First knife, Bit off more than I can file? Nahhhh

[mmmboost]

Hey gents,

This is my first post on the forum, but I've been a long time lurker. I finally decided to delve into the world of knife-making after many years of interest and appreciation for the craft.

I recently picked up a Gerber camp/utility knife at Cabelas, and what a piece of garbage...... So that was my motivation for finally deciding to order some materials and give it a go myself. I don't expect my first knife to be perfect, but I am certainly going to get it as close as I can. So far I am very happy with how it's taking shape.

Anyway I figured I'd post my WIP as well as leave the table wide open for suggestions. I worked on the profile quite a lot as well as made a few revisions to the handle design. Even after being happy with it on paper, I still have adjusted the profile slightly on the actual knife now.


Things I've learned so far....
1) I am surprisingly more patient than I used to be.
2) Choosing such a steep plunge line makes cutting the bevel a PAAAAIIINNN in the ass because I have to keep moving the blade around to work around so I don't cut into it.
3) I need to build that 2x72" grinder I have designed SOOON.


Specs:
blade material: .200" 1084 carbon steel
blade length: 5.25"
blade width: 1.75"
handle material: .375" Ironwood
handle length 4.625"

And onto the progress photos

 

[mmmboost]

huh....no comments? tips? advice? I can't imaging there isn't something I haven't screwed up so far or something one of the veterans would like to see improved upon......


Oh well. Made some more progress. The blade is rough ground and ready for a LOTTTTTT of sanding and then heat treating. Cleaning up my plunge is going to be crappy......

 

[The Government]

That thing is looking rad! I really like the balance shot.

 

[tinkerer]

For hand tools, that's pretty good.

CAn't wait for the hours of hand sanding yet.

Larry
Tinkerer

 

[12345678910]

huh....no comments? tips? advice? I can't imaging there isn't something I haven't screwed up so far or something one of the veterans would like to see improved upon......

Don't be surprised you haven't seen any comments in an hour and a quarter, it's only been an hour and a quarter

Plus, I read hammer and tongs once oor twice a month - it's a bit of a dead spot in my perspective.


You have obvious access to tools and skills, I expect you will do well


Plus that's a pretty piece of wood.

 

[dasknife]

Keep it going, I would like to see the progress and the finished product.

 

[mmmboost]

Thanks for the kind words guys. It's been a pretty fun project so far. I could definitely see myself making more knives. I've already had a few friends comment that they would love to buy a knife if I ever decide to start selling them.

12345678910, it's actually been 3 days since my initial post......but no worries. Haha. I just kinda figured I was doing something wrong and someone would have been happy to point it out to a newbie Plus I always like to follow along on WIP's myself....


Anyway, I will certainly keep posting progress photos as I make it. I'll be working on prepping the knife for heat treating tonight as well as trying to put together a forge out of some fire bricks I picked up.

 

[Fletch Helical]

One word of advice before you HT is make sure you put the time in sanding it to get all the file marks out and all the previous scratches from the previous grits. I take all my knives to 400 grit with no other marks showing (except where the scales will be) getting scratches out pre HT is SO much easier. Looking forward to more pics.

 

[mmmboost]

One word of advice before you HT is make sure you put the time in sanding it to get all the file marks out and all the previous scratches from the previous grits. I take all my knives to 400 grit with no other marks showing (except where the scales will be) getting scratches out pre HT is SO much easier. Looking forward to more pics.

Thanks Fletch. I was doing some reading the other day and a few sources basically said what you did. I spent an hour last night sanding one side of the blade and trying to clean up the plunge. In hind sight I should have done the final step of grinding with a smooth file rather than a bastard. LOL.

 

[Fletch Helical]

Yeah once you hog off what you need move to a finer file to help get rid of the scratches. Then move onto the war chest of sandpaper to get the file marks out and get up to nothing but 400 grit scratches in there. Hand sanding is where the fun of knife making gets sucked right out of the whole thing lol

 

[Atlas Knife Company]

Planning any filework on the spine? Looks good so far.

 

[BallewBlade]

Wow looking good dude. Keep it up and please show more pics and the finished product!

 

[Hengelo_77]

Looks like you've made stuff before. Looks good!

One thing when draw filing have the handle to the left. It makes a difference

 

[mmmboost]

Planning any filework on the spine? Looks good so far.

I hadn't planned on anything for the spine. I wanted this to be a really clean looking knife with clean lines. Any time I've ever had a knife with ridges on the spine, I've always found they dug into my thumb too much for my liking. That's one of the reasons I chose a thicker blade material and went with a flat grind.

Wow looking good dude. Keep it up and please show more pics and the finished product!

Thanks very much! Will do. Haven't had much time to work on it lately.

Yeah once you hog off what you need move to a finer file to help get rid of the scratches. Then move onto the war chest of sandpaper to get the file marks out and get up to nothing but 400 grit scratches in there. Hand sanding is where the fun of knife making gets sucked right out of the whole thing lol

lol... while I agree that hand sanding isn't the most fun part, it is nice to see the blade move closer and closer to the finished state....

Looks like you've made stuff before. Looks good!

One thing when draw filing have the handle to the left. It makes a difference

I've made a thing or two before, mostly a lot of fab work for cars. Bought a new car and decided to leave it alone (for now) so I needed a new creative outlet. haha

Note made on the handle direction. I'll see how that feels in comparison.

 

[andrewh2011]

its coming along nicely i like the plunge lines
a note on the draw filing, its not how it feels its that files only cut in one direction if you hold the handle to the one side (not sure which side without going and grabbing my files lol) it will cut when you pull and to the other side it will cut when you push which i wouldnt recommend it on the blade but on the spine i switch directions if my arms are getting tired. switching directions might give you a few more scratches to sand out later if your not careful though lol

 

[mmmboost]

Made some serious progress with sanding today. Got both sides all finished up to 600 grit. Also managed to put together my forge and give heat treating a go. It took longer than I expected to get the blade up to non-magnetic....and quenching was pretty anti-climactic. I expected smoke and flames.... but it was pretty calm. Tested the blade with a file and it seems to just skate over the surface, so I think the heat treat was successful.

On to the photos!

These file marks near the plunge are pretty much the worst. I'll be MUCH more careful next time.

Just to add...... finished with a rough clean up of scale and 2 temper cycles of 400°F for 60 mins x2.

 

[Justin Presson]

Hey man nice work you are doing a heck of a job!

 

[Fletch Helical]

Yeah looking real good, can't wait to see it moving along and those ironwood scales on it. :thumbup:

 

[tryppyr]

What a disaster! I can't believe you made such egregious mistakes! Horrible... just horrible!!!



Just kidding of course. Looks good so far. Sure, there are some things I would have done differently... such as getting rid of all the deep scratches before going to HT. I know you said you went to 600 grit but the photos say something different, especially next to the plunge. You'll find it is now MUCH harder to get rid of those, and I'm guessing you'll choose to just live with them. My advice would be to sand until they are gone. Sometimes working too hard to correct a mistake is the best way to learn to not make that mistake again.

 

[stereo.pete]

Very good first knife!