Decided to make my own knife...advice would be welcome

crimsonfalcon07 said:
Good job not getting discouraged by the advice you've been getting. Knifemaking can be very fun, and it's worth sticking with it.

A few comments from a hobbyist who's been making only for a couple years, and remembers being where you are now...

First, be safe. Make sure you get a respirator for anything that will make dust, PARTICULARLY for any work with G10. Protect your eyes too. Steel dust gets everywhere when grinding. I've also burned holes in a few pairs of pants from the sparks. If you like your clothes, get a shop apron to protect yourself.

Second, the handle thickness and the blade thickness seem a bit out of proportion to me. Part of my dislike is just from aesthetics, but part of it is also that I know how front heavy those blades are going to turn out to be from my own experiences. My guess is you're looking at a balance point around 3-4 inches from the top of the handle scales on the biggest one. Definitely make a mockup from wood, and make scales for it too while you're at it so you can get the feel for the ergos of your design. Even just cutting it out quickly from cardboard will give you a good sense for where the hot spots will be. I think the hump in the middle of the handle may be a little too pronounced to get a good lock with your pinky. You may want to give it a little more real estate around the butt area.

Third, take things SLOW and do your best not to get impatient with things. Seriously. Literally as soon as you get impatient, you'll end up ruining the blade, or otherwise making mistakes. Screw up slowly, not fast, and you'll end up with a much better project that you'll be a lot happier with. I've definitely spent months working on a single project. I've also gotten some done in a few weeks. The ones I spent the most time on are the ones I'm most happy with.

Fourth, ditch the talon holes. You will almost certainly be getting an unhappy call from Jerry Busse if you leave them in, and he'll try to make you grind them off. Save yourself the time and effort and don't put them in. They're trademarked, and you don't want the legal hassle.
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Hi, thanks for the info! I have a welding jacket and some pants I use for welding as well as a full face mask respirator and welding gloves. I should be good to go i believe. I plan on taking things slowly no rush here. I will actually be gone all next week so I will have some time to think about the designs some more and then ill start by cutting out the designs and trying to make a mockup(with handles) to see how it will feel in my hands. I didn't realize a hole in a piece of metal could be trademarked. Would it matter that I am not planning on selling these knives just making them for myself? I wouldn't wanna step on anyones toes so if it really is an issue ill think of something else.
 
12345678910 said:
Right off I'd say no, that's not true, but 'd hate to be wrong

Any of the waterjet and laser cutters, just do that

CNC double disc grinding is downright rare when I've looked for it.

Who do you have in mind exactly ?
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Were you asking me or ate1675?
 
ate1675 said:
I didnt read every thing up to this so this may be a repeat ,but all the books and stickies in the world cant make someone who cant work with thier hands a knife maker.If you can fix stuff and use tools you can do it. The places that will cut out your drawings will also grind your bevel . from your first posts,cutting blade to shape and length is the easiest part, buy some d2 , cut em how you want em then grind in your bevels and send them out for heattreat.Theres your perfect knives,watch out or you might get hooked !I only tried it once.
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He was speaking to the person who appears to have eaten part of the Count.

Proteus... one oiece of advice I may have missed and it may not even be in the Count's post. You have to double check stuff, look at the work and sites of those giving you advice and decide who to listen to.

I'll give you a freebie here though. I'm having trouble even reading the above post...
 
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