Finally finished my first blade!

Wow, that is definitely work to be proud of!!!

It's a really handy design, and it looks like you did a very nice job with the execution. Your leatherwork looks professional! :thumbup:

Very nice all the way around :thumbup: :cool:

Regarding the problems with drilling. Soaking 5160 in vinegar overnight to remove the mill scale should help tremendously. That mill scale is very hard and very tough on bits. The vinegar will eat through it so your tooling doesn't have to.

Also make sure you're using the proper drilling speed. You can find that with a pretty general formula of 4 X cutting speed for material / diameter of drill.

A good cutting fluid doesn't hurt either.

GREAT JOB, you should be proud :)
 
I misread your post, I see you were drilling with a hand drill before... that's a lot harder to use the right speed ;)

As per the finish question. It's best to try to get the ricasso finished out the way you want it before you apply the scales, and then be real careful not to mar it up while you're finishing the knife.

I had to refinish the ricasso on a knife like this a couple times, and the only way I came up with to do it and make it really clean, was to make a sanding block with a cut-out the same shape as the front of the handle scale. I put scotch tape over the front of the handle scale, and then sanded the ricasso. It was a real PITA.

For getting into the plunge, ALL of my sanding blocks are ground down to an angle in the front leading edge. That way it's easier to see where you're at.

You want to do at least 10 pulls at the end without moving the paper. If it's completely fresh grit every pull, it will skip over the surface and cause a "curly maple" effect on the steel. You won't really feel it, and you'll have to get it in a certain light to see it... but it will be there. The Blade show lights in Atlanta just happen to be that certain light ;)

I had that problem on one of my test knives and started freaking out. I called Harvey Dean, Mike Vagnino, Jason Knight, etc... trying to figure out why. They all said the same thing.


Sorry, that got kind of long winded :)
 
Thanks Nick for the compliments and also the advice! I had the blade finished, but then with the tape and tape adhesive and rubbing with paper towels to remove epoxy runoff and tape adhesive...I felt the urge to run back over it again. I thought about a sanding block shaped to match the handle scale, but that seemed impractical to say the least and I assumed there was a better way or trick others had figured out.

In direct sunlight, I have quite a few swirls or hooks which I assumed I hadn't been able to remove, but perhaps they are from the 'curly maple' effect you are referring to. Thanks for that tip, I'll give it a try.

Edited to add: On the drilling problem, I tried standard drill bits, expensive Cobalt (?) bits, cutting fluid, soaking in vinegar, etc. I spent a couple of days with Tai Goo in Tucson for a lesson, and when I described the problem to him he helped me anneal it in his forge. That may have made it slightly better, but without the drill press it was nearly impossible. I think those 2 pin holes with the hand drill literally took me like 2 hours to complete!
 
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Excellent work! Your perseverance is evident in the final product.

On your hand-sanding issues...Do all of your blade finishing before you put handle scales on. That way you can run the paper from the tang all the way down to the blade tip without any obstructions. Then, make sure you finish the front of your scales completely before applying them. That way, you don't have to worry about finishing the front of the scales after they're applied, scratching the blade, etc.

Also, on your drilling problems. You were likely drilling too fast. If you can go slow and keep your work cool, you'll have much better results.

Keep it up! You're doing great!

-d
 
NickWheeler said:
You want to do at least 10 pulls at the end without moving the paper. If it's completely fresh grit every pull, it will skip over the surface and cause a "curly maple" effect on the steel. You won't really feel it, and you'll have to get it in a certain light to see it... but it will be there. The Blade show lights in Atlanta just happen to be that certain light ;)
Click to expand...

Learn something new every day! I've already been doing this, but it's because I'm cheap :D

-d
 
Thank you for posting the thread and pics. The knife looks really great.

I'm now remotivated to continue my first knife project. I'm at the stage to get the hardening started and much like you, I did all the work by hand so far.
 
I feel you on the finishing pains. As others suggested, try and finish the ricasso and blade completely before applying the scales. To remove excess epoxy at the front of the scales, use a CLEAN soft cotton rag/piece of T-shirt, and I've found rubbing alcohol works really well. If I have to do any work at the ricasso right up next to the scales, I use a razor blade with the sandpaper folded over it to get precisely up to the scale. Always work in the same direction as your scratch pattern. Use a dull piece of paper so that you avoid any deep scratches that are tough to remove that may be going in the wrong direction. Also, rather than rubbing back and forth while working up next to the scales, carefully place the razor blade/paper down, and then pull down the blade just as if you were finishing it otherwise. Then angle your razor blade so that it matches the next part of your scale curve, and pull down the blade again.

The best thing is to avoid paper if possible after attaching the scales. If you have an area on the blade you need to touch up, work carefully going from the plunge to the tip rather than marring up the ricasso.

