
Matthew Gregory
and Jill as you learned and applied their guidance. Having access to a fully equipped shop certainly helps too.
Non.Nisi.Te
!!!!
Matthew Gregory
being your Yoda is pretty kick ass 
I really luv Matt Gregory'sMansion,eh Castle, Palace! That spot looks spectacular. Was wondering whether Matt accepts wedding reception requests and if so, whether he personally DJs playing mostly Kenny G songs? As always, asking for a friend!
On the WIP front, awesome job Steve and thank you for sharing
CPK Mark
I’m an exclusively freehand grinder. It’s important to me, and it’s something I insist upon when someone is learning. Steve was no different, and work rests were used only for profiling. I did allow him to use one for grinding the primary bevel, but only if the blade was held in his hands - his hands could rest on the work rest to stabilize him. It’s an important distinction. 
I really luv Matt Gregory'sMansion,eh Castle, Palace! That spot looks spectacular. Was wondering whether Matt accepts wedding reception requests and if so, whether he personally DJs playing mostly Kenny G songs? As always, asking for a friend!
On the WIP front, awesome job Steve and thank you for sharing
Non.Nisi.Te
, thank you so much for sharing this amazing experience with us. Your progress is impressive and I’m sincerely joyful that you got some hang time w/ the great Gregory and fam. 
Yeah Uncle Matty, that's a welcome center just over the PA border, so I guess I technically paid for a small part of it, does that mean it's partly mine
Matt's place is also really cool and makes you feel like you're in the woods, but in a classy, on purpose way
