Dumbest Knife Making Mistake

T

tom mayo

Joined
Jan 27, 1999
Messages
6,277
well i was reading all the posts and thought of this...if you guys are willing to contribute....mine is constantly trying to grind a 10 radius into a knife thats a little too wide to handle the radius...from top to bottom...so i end up with paper chip thickness about a half an inch up....one i did a long time ago was try to make a dagger out of a piece of 440c that was .5 inch thick, its still hanging on the wall. i also have a couple of pieces of ivory in the drawer that i put on the wrong side of the folder liners and started grinding away...saving them for when i make a left handed knife exactly like that...yeah right!

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http://www.mayoknives.com


 
If I posted all the dumb things I've done since '79, I'd bog down the bandwidth. I guess the most expensive mistake I did, was heat treat a Damascus blade and forgetting to
thread the hole for the thumb-bob.

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A.T.
http://www.customknives.com
AKTI #476

 
I put one dozen, 12!!!! Of my Tanto Neck knives in the Gigantic vibratory deburrer at work to get a "stonewashed" finish. They were done, finished, ready for handles and cord wrap!!!!
To make a long story short I have 12 things that look like some sort of odd looking, smoothed over butter knives with holes in them. I usually run my blades for about 20 minutes, they were in there for over 5 hours!!! I was busy, actually working.... You should have heard the guys at work offering me a couple of bucks for each blade so I wouldn't cry!!!!
Neil

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Update in process! New knives, pictures, Sheaths!!
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Meeting/5520/index.html


 
i feel for you neil, i've screwed up blades at the last possible time to screw up. when i'm putting the final edge on the knife, then you slip, and there goes your beutiful mirror finish. i need to get diamond files for the final edge, sted of the belt sander.
 
Here's a brainy one-

The very first knife I sold was to one of the office guys and fellow black powder hunter friends of my father........

I had already gotten my Marking methods unit but hadn't received the stencil yet. I let him have it with the preface that I would get it back to put my name on it.

Well, I had the ingenious idea to cut the vinyl stencil down so that I could get my name closer to the guard.

I did, and I had a nice etched rectangle where the etching pad made contact with the blade outside of the stencil.

I am still amazed how hard it was to sand that out.

Nick
 
I was working kind of fast on a sheath.Got it all done and it fit the knife just right.
Went to put it on to see how it looked and found out SOMEBODY put the belt loop on the wrong side.

Anybody need a left hander.
 
I personally do'nt make mistkes.....just smaller knives. I have a couple of trout & birds that began life as 12in bowies
 
Wow, is there an echo in here, or is it just the white noise in my head?

Got to be the perennial favorite...

Don't...pick...up...the...freshly...soldered...blade...with...your...bare...hands...

Yeah, I know, you'd think I would learn that. Actually, it's just part of my plot to toughen up my hands for the ole' iron-fist Kung-Fu! I've already mastered, it would seem, the ole' iron-brain style!



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One little nuclear holocaust can REALLY hose your bowling average...
 
Tom, I also put a stencil on backwards. I still have that knife. Keep it and built another one for the client.
Steve.
 
with a little work you can grind it out. i have been putting the etch on a lot lighter since i did that one.
 
It is pretty hot down here in Houston during the summertime, actually from April to the end of October. One time I was grinding a blade wearing only a T-shirt, shorts and shoes with no socks. It is AMAZING how hot those sparks are when they get in you shoes!

It is just as amazing as to how hot molten buffing compound is when loading up the buffing wheel!

C Wilkins
 
People that make no mistakes don't usually make anything at all.

I did a wood scabbard for the first sword I ever made. Took quite a while to make using only hand tools. Everything fit nicely. Put a table top sealer on it and let it sit overnight. Next day I could only get the sword 3-4inches into it's scabbard. The wood had shrunk and I had to start all over again.

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If a man can keep alert and imaginative, an error is a possibility, a chance at something new; to him, wandering and wondering are a part of the same process. He is most mistaken, most in error, whenever he quits exploring.

William Least Heat Moon
 
My personal favorite mistake I made was not paying attention while grinding and making the blade paper thin. Must have been sleeping while standing there grinding away.

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There is no such thing as "good enough", either your work is good or it is not. How is your work?
 
Rob Simonich has a good story involving an Ivory handled knife and his femoral artery.

Where are ya, Rob?
 
Its all right Rob,
I wouldn't want to talk much about that either, its a pretty scary thing to have happen.
Magnum, I'm pretty sure the femural artery is one of the large arteries that carry the main supply of blood from your legs to your heart. It is located very close to some other equipment that you DO NOT want to damage!

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Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
 
oh, i know what your talking about. wew rob, i feel for you, i don't think i'd want to talk about that eather. thanks matt
 
The 2nd dumbest thing I ever did was to leave my small quench tank outside. Even though the cover was on, rain water got in. You guessed it, I severely warped a large blade.

The 1st dumbest thing I did was quenched another one a few minutes later....Only then did I finally catch on...
 
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