Do you still have the first knife you ever made?? Lets see 'em!!!

[Battle Creek Knives]

I'm curious how many of you guys still have the very first knife you ever made. After seeing many of all the great knives you make today I think it would be great to compare them with your very first..

Mine wouldn't matter as its still in the works, besides I'm more interested in seeing some the knives you experienced veterans made.

Post 'em up !!!

 

[james terrio]

You've got to be kidding. I wouldn't show the first knife I made if you paid me! Even if I did still have it, which I don't.

Some guys come out of the blocks with a stunner... that wasn't me

 

[PIndelicato]

I wouldn't consider myself an 'experienced veteran', but this sounds like fun so here's my first creation along with it's sheath (my 2nd?). I do still have it and have never used it, so it pretty much still looks the same.

And here's the last 3 I completed:

 

[Mitchell Knives]

I still have the first knife I ever made. It may be substandard compared to what I make now, but everyone has to start somewhere. It's not horrible, but try not to laugh too hard.

This is the exact same model after a few design tweaks and a bit more practice. Mirror finished hollow and satin flats.

 

[eyeeatingfish]

Did this under the guidance of a knife maker in Japan. Don't think I would ever sell it.
Here is his website.
http://www.ashihamono.com/en.html

Here is my knife.

Here is my second knife I am working on now. The theory sounded good but I am not so sure about the results... A little larger than the size of a thumb for reference.

 

[The_cutting_edge]

Here's my first. I still have it. I even use it each year during hunting season. This year however it may get retired. The epoxy never really set up entirely even to this day I can leave a finger nail mark in the epoxy that fills the file work on the spine. I keep meaning to remove the scales and get the epoxy right but I've got too many new ones on the go and it never makes it to the top of the list. Well here it is....

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

We had a thread like this a while back. It was surprising how many still had their first knives.
When many of us started, there was no internet.....no books on knifemaking.....and virtually no knifemakers. Most first knives then were usually very primitive, as we had to learn the whole procedure from scratch. If one was lucky, they had an old blacksmithing book with a chapter on making a knife, or they had an older relative who grew up on the farm and knew how to make one.

My first knife was made in late 1959 or early 1960. I lost track of it for years and found it in a drawer a while back.

Here is the thread:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...und-Long-Lost-First-Knife?highlight=long lost

Here is the earlier first knife thread:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/535737-Your-first-knife-you-made-was

 

[LRB]

This my first. 1971. Made from a file. Pretty much a Randall knock off. I spent maybe a hundred hours on it.

 

[sharpeknives]

OK here's mine
View attachment 216575

 

[unky_gumbi]

I still have mine but it wont be here till tomorrow, then I have to look through all the boxes till I find it. I can't remember if I labeled that box or not it was a fairly fast packing job. Once I find it and the data cable for my camera I will take some pictures of it in its current state, but this is what it looked like the day I finished it

and the last one I finished before my sudden move

Not the best pictures of the last one, it looked much better in person

 

[Atlas Knife Company]

First knife is a tough question. Piece of garbage I hammered from mild steel in high school? First practice knife I made from Titanium? First knife I made from actual knife quality steel after having a clue as to what it takes to make one? Well, I've never shown a picture of it here on the forum since I finished it, so I'll show a picture of that one.

CPM-S30V blade with bocote scales and Ti liner. Surface ground Ti spacer. Ti liners. I made everything but the screws, washers, and detent ball. Clearly marked #1 as I consider the previous ones to be KSO. It's a little rough, it's spent every day in my pocket for the since last summer.

 

[tryppyr]

This was my third project, but the first blade I ground. The first two projects were putting handles on pre-made blades.

 

[Mike Davis]

Ok i guess i will show mine lol. It is from a piece of unknown steel and i did it in high school. It is as ugly as old sin.

Ok this is long before i even knew people made real knives. It is horrible, heat treated in a charcoal forge made from a semi wheel and a hand crank blower. Quenched in water....didn't break...assume it is mild steel as it hold an edge for about 2/10ths of a second lol
Ok that was then, this is now.

Getting closer

 

[Daniel Fairly Knives]

My first one... hard to believe it was only a few months ago! I use this knife almost every day, it is funky and the ricasso is horrible but I have never needed to sharpen it and I love the horse stall mat for handles.

Chisel grind, .125 O1 steel

The bottom knife in the last photo... the tanto with cord wrap was my very first knife like object...

mild steel
ground on wrong side
ghetto non-soaked cord wrap

I am proud of the bottle opener end and shackle opener... all by hand, the grinds were done on a 4x36 flea market grinder.

 

[psycho78]

first three attempts. All screwed up badly shortly after pics were taken and were scrapped. Very promising though! i still have every one for patterns.

My first two heat treated and completed knives. ATS-34, heat treated by texas knifemakers supply. I consider these my first.

The top one has a weird double bevel. Screwed up the grind height and just went with it.

These are the most recent of mine. Still really new at this. I've only completed about 10 so far.

My most recent.

 

[Tai Goo]

My first dozen or so knives wound up in the junk pile. LOL

Here’s my first Ektara, (one string musical instrument)… just finished it today.

…It’s a keeper.

 

[lonepine]

Are you kidding me?!?!?! You call those FIRST knives? Blaaugh!

THESE are FIRST knives!

They were made around 1970 out of industrial hacksaw blades using a bench grinder. Note the smooth bevel on them, and the mirror finish. The top knife has the handle made from mahogany, and the bottom from rosewood.

I even put a makers mark on one of them.

Between these fine examples of hand crafted art knives and 2008 I didn't attempt to make any other knives. The bottom knife is the last one I finished in 2010. Remarkably similar, don't you think? That's the problem when you start out at the top. The only way is down.

I had forgotten all about these gems until I was helping my brother clean out his basement and he pulled them out. He had even carried one while hunting for a while. I borrowed them, took these pictures, and returned them to him. It was really difficult to NOT put them to my belt grinder and pretty them up, but then they wouldn't be "first" knives anymore. They would lose all their "charm and character".

- Paul Meske, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin

 

[Rick Marchand]

Here is my first real knife(6years ago).... not including my mother's butterknives that I mangled as a child...

 

[silver_pilate]

Here's the first I ever made:

It was cut from an old handsaw. I kept the original heat treat from the saw (much less than ideal), and the handles are linen micarta. I actually used it in the shop a while back when I built my forge to cut the koawool, and it worked well as rediculously thin as it is .

Here's one of the last I completed before my continuing shop hiatus. It's 5/32" CPM154 with desert ironwood scales.

--nathan

 

[L6steel]

I don't have any pix of my first fixed blade but this is my first folder!
Come on now, don't laugh too much guys!!!!