Each time you make a knife, try and make your finish better. Work different grits at different angles and DON'T STOP until you've removed all the previous scratch marks. Work your angles so that the finishing grit is going length ways down the blade. Use some halogen and florescent and natural light to see if you've got everything. This is perhaps one of the toughest things to make yourself do (ask me how I know), but it will greatly improve your finished product. It's hard to sit there endlessly for several hours pulling sandpaper, but each time you do it, you'll get better. And the enhancement you see on the finished product makes it worth it.

That's a long winded answer, but I hope I explained myself.

--nathan
 
Thank you, Angus. I look forward to seeing pics of your finished blade.

Nathan, the short answer appears to be don't use sandpaper after attaching the scales, and use a soft cloth instead of paper towels to remove excess expoxy. I had thought about the edge of a knife blade, but the razor blade sounds even better if needed.

I have only fluorescent light in my garage, so I need to grab another incandescent or halogen light to supplement it. I find the fluorescent to be of little help compared to other types of light, so I frequently go outside in the sun or inside the house to incandescent to check progress. I felt as though I spent about a year of my life hand sanding this blade. I have since sanded a blade of O-1 that I ground on my grinder, and it seemed much easier. I don't know if this means 5160 is more wear resistant and therefore harder to sand, or if it just wasn't flat from the hand filing and that caused problems.
 
I dig it, very nice work. It looks like we share a brain when it comes to blade shape. :thumbup:
 
For what it's worth, I have one of those retractable fluorescent work lights that I pull over and check the blade with the light right up against the blade, going up and down the blade keeping my head at an angle. I find that it really shows some of the scratches I missed using the halogen lamp that I have set right next to the knife as well. Also, when using any light source, look at the blade at different angles, and you'll find some that you may have missed.

I'll tell you this, it's much harder to remove those scratches on a fully hardened blade. I actually hand finish my blades twice. Once before heat treating to remove all the deep grinder or file scratches that will be very stubborn, and then after heat treating to remove any scale that formed and to get to the finished product. Work that puppy while it's soft, and you'll save time in the end. Also, in having a uniform 400 or so grit finish prior to heat treating, I found that I built less scale. Maybe that's my imagination though.

--nathan
 
Thanks, IH8U, I'm impressed with your work and progress, and I'm inspired now by your last blade to give some filework a try.

Nathan, I hand sanded to 320 before HT and to 600 afterwards. I didn't notice a whole lot of difference in difficulty before or after, although I just edge quenched this so the whole blade was not hard.
 
P J 234 said:
Thanks, IH8U, I'm impressed with your work and progress, and I'm inspired now by your last blade to give some filework a try.

Nathan, I hand sanded to 320 before HT and to 600 afterwards. I didn't notice a whole lot of difference in difficulty before or after, although I just edge quenched this so the whole blade was not hard.
Click to expand...

The thumb notches I made were done with a dremel with a metal cutting wheel, it was pretty easy and really adds to the grip. Maybe next time I'll try and get artistic with it.
 
Your first effort is fantastic! I wouldn't know you hadn't made a knife before based on the quality of your work. Your lines are really clean and sharp!

Keep it up!
 
P J 234 said:
On the drilling problem, I tried standard drill bits, expensive Cobalt (?) bits, cutting fluid, soaking in vinegar, etc. I spent a couple of days with Tai Goo in Tucson for a lesson, and when I described the problem to him he helped me anneal it in his forge. That may have made it slightly better, but without the drill press it was nearly impossible. I think those 2 pin holes with the hand drill literally took me like 2 hours to complete!
Click to expand...

I don't drill pin holes anymore. I take my cheapie hand disc grinder from Harbor Freight and grind long slots where I want my pins to go. When I glue the scales on I make sure those holes get completely filled with the epoxy before seating the pins and aligning everything.

The downside is that you have to really watch your alignment when clamping because there is room for the scales to shift.

The upside is that I don't have the drilling problems you encountered, and the epoxy squishing through the oversized holes helps lock the scales to each other through the tang, making what might be a stronger assembly overall. I also pockmark the inside surface of the scales in a few spots with a drill so the scales will have some irregular surfaces for the epoxy to grip onto.
 
That's a first knife you can shout from the rooftops about! Fantastic work, and we all appreciate what it took to stick with it to get it done. I'd like to shake your hand and play with your knife for a while, but I'll just say, "Congratulations on a job well done." Keep it up, and thanks for showing us your work.
 
elkins45, hellgap, and ddavelarsen, thanks for all of the generous compliments...it really helps to make all of the effort expended feel worthwhile!

elkins45, do you happen to have a picture of what you are describing with your pin slots (as opposed to holes?) Drilling is no longer a problem since I've gotten a drill press, but I'm interested to see the approach you are using and have described above.

Thanks again for everyone's input!
 
great work on tha knife
lether work, non the less
I like to see a tutorial on the sheat:thumbup:
 
All I can say is " wow "....I am on blade number 6 and I am not up to that level of perfection...very very nice
 
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