First completed knife

[jmhallrn]

Hi all, I haven't been active here in several years, but I have finally delved into knifemaking. I finished my first blade and thought I would share it here. Feel free to provide any constructive criticism. The blade was forged to a rough shape (including bevels) from .125" 1095 and quenched. Then tempered and finished on the grinder. The handle is purpleheart with copper pins. I only had to reprofile twice after burning the tip once and the edge once. I am happy with it as a first, but I am still searching for a good finish for the handle. I initially did an oil/wax finish but it will not last long in the kitchen.

Full blade

Full blade profile

Handle


Also, it seems the image hosting services I used in the past are no longer free. Anyone have any good alternatives?

Thanks,
Jared

 

[Justin W]

Looks like a great 1st knife to me! The heel is a bit awkward, but I like the profile. Looks like a good consistent belt finish too.
I dont know purple heart, but wet sand a few coats of your preferred finish, then wax it and call it a day.

 

[jmhallrn]

The heel was a problem for me. I accidentally forged it just a bit too thin when drawing the blade to width. There was not supposed to be a sharpening choil, but I needed it to cover my mistake.

 

[DeadboxHero]

Hi all, I haven't been active here in several years, but I have finally delved into knifemaking. I finished my first blade and thought I would share it here. Feel free to provide any constructive criticism. The blade was forged to a rough shape (including bevels) from .125" 1095 and quenched. Then tempered and finished on the grinder. The handle is purpleheart with copper pins. I only had to reprofile twice after burning the tip once and the edge once. I am happy with it as a first, but I am still searching for a good finish for the handle. I initially did an oil/wax finish but it will not last long in the kitchen.

Full blade

Full blade profile

Handle


Also, it seems the image hosting services I used in the past are no longer free. Anyone have any good alternatives?

Thanks,
Jared

Congrats, first of many more

 

[seanj]

That's a good first knife. I use imgur.com/ for my images. It's free, at least so far, and does a decent job.

 

[Hengelo_77]

I like your knife.
I post pics here for free:

Postimages — free image hosting / image upload

Provides free image upload and hosting integration for forums. Free picture hosting and photo sharing for websites and blogs.

postimages.org

One thing on the pins. It looks like you measured the distance from the front of the scale to the first pin to be equal to the end of the handle to the last pin.
On the next one don't measure from the front but from where the full thickness at the front starts. (Where the 45degree angle stops)
It will look more in harmony that way

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Good jopb!

What is the function of this knife? I ask because of the rather large belly curve. Normally, curve down from the tip to a bit before mid-blade and straight back to the heel.

look at this image to see what I am referring to:

 

[jmhallrn]

One thing on the pins. It looks like you measured the distance from the front of the scale to the first pin to be equal to the end of the handle to the last pin.
On the next one don't measure from the front but from where the full thickness at the front starts. (Where the 45degree angle stops)
It will look more in harmony that way

I realized that particular mistake as I was grinding the bevels in the handle front. I also learned again that copper is an excellent heat conductor as I burned a small ring around the pins.

What is the function of this knife?

This will be used as a general chef's knife. Much of the design resulted as reactions to various mistakes I made along the way. The heel was supposed to come a bit further down without the sharpening choil which would have helped some, but I was a bit over-zealous with the hammer. I didn't want to sacrifice the blade height required to flatten out the edge. So far it has worked well enough on some peppers and chicken breast. Has a nice patina started from the peppers.