critique my very 1st blade😳

J

jerry aronson

Joined
Jul 12, 2020
Messages
6
So I finally finish my "Christening Blade" about 6 months ago but wanted to give it some use before I posted it to make sure it would hold up to said tasks. (because anyone can make a decent looking blade, but it takes something to make one that can perform) Needless to say it had outperformed all of my expectations! Holds an edge extremely well, scales are still holding tight, ect. So I said to myself, Well I suppose it's time to show it to a more knowledgeable crowd, lol. what do yall think... It started as a lawn mower blade and some canvas. but in order to make it i had to...
1) find belt sander and belts, files, ect.
2) make a forge and burner and aquire all equipment for heat treat, ect.
3) there's plenty more, just don't wanna bore you with all the details. lol

that being said, this was my first attempt at pretty much Everything that goes into making a decent blade, and it was very much a learning experience.
thank you, Jerry
https://imgur.com/a/PgU5vzQ
 
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Hi Jerry, welcome to BF. I think your first knife came out pretty good, a nice utilitarian design. I wonder about those ridges on the back of the handle, don’t they dig in to your palm at all?
 
nope. I hand sanded, then wet sanded them, then took them to the buffing wheel on my bench grinder to mellow out the edges a bit. almost to the point that they are rounded...
 
welcome.

not bad at all for a first made knife. I'm not big on small fixed blades shorter than 4" blade length. regardless looks pretty good.....lot of ridges/jimping ya used there.
 
jerry aronson said:
So I finally finish my "Christening Blade" about 6 months ago but wanted to give it some use before I posted it to make sure it would hold up to said tasks. (because anyone can make a decent looking blade, but it takes something to make one that can perform) Needless to say it had outperformed all of my expectations! Holds an edge extremely well, scales are still holding tight, ect. So I said to myself, Well I suppose it's time to show it to a more knowledgeable crowd, lol. what do yall think... It started as a lawn mower blade and some canvas. but in order to make it i had to...
1) find belt sander and belts, files, ect.
2) make a forge and burner and aquire all equipment for heat treat, ect.
3) there's plenty more, just don't wanna bore you with all the details. lol

that being said, this was my first attempt at pretty much Everything that goes into making a decent blade, and it was very much a learning experience.
thank you, Jerry
https://imgur.com/a/PgU5vzQ
Click to expand...
Good job! You should be very proud!!👍
 
It looks like a nice little functional piece.

Definitely has a BM Hidden Canyon vibe to it:

2YvKyIf.jpg
 
jerry aronson said:
So I finally finish my "Christening Blade" about 6 months ago but wanted to give it some use before I posted it to make sure it would hold up to said tasks. (because anyone can make a decent looking blade, but it takes something to make one that can perform) Needless to say it had outperformed all of my expectations! Holds an edge extremely well, scales are still holding tight, ect. So I said to myself, Well I suppose it's time to show it to a more knowledgeable crowd, lol. what do yall think... It started as a lawn mower blade and some canvas. but in order to make it i had to...
1) find belt sander and belts, files, ect.
2) make a forge and burner and aquire all equipment for heat treat, ect.
3) there's plenty more, just don't wanna bore you with all the details. lol

that being said, this was my first attempt at pretty much Everything that goes into making a decent blade, and it was very much a learning experience.
thank you, Jerry
https://imgur.com/a/PgU5vzQ
Click to expand...
Great job 👍
 
I like fixed blades of all sizes and it looks nice. Is that middle flat on the spine for resting your index finger on?
 
Great job, I like that short blade with all the belly it looks like a good slicer. And the shape reminds me of my old ZT 0900, another awesome little knife that I regret selling. A bit much on the jimping, but that’s ok.
 
Looks very useful. Personal taste thing, but I’d ditch all the extra file work, merely leave some kind of thumb jimping if you dig that kind of thing. I like that blade shape, too.
 
