First knife--opinions welcomed

Fish30114

Fish30114

Joined
Jan 5, 2014
Messages
1,495
I recently completed my first knife. It is a piece of Alabama Damascus 3/16" stock--I'll go thinner next time--the handle is Wenge, I like the way I got the grinds to come out, but am open to constructive criticism. Learned a lot, one thing I'd like to know, is there a jig or device that will make a peen or a swelled end on one end of you pin stock?? Trying to post some pics.










Sorry about the links for the pics, the uploader on the site isn't working for me! Tried to edit to display.
 
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If you look to the right of your picture on photobucket theres a thing that says "share your picture" in the bottom box where its if you copy and paste that to a post here, the pictures will show in in the post.

 
Also I peen the pin stock with a ball peen. Just lay it on a flat surface and lots of light taps, flip, lots of light taps, flip.. repeat until finished.
 
From the pics I ca get to come up, it looks like a heck of a first. Your grind looks very nice and clean. I'm not a huge fan of the front of your scales, but that's just personal preferance
 
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Not sure if that means the same thing in Malaysia but maybe you should check out the urban dictionary. If it does then you don't know what you're looking at. Very nice first go. Keep it up. I would try more of a coke bottle next time instead of an hour glass and see how that feels. Also try rounding the edges some. Overall pretty good!
Zayyanimasterblader said:
fugly
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The device I use is a cheap 1/2 ton arbor press from Grizzly. I think a 1 ton or better would probably be easier as I'm using a cheater bar to get enough force to peen brass and stainless pins.
 
Great first! Don't try to reinvent the wheel at first when it comes to handle shapes. Definitely a nicer bevel grind on my first few.
 
Very nice knife for a first, you are well on your way. A few thoughts:

- Looking at the spine, there is a definite change between when you ground along the scales lengthwise and along the spine of the blade crosswise. Finer grits and a consistent direction will help clean that up.
- On the shot from the left, looks like there's a gouge in the handle just ahead of the middle pin?
- Your scales could do with some serious rounding off, the corners are too sharp.

Your grinds look very clean and you have some guts to try damascus on your first run. Overall, a very nice knife. Stick around here and pay close attention to the brain trust and you'll improve exponentially.
 
Fish301,
Are you epoxying the pins and scales on,nand then grinding, or relying on the peening of the pins to hold the scales on?
 
Damn I love Wenge, such a cool looking wood! Perfect choice for that Damascus IMO, great look.

Still kicking myself for not picking up that giant block from the lumber place last time I was there. For about $60 I could have made easily a dozen handles out of it.
 
Nic. said:
If that's really how you feel, keep it to yourself. That's a great first and there is no need to tear anyone down. Not sure who you think you are, but that's exceptionally rude
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He's just a troll Nic.

This knife is a fine looking first knife. The sides are a bit blocky and could be rounded over a little more for comfort and looks.
 
I appreciate all the feedback. I guess that's why there's chocolate and vanilla, I was really trying hard, and I know I'm a rookie, but 'fugly' I honestly didn't get...oh well.
I am peening and using epoxy on the scales, and yes, I shaped them pretty close to my blade profile, and then finished them off on the belt grinder. I did a lot of hand work on it, sanding and what not--I do notice the difference on the spine--I need to go back and re-do that. Yugami thanks for the tips on getting the pics posted, I'll try that as an edit. I am peening like you for now...wish I could find a 'device' to get the one peen really symmetrical. I see what you folks are talking about on rounding the scales more, it is actually pretty smoothly rounded along the edges, where you grip it...
Homebru, yes that is a crack in the scale on that side, it appeared a few days after I finished--I found Wenge to be very 'splitty' i.e. it wants to split with the grain when you work it--or at least this block did. I am working on cleaning that up a little, but I am just not gonna peel those scales and pins off and re-do, I will live with it as it winds up as a first effort. The Alabama Damascus ground smoother than I expected, it is really nice stuff.

Lieblad, not sure I get the reference--what does 'Zippy the Pinhead' mean?

Gendry, you definitely should have grabbed that chunk of Wenge, it seems to be getting harder to come by, at least at my normal sources, I am lucky I got several chunks from a friend of mine who owns a furniture manufacturing company. Next I'm supposed to get a couple pieces of Cherry :):)
I really thought that wood went well with Damascus too, glad you appreciated it!
 
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I feel pretty honored to be among such a talented and knowledgeable group of folks, most of whom are so willing to share their wonderful skills and knowledge. I realize I have tons to learn, and I really appreciate those that offer honest constructive criticism and solutions! I plan to keep on learning and try to improve as I am able.
Thanks to all those that fit the above description!
 
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