First knife in process!

Jakeboy

Jakeboy

Joined
Feb 12, 2011
Messages
326
After having drooled over just about every knife I've seen here, I've decided to try my hand at the art.

I decided on a general use camp knife of my own design, though the influence of several of you, can be found in it. Overall length is 9 3/8", with a blade length of 4 5/8".

I made a thin plywood pattern from my paper sketch and then cut the rough blank from a piece of 1095 steel. Various machine and hand sanding operations later, I've got a blank that's ready for edge grinding. I'll probably do a flat grind This is the operation that will turn this into a nice blade (or a piece of junk). I bought a nice block of maple burl, some Corby bolts and white and yellow spacer material for the scales. My wife's glass fusing kiln should do the job for heat treating.

 
Awesome design! I really like the lines. I used the glass fusing kiln as well to heat treat my first few! Good luck with everything.
 
I really like the design as well! Off to a good start, I'm gonna keep my eye on you...


-Xander
 
Thanks, Guys! I'll post up some more pics as I work my way through. I hope to get a usable knife first, then one with a little quality/aesthetic value.
 
Very nice lines on this. Is this going to be a full height flat grind?
 
Josh Mason said:
Very nice lines on this. Is this going to be a full height flat grind?
Click to expand...

Thanks, Josh! I'd like to see if I can get it to a full height grind, but I'm thinking I might be better off getting it to 3/4's or so for my first grind.

I ordered a Bubble Jig set up from Fred Rowe and he advised me to practice on some pieces of scrap steel to get the hang of it. I'm thinking the full grind might be kind of tricky for a first timer. Fred shipped my tools out right away and sent me a nice e-mail, offering his help if I needed it. I was very impressed.

I know one thing for sure: I'm a long ways away from doing blade grinds like you and the other guys here do. They're true works of functional art.
 
Jakeboy said:
Thanks, Josh! I'd like to see if I can get it to a full height grind, but I'm thinking I might be better off getting it to 3/4's or so for my first grind.

I ordered a Bubble Jig set up from Fred Rowe and he advised me to practice on some pieces of scrap steel to get the hang of it. I'm thinking the full grind might be kind of tricky for a first timer. Fred shipped my tools out right away and sent me a nice e-mail, offering his help if I needed it. I was very impressed.

I know one thing for sure: I'm a long ways away from doing blade grinds like you and the other guys here do. They're true works of functional art.
Click to expand...

You will be fine on a full flat grind, it is often the shorter grinds that are tougher. A scandi looks super easy and may be one of the toughest to freehand.

The file is your friend! If you get the grind close you can draw file it to straighten up the grind. It goes very quickly. I bet the bubble jig helps a lot in getting there. (haven't tried one)

Remember, spend plenty of time and get it right. Everything might not be perfect but do your very best to get the best fit and finish possible.

It may take a week of labor to get the knife made but it will be around forever to remind you of how hard you worked.
 
Daniel Fairly Knives said:
You will be fine on a full flat grind, it is often the shorter grinds that are tougher. A scandi looks super easy and may be one of the toughest to freehand.

The file is your friend! If you get the grind close you can draw file it to straighten up the grind. It goes very quickly. I bet the bubble jig helps a lot in getting there. (haven't tried one)

Remember, spend plenty of time and get it right. Everything might not be perfect but do your very best to get the best fit and finish possible.

It may take a week of labor to get the knife made but it will be around forever to remind you of how hard you worked.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Daniel! I have a nice selection of files and maybe have concentrated on machine work, as opposed to the hand crafting of shaping a blade. I know the advantages of hand work (filing and polishing) from my gunsmith work. You can control everything, as your cutting takes place in a slow and studied fashion. I believe the best of you knife artists understand and adhere to this. I love working with steel in this way. Maybe not the most efficient, but true handworked items can always be identified, from furniture to knives to clothing. The product reflects the craftsman and the true craftsman will NEVER go out of date. To me, its always been about pride. I'm old fashioned, I guess.

Thanks again Daniel!

Dave
 
Thanks, Johnathon! I checked out your link! I have no clue as to how you grind your blades, nor the experience that goes into that skill.

You knife builders are awesome. True craftsmen. I'm in awe of yours and others blades I've seen here.

I've been a knife enthusiast for years, but never thought I could try my hand at creating my own.

Dave aka Jakeboy
 
Well, here's my first knife. I started to play around with a Craftsman 2 X 42 belt sander and found myself grinding a scandi with a convex shape. I don't know if this is a legitimate grind, but after heat treating and tempering, the knife slices and whittles wood shavings like no one's business. After much wood shaving, the edge has held up very well and is still very, very sharp.

I sure learned a lot about making a knife with this one. I have a whole new appreciation for what you guys are doing. The line between a craftsman and an artist is blurred with knife making.

Overall length is 9 1/4", blade length 4 3/4", blade height is 1 7/16", full tang, 1/8" thick 1095 steel, heat treated and tempered to approximately 58-59 Rc, drop point, scandi-vex grind (?), maple burl scales, 3/16" brass Corby bolts and 1/4" brass tubed lanyard hole.

I heat treated at 1500 degrees (held for 5 min.) and then quenched it in canola oil that I had heated to 115 degrees. I then tempered it at 500 degrees for two hours.

Now I just need to make a nice sheath for it and it'll be ready for a camping trip with my two brothers in May. If they like it, I'll make each of them one!

 
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