First knife! Couple of questions before sending for HT please.

V

Viper0222

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Jan 23, 2015
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Hi all. Finally started on my first knife after months of YouTube and forums. Thank you all for posting the stuff I needed to get started. I decided on a fixed-blade, 9" OAL, full flat grind, basic camp knife. So far so good (more or less), and I have a nicely shaped piece of 440C just about ready for HT (I hope). I would like to ask advice on the following two details before I send my baby off to get scorched:

1) I did not get quite all the mill scaling and pitting from the raw stock completely removed from a portion of the tang. It will not be visible after the handle scales are installed, but my concern is more about the black scale still in the pitting. Will this cause any corrosion to the metal over time, or is it not a problem to just leave it there?

2) I used a filing jig to form the primary bevel. I wanted to be very careful to not go too thin on the edge so as to avoid any HT warping. I think I am good where I stopped, but on closer inspection (of course AFTER I got everything down to 220 grit), I noticed that the edge thickness near the plunge line is a bit thicker than the edge at the tip. Is this going to be a big deal when putting on the final edge and sharpening, or does it need to have a completely uniform thickness from the point to the plunge?

Thanks in advance,
Matt
 
Question 1: I really don't think it would be a problem to leave it. I would remove it myself
Question 2: It's OK if part of your edge is thicker than the rest. I think a bevel should be of uniform thickness (at the edge) from ricasso to tip, but there's nothing set in stone about that! The only thing I can foresee is when you go to sharpen the edge, the thicker portions will form a wider edge bevel than the thinner portions. I have had that happen quite often, and I always go back to address the problem and make the edge completely uniform all the way down.
 
Thanks samuraistuart. I think I will move forward and see how things turn out. My second knife will be that much better. It's all about learning anyway right? If anyone else wants to chime in, I would value your opinions!!

Matt
 
If you have doubts about something, 9 times out of 10 you are right. There have been many times in my knife making career where I saw something, knew I should fix it then and there, but thought I'd get to it later. they always caused me problems later. Learn to fix problems promptly as soon as you see them.

Now, the tang may not be a problem, especially if you are going to glue it up as well as use pins. The glue should stop any air from reaching the tang, well, for the most part. The edge issue, that will be a problem when you sharpen the knife, and may well look like bad (it happens, just from a small issue like this). My advice, get your edge as even as you can, preferably before Ht, it will be harder to do after Ht, not to mention you risk getting it too hot and ruining the temper in that area. Hope this made sense to you. Enjoy!:D
 
number one is no issue, don't sweat it.

number 2 will be a cosmetic and possibly a function issue. If you cut in your primary bevel with a file, it is probably because you don't have a grinder. If so, You will not be able to fix the issue after heat treat. Take a few minutes and even out the edge before sending it off.
 
Thanks everybody for the advise. Perhaps I should consider gong back in and trying to true up the edge thickness. Hard to swallow destroying a few hours of hand sanding. And hoping I don't make things worse. I do have a new 4"x36"/8" belt/disk sander now, that I did not have when I started all of this, so maybe I will practice with some mild steel on that and see if I can get some practice before I touch the real blade. Not ideal for this kind of thing, but I don't have a proper 2"x72" grinder yet. Anyway, will see what happens.

Thanks, Matt
 
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