First knife I am truely happy with.

G

Gendry

Joined
Jul 19, 2014
Messages
92
So I wanted to make a knife for my buddy. I really wanted to try my best on this one and make the best knife I could. So I told him to look online for a design he wanted, and he picked this one:
example.jpg


Ended up making a few small changes.

Anyways I started with some 1/8th inch 1084, got it to shape, heat treated it the best I could with my forge and kitchen oven, ect, you know how it goes. I am quite happy with the results.. Apart from some scratches that could have come out with some better sanding, and some glue that I could have removed with acetone I suppose.

The edge is literally shaving sharp, the bald half of my forearm can vouch for that.
kirk.jpg





Can anyone ID the wood? It's had a few coats of varnish applied. It was basically part of a drawer from an old hardwood dresser lol.


My problem is, this is like the 30th knife I've made now. And while it looks halfassedly decent, and can cut, it has absolutely nothing on some of the "first knives" ive seen posted on here. I am making progress, but it's so slow, I'm not even sure if im cut out for this really at this rate.
 
Looks like a decent knife in overall shape, just be patient with the shaping and pay attention to symmetry, take your time with the plunge grinds and transitioning from lower grits to higher grits (i.e. make sure all scratches from the previous grit are gone before moving onto the next). What kind of equipment are you using? I found when I was starting that with a file while not impossible, it was pretty difficult to get things dead flat and sometimes I would get deep scratches that were difficult to remove. That said, I made major progress with a craftsman belt sander and hand finishing with sandpaper backed on a granite tile. As for what kind of wood, it appears to be maple but I could be wrong.

Keep up the good work!

Peter
 
Looks like birch, good knife, glad you are happy. Glue can be removed with a brass rod, it wont scratch. Fit and finish takes time, if you invest the time in the age old knife making technique (sanding) you can achieve marvelous results. In the mean time cut everything in sight and enjoy your new knife.
 
chopsuey9999 said:
Looks like a decent knife in overall shape, just be patient with the shaping and pay attention to symmetry, take your time with the plunge grinds and transitioning from lower grits to higher grits (i.e. make sure all scratches from the previous grit are gone before moving onto the next). What kind of equipment are you using? I found when I was starting that with a file while not impossible, it was pretty difficult to get things dead flat and sometimes I would get deep scratches that were difficult to remove. That said, I made major progress with a craftsman belt sander and hand finishing with sandpaper backed on a granite tile. As for what kind of wood, it appears to be maple but I could be wrong.

Keep up the good work!

Peter
Click to expand...

As for equipment, I used an angle grinder and a vice at my workplace to cut straight lines across over and over at different angles until my drawn out shape was pretty close, with a lot of jagged edges. Then I used a 1/2th inch bench grinder with a course stone to even it all out and finalize the shape. Took it to the 1 inch bench grinder, did by bevel's for the edge, until I still had about a quarters (coin) thickness for my edge. Hardened it according to directions I was given here, tempered it in my oven in the kitchen, finished the edge. Then I used sandpaper, from 60-150-320-400-600-1000-2000 for different things. At the shop, I would have used a pneumatic dremel with a file tip to shape my handle (which started as 2 pieces of that hardwood, 2 inches wide, 1/2 inch thick and 5 inches long, each side) would have taken me minutes, and I could have used a vice, level, angle grinder and sanding pad to thin it out and finish the shaping of the handle within a half hour, and another 10 with sandpaper.
However, I couldn't get into the shop, so I used the sandpaper I had, and I bought some files, a wood rasp I suppose you call it, and a cheese grater you use on wood, lol. Overall it took me about 4 hours to get the handle to that shape and size with those tools, by hand.
Gives me more respect for the guys who do it all by hand. That takes a lot of time and patience.
 
Gendry said:
Ended up making a few small changes.

Anyways I started with some 1/8th inch 1084, got it to shape, heat treated it the best I could with my forge and kitchen oven, ect, you know how it goes. I am quite happy with the results..

Apart from some scratches that could have come out with some better sanding, and some glue that I could have removed with acetone I suppose.


My problem is, this is like the 30th knife I've made now. And while it looks halfassedly decent, and can cut, it has absolutely nothing on some of the "first knives" ive seen posted on here. I am making progress, but it's so slow, I'm not even sure if im cut out for this really at this rate.
Click to expand...

Gendry said:
As for equipment,

  1. I used an angle grinder and a vice at my workplace to cut straight lines across over and over at different angles until my drawn out shape was pretty close, with a lot of jagged edges.
  3. Then I used a 1/2th inch bench grinder with a course stone to even it all out and finalize the shape.
  5. Took it to the 1 inch bench grinder, did by bevel's for the edge, until I still had about a quarters (coin) thickness for my edge.
  7. Hardened it according to directions I was given here, tempered it in my oven in the kitchen, finished the edge.
  9. Then I used sandpaper, from 60-150-320-400-600-1000-2000 for different things.




kirk.jpg
Click to expand...

My suggestion is to give it a critical look before you move on to the next step

If this is # 30 I believe you could be much farther along than you are.
If you've got 30x other knives, you should be over you "I wanna make a knife jittrs"


I see you used an angle grinder and coarser bench grinder, then hardened, then used paper

I see gouges a Sherman tank would get stuck in.

It's easier to file those out, then sand BEFORE heat treat than it is after


You grind line is rounded / washed out, the grind line should still be sharp and visible.


Try making that file jig in my standard reply.
good grinds are all about consistent angles and it's a difficult skill to maintain that freehand.


Forget about 2000, 1000, 600, 400 grit paper.
Get more of the lower grits and don't move to the next one until that one is done
Use a sharpie, change the direction of sanding.

A good 320 or 400 grit finish is way nicer than what you have there.
Look up Nick Wheelers video on hand sanding and see what he calls a 400 grit clean finish; it's beautiful


You have to go deep enough to erase those gouges.
It's easier if you don't make those gouges
Try a file guide, try finer abrasives on your power tools like a 100 grit flap disc
Try that file guide on the angle grinder too, remove the handle and put in a long rod.

Then use a file in the file guide to get it smooth, then put the paper on the file guide
It will help you stay consistent.

Focus on consistancy from sides to side also

Forget jimping, jimping sucks.

Re the front handle, try a convex rounding instead of concave.


I say go to a finer point, if you sand to a zero edge, you can always sand the edge back to dull it.
 
Very good points Count.

To the OP where do you live? If near Oregon I would be happy to help you with some things.
 
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