First and second knife critique please

[Riddle]

I've finished my first two knives thank goodness, it's taken long enough. The first I have a thread on its construction, the second I made with the craftsman 2x42 I bought. They're both from a Nicholson file. The second (shorter blade) is a partial tang with a mahogany and birds-eye maple handle. Also fooled around with the mustard / forced patina.

I tried to set up my angle bracket to do a 12 degree / 24 degree included angle.

My grind needs HELP, I believe. I have the Blade Geometry article bookmarked to iron out my issues.

Loving this so far, it's difficult and tedious but very worth it.

 

[Drew Riley]

Welcome.

Grinding, like anything, takes practice. Jigs and angle brackets can sometimes help, but not always. You might see how you do just free handing a grind or two.

Now, for a couple of critiques/questions: how does that top handle feel? It looks like it's a little squared off and may have a hot spot or two. Generally you want to avoid any geometry that "forces" your hand to grip a certain way, or forces your fingers apart, such as that larger hump in the middle.
The lower handle looks better, though you have a pretty tight angle where the index finger would be. Again, this may cause a bit of a hot spot with extended use or a tight grip toward the front of the handle.

I see that the back of the knives are pretty straight as well. You might try putting a bit of a gradual curve from butt to tip. A basic rule of thump is to try to avoid any straight lines if you can help it. Curves are more pleasing to the eye, and where applicable, much more ergonomic.

I'll also suggest starting the next knife with something other than a file. Get some 1075 or 1084, already annealed. It will be mostly flat and a lot more user friendly when cutting, drilling and grinding. Simple carbon steel is cheap, and the learning curve is much shorter, IMO.

Keep at it. Looking forward to seeing #3.

 

[Riddle]

#3 is in salvage mode, sanded a scale too thin and the holes I drilled on the inside to hold epoxy are showing. Thank you for the input and I'll i corporate all this into my next knife.

 

[Nic.]

They are good firsts! What was your heat treat process? So some big things that stand out to me as dad as proportions go: on the big knife the bandleader seems too thin and on the short knife the handle seems stout and fat. I use a jig for grinding, I can't free hand grind worth a crap. Try to keep your tips pointy, it can be a challenge sometimes. Post design critiques for your next knives and ask any questions...but read the stickies first!

 

[Rhinoknives1]

OK, You have made two knife shaped objects! Now get some 1070, 1084 if you want carbon or a bar of 440C if you want to try stainless.

Both are affordable

As mentioned, I see handle problems on one and blade the way you did the Choil/ Ricassio area on the longer one doesn't look very comfy on the index finger.

I suggest you use these to cut darn near everything under the sun until you have a few hotspots or blisters and take notes on every area you see a need for improvement. Then design and build the next one. Keep them coming!:thumbup:

 

[Riddle]

For heat treat I brought it up to non magnetic in my charcoal grill + blow dryer and let it soak 3 min. It immediately went into veg oil (I did not heat treat the handle). The file I had skipped right over the blade when I went to test them. I then did 3 cycles of 1 hour at 450degrees in a little toaster oven.

All the comments on the handles make perfect sense. I haven't kept in mind I'm making these to ACTUALLY use them! I think I'm going to do 1084 from NJSB. That will help me not cram a knife onto these thing files anymore.