Finally finished my first knife

I

IrishSteel

Joined
Nov 12, 2012
Messages
88
Six months ago I started making knives and I have finally finished my first one. I have 6 others that are in the works right now, but I am glad I can finally say I finished my first. Please critique and give constructive feedback if you can. I know there are mistakes and I've picked quite a few out already...

The blade is O1 steel
The handle is macassar ebony
OAL: 9"
Blade Length: 4.5"

I used a Harbor Freight 1x30 belt sander, 80 to 120 grit for main beveling and shaping. I hand sanded with 220 grit and then heat treated with a MAPP gas torch and quenched in canola oil (this can be done better I know). Then I cleaned up with 220 grit sand paper. Then, unfortunately, I made my life very very difficult and used only 3M polishing paper to get the mirror finish. I went from green to white polishing paper and made the mistake of not polishing it with sandpaper first. I used macassar slabs to make the handle, shaped with a coping saw and the belt sander. Then moved to hand sanding in a vice, used a few layers of tru oil, and polished the handle with the 3M polishing paper. I just put the edge on it today by using 220 and 400 grit belts then moved to a leather belt with green buffing compound on it. Thank you to everyone who answered my questions throughout the last 6 months. Let me know what you all think!

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That's a nice looking knife. Seems like a cross between a Canadian belt knife and a Sharpfinger. I expect that it is very user friendly.
 
Nice job, it looks pretty comfy in your hand. That mirror finish must have taken for ever by hand!:thumbup:
 
Your grinding work is quite good, nice job. Did you finish the wood? If so, with what? I just completed my first knife as well, and I just used wax and olive oil on the wood, but I have to keep re-oiling it. Overall, this is a great knife and you have some real talent. Also, did you make the sheath? If so, why leather and not kydex or plastic?
 
Thank you all for the compliments! The hand polishing took an entire day practically... And congratz ShuManChu; I finished the handle using Tru-Oil which is a gunstock wood treatment. I sanded and coated the handle with it, let the oil dry, sanded again, repeated until the wood wouldn't absorb any more oil. It only tool a few coats with the macassar, it's pretty waxy stuff naturally. Then I just polished it up!
 
Not too shabby, I really like the way you rounded all the corners of the handle, and how the first pin is in the wide part of the tang, not the narrow.
 
That looks really good. Did you make the sheath too. I am almost finished my first sheath, but am approaching blade #10. When using the oil finishes, you can fill the pores of the wood by wetsanding with 400g paper with the oil. The slurry fills the pores and leaves a smoother surface. I wetsand when the wood no longer absorbs the oil. I also like steel wool, especially on the endgrain. You can see a few of my projects in a post on the next page. The Zebrano was wetsanded to fill the pores. It needs one more sanding on the endgrain to finish it off.
 
I"ll try those sanding techniques on my next one Willie71. I did make the sheath myself and it is quite humble. One of my next knife making purchases is going to be leather stamps so I can make slightly more exciting sheaths.
 
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