Holy cow. didn't know what kind of reactions I was gonna get. thank you all for the warm welcome.
well I'll start from the top... yes there's multiple styles of jimping/ridges because this was kind of an experimental blade for me to try different ideas and styles on to see what I like. i wanted to make a small skinning/ hunting knife that could be worn comfortably as a neck knife because i hunt from a tree saddle, so anything that's attached to my belt or in my pocket will either a. be a bother, b. get relocated, c. (as was the case with my sog folder and my STAN handheld bow release) fall out of my pocket during my ascent/decent and get lost. so smaller size seemed like the best option.
it does have the hidden Canyon vibe to it, it was one of my favorite knives I've ever held and it was basically the inspiration for this one.
the middle flat is actually kind of the part I never really touch i guess, I use the jimping towards the tip for off I'm applying lots of downward force with my thumb, and the the one's closest to the handle and all are obviously to see what you would assume for lighter pressure for the thumb or if I'm skinning for my index. but I think I just didn't want the entire spine jimped @ the time, but I have thought about filling it in. I did space it so if I wanted to later down the road I could without spacing issues. and I wasn't necessarily planning on jimping it as deep as I did initially. But I started with to big of a round file (yes all of this blade was shaped/profiled and jimped by hand with files, no dremel) and it just did not have the look that I wanted with with real shallow, wide jimps so I had to go deeper.
And here is where lessons were learned!! I used an old lawn mower blade for my steel... My lesson learned that day was that I might as well just go and buy premium steel stock from the retailer so that way I aint gotta spend an entire day trying to teach myself how to flatten the curve/ bend out of an 1/8" thick piece of steel and keep the thickness uniform and consistent, with a forge and a piece of train track for an anvil, and a had to make a decent hammer. so I took an old engineer hammer of my grandfather's that had a broken handle for a long as i can remember (at least 20 years for sure) and first I made a new handle out of some hickory scrap i had laying around. well the hammers eye was about 3/4" so I broke the handle trying to install it. so I took my biggest, most aggressive rat tail to it and after a good stint of filling, and when i was satisfied with the end result i bought a new hickory handle and set the new handle in it and gave it a couple mock swings and found it to be a little on the heavy side... so I took the head off again and took my angle grinder to the top of the hammer, which had a sort of a crest to it, and ground it off flat. took it to my belt sander and smoothed everything down and re profiled the head to be a flat/rounding combo hammer that even Thor himself would be envious of. then I profiled the handle to my liking, oiled it with linseed oil, scorched it, re-oiled multiple times. installed it, and vawalla, I had a blacksmithing hammer worthy of being an heirloom. but anyway, long story short... mistakes were made, swears were said, time was lost, and scrap was made... lol.

That all being said, I've since bartered myself an old anvil, been gifted a few old leaf springs, acquired new ideas and materials for the scales (a few of which I am super excited for) 😉, I even started getting a little extra spare time for myself here and there now that the kid is becoming less and less demanding of my full attention at all times. BUT, then I done went and planted another seed in the ol' lady and all that extra spare time went out the window real fast, now we're moving outta the 2 bd apt. to 3 bd house to make room for the little one, started new job further from home to cover extra costs, ect. SO, needless to say I'm not sure when the next one will be made, but I'll definitely keep everyone posted if/ when it does... but I suppose I'll step off my soap box now, didn't mean for this to turn into a rant lol. but once again, thanks for all the compliments and support, glad my hard work was as appealing to everyone else as it was for me. and I have a feeling you'll be seeing me again with something new and improved before to long. I have a couple people wanting me to make something for them, now to just find the time is another battle... thanks again.
 
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oh and I would also like to add that I made the micarta myself, and the kydex sheaths, and also the press for the kydex. and did all the grinds without a grinding jig/ guide, or even a table to brace against, on my dad's old belt sander he gifted me that he  made in high school 🤣🤣🤣, that I screwed to the wall in my garage. I can't make this s*** up lol. all of my friends laugh at me when they walk in my garage, which also looks somewhat comparable to an episode of Hoarders lol. but it's funny cuz my closest friends are the ones that that laughed the hardest (i was laughing with them because I can see the humor just as much as they do lol), they are the ones pressing the hardest for me to make one for them lol.
 
and as for the name... Haven't really put much thought into that yet🤔. first clever name i thought of was "UD", Pronounced like Elmer F'UD'd. for initials of Ugly Duckling,. but now you guys said it's not all that bad looking, I'm kinda thinking it's not very suiting... hmm. I'm open for suggestions if anyone has any. it's gotta be something clever tho. lol
 
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