First hidden tang, constructive criticism?

Justin Schmidt

Justin Schmidt

Joined
Feb 18, 2016
Messages
2,209
Hey gents just finished up this forged 80crv2 with 416 hardware and curly maple (unstabilized) ive gotten some good feed back from a couple of people but wanted to ask everyone one here. You can send me a pm, email (Justin.schmidt23@yahoo.com) or just comment on here. Thanks in advance

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Sorry for the crappy photos :(
 
And dont sugar coat it, i have thick skin and want to make sure i can produce the best knives for my ability
 
I like the overall shape and design. It's a great start. The blade finish looks really good, as does the plunge.

Is there a gap between the guard and handle?

Also, it looks like you shaped the guard first then attached the handle. That can work out well, but when you do a sculpted guard like that, it might not all line up.

Do you have a pic of the fit between the guard and the blade?

Good work.
 
You're really comin' along quickly, Valknut. Turned out very nice!

I have to agree with the others about the guard.

It's doesn't flow that well into the handle and the corners look a bit sharp with a couple of areas that look like they were 'dinged' up.

Also, in the second picture the plunge looks like it's in the proper place, but in the first picture it looks a bit further forward ahead of the dropped edge, which would look better if brought back to blend in with the dropped edge. IMHO if the edge drops straight down, it usually looks better if the back of it is left at about full thickness, yet "quickly" and very smoothly blends into the beginning of the bevel via the plunge to create a seamless transition. Hope that makes sense.

It's easier for me to get this look if I leave a bit of extra steel behind the plunge (the way it looks in your first picture) then after I finish my plunges I can creep up the back of the dropped edge to the start of the plunge by grinding away that extra material.

Other than those fairly easy fixes I'd say you're doing good. :thumbsup:

(edited for clarity)

~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (It's been a few years since my last upload)
 
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If you nibble the plunge line back just a bit you won't catch the outside edge of your sharpening stone on that portion, hell on a soft water stone ( look at a Karl Anderson knife).
You can really make the figure in Maple 'pop' by using two different colors of stain. High end mandolin makers will but a darker stain on first coat, let dry completely ( at least 24 hours) and come back with a lighter stain overtop the first. Use circular motions as you apply, get the stain in deep until you are satisfied that your stain has fully penetrated all of the pores and grain.
The maple to guard transition point is harder to blend to invisible with something as light colored as maple unless you have a perfect fit up. Many knives are not perfect, the maker has just learned to blend some things to 'invisible' through technique and coloration (spacers can also help blend the transition point of differing materials).
Other makers, however, have learned 'perfection' (or something that passes for perfection).
Nice job!
 
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Thanks guys!!
Alexander, what your seeing is i tried to "round" the top of the handle material lile Will Morrison dis in his WIP, ended up biting my in the butt.
I tried shaping everything separate. I super glued the guard on and shaped the handle and guard. But when i fine tuned the handle i got carried away with the 120 grit. Then rushed the glue up. So when i came back to to it the guard was protruding so i had to grind it all flush again, re sand everything (that sucked btw) but i learned ALOT. Just hoping this is still sellable lol
How do i make the guard not as "sharp"

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Up the contrast on that maple with chromic trioxide, aka Majestic Maple. Curly maple is one of the most beautiful materials to me, but it seems to look better with that darker contrast......
 
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Justin,

As others stated much nicer work and with a few tweaks you're gonna nail this design!

Bring the plunge line back and eliminate the lip...that is a focal point on a drop edge knife.

a more graceful curve to the back side of the guard makes for smoother handle guard transition..When I think of small hunters I always picture a Jerry Fisk "Sendero" he's probably made a Thousand of them...The Curve of the guard as it transitions to the handle is sleek and smooth...Look at the photo see the shape of the guard and also the Plunge line where it meets the Ricasso...Photo Courtesy Jerry Fisk.

Keep up the Good Work!

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valknut,

The others have covered all the major points already. This is a fine looking knife. You are very close.

I kind of like the shape of the guard but like others have said it is too sharp. You could sand back the bottom of the guard until it's about 1/16" thick there. Look at the picture Busto posted of Jerry's Sendero. The tip of the guard gets pretty thin but he leaves just a little thickness there. I would also break the forward edge of the guard so that corner isn't so sharp. Just hit the corners with some 600 grit paper until it doesn't feel sharp. There may be a way to clean up the transition of the back of the guard up into the handle but it would require some very careful sculpting. But there doesn't seem to be a good way to clean up the fit of the rest of the guard/handle seam.

The plunges need some work. Based on the light reflections it appears that your plunge is nice and straight where it swoops down to meet the bevel. Where it needs a little attention is where it comes up from the bevel to meet the surface of the ricasso. There it is a bit wavy and rounded over in spots.

All in all this knife has a lot of good things going for it. You have a very nice blade shape. The knife has good flow and proportions. The shape of the handle profile is very nice, even if the cross section is a little blocky. The placement of the pin is nice and the gap around the pin doesn't look too bad. It's really a very nice little knife.

I don't think this one is ready to be sold but you are getting there.
 
Wow thank yall for the kind words and great insight! Ill see if i can clean up that plunge, and guard to handle transition.

Do yall bed your handles or finish the top of the guard then glue up and shape the handle and guard together?
 
I bed all my hidden tang handles...I also pin them...I use guard templates that fit the tangs so once the handle is bedded I can slide the template up the tang against the guard and mark my pin hole location. After the guard pin holes are marked and drilled I can then slide the template onto the tang where the guard would be and use a drop of superglue. Slide the handle onto the tang and wait for the glue to dry then slide the tang out of the hole and the template is glued in place ready to drill those pin holes.

I finish the guard first then start shaping the handle to meet the guard I always leave a little handle material to finish up with fine hand sanding at the very end of the process. You can always remove material you can't put back and beats starting over.
 
valknut said:
Wow thank yall for the kind words and great insight! Ill see if i can clean up that plunge, and guard to handle transition.

Do yall bed your handles or finish the top of the guard then glue up and shape the handle and guard together?
Click to expand...

I like to blend them together when using stainless or g-10. I prefinish with stag, or when the guard needs etching, like wrought iron or Damascus.
 
Busto thats basically what i did sans template. I just glued the guard on and shaped everything. But i rushed glue up and the guard was potruding.
How do you hold the handle so you can shape it. I found it MUCH easier to do this once the blade was actually attached to tge handle, because i could clamp the blade in the knife vise and shape it, ala nick style
 
I use a piece of steel in the handle and clamp it in my rotating vise and use a rasp. If I'm hogging off material I will use the grinder and grind to lines I have drawn on the handle but always stop short of finished lines and use a file or rasp again to make sure its symmetrical to my templates and drawing. If its canvas micarta I may just grind away until its real close and finish by hand.
 
valknut said:
Busto thats basically what i did sans template. I just glued the guard on and shaped everything. But i rushed glue up and the guard was potruding.
How do you hold the handle so you can shape it. I found it MUCH easier to do this once the blade was actually attached to tge handle, because i could clamp the blade in the knife vise and shape it, ala nick style
Click to expand...

If you bed it the fit will be tight enough to slip on and off the blade for this.
 
So the purpose of bedding a handle is if you mess up its easier to scrap one piece instead of the whole thing? Seems like a bit of extra work.
 
The purpose of bedding the handle is to produce a more precise fit around the Tang. Bedding has nothing to do with messing up handle shaping.
 
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