First knife design critique.

Friction pin the handle in place (generally the holes will be off just slightly enough that you'll have to tap one or more in), contour your handle,knock the pins out, parkerize, and then repin to check that nothing has gone agley. If not, either peen it together or epoxy it as you choose. Just be sure to check it before you get adhesive near it or you'll be scrubbing it off again with denatured alcohol.
 
I really like the flat black appearane of cf pins. they require patience when sanding. though, because that black dust tends to bleed onto the surrounding scale material.

Also, i make wood mock ups with basswood from the art supply store. The brand is Midwest, I think. Comes in 1/8" and 1/4," and is surprisingly warp resistant.
 
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Thanks everyone! It might take me a while but I'll be updating this thread as I go along, so I can correct my mistakes and notice my strong points.
 
Well after quite awhile here is my progress. Most of it I got done last night using an industrial belt sander, and a milling maching. Far from done but I like how it's coming along.

 
If you are planning to grind to the blue line at the top of the blade, you will probably not be able to grind just to the line without going past it in places. I couldn't on my first knife (in fact, I still have trouble grinding that precise a line). You might want to redraw that line further down a bit.
Tim
 
Honestly I haven't decided, at first I thought the design was set in stone but as I'm grinding away it's starting to feel more like a knife so I'm kind of planing as I go now. I think I'll probably leave the spine where it is but I want to get the bottom of the handle somewhat figured out first.
 
What is the blade length and overall length? What is the thickness?

Is it a chopping knife?

You've probably already thought of these things, but I would give it a smoother transition behind the plunge line and going back up to where the index finger will grip. Then a bit of a palm swell in the profile. You can make palm swell in the profile of the tang, or you can make it in the shaping of the scales, or both. However, don't necessarily take my advice if this is a chopping knife, because I am not an expert on those.
 
Here is my progress today, I think I'm done with the over all shaping of it. Unless someone has some ideas to improve on it. To be honest I'm not 100% sure where to go now because I still have to drill holes for the pins and lanyard tube. Get and shape the handle material. So I'm not sure if I should wait to polish it till the handle is done? Also I was thinking about drilling out the tang a little bit. Right now it balances 50/50 blade to tang but after flat grinding I would still like it to balence well.

Overall length is 9 1/8in
Blade length will be somewhere around 4 1/2-4 5/8
And it is 3/16 thick.

As far as use it will honestly be 99% hunting knife. And yes I know it's not a hunting style at all but that is what I will end up using it for. But it sould also do fine as a bushcraft/survival extreme hard use knife. Which is what I wanted when I designed it.
 
Also I have the opportunity to heat treat it in a oven, I was wondering what a good hardness would be to shoot for? I see knives in the 58-62 range but you should be able to get within one or two on the Rockwell scale right? Again this knife is O1 tool steel.
 
[double post]
 
Great! Looking good!

I have noticed that some of the pros will skeletonize their tangs with lots of holes, until it looks like Swiss cheese. That is a good thing, because it makes the finished product feel balanced. I would skeletonize from the butt up to about 1.5" from the front of the scales. Use your own discretion, according to combined strength of handle material and tang. G-10 is super tough. Just make sure to drill your holes for pins and/or bolts first. You want to be sure of pin/bolt placement, before drilling other holes.
 
Ok thank you for the help. Also should I grind the blade first then put the holes in it? Because that way I will know how well it will balence.
 
b money said:
Ok thank you for the help. Also should I grind the blade first then put the holes in it? Because that way I will know how well it will balence.
Click to expand...

Sounds good to me.
 
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