first knife...

A

andrewfinnie13

Joined
Jun 20, 2009
Messages
364
I know ive started one other thread with the title" First knife". But I am serious this time. here are the specs:
0-1 steel(graciously donated by Silver Pilate)
5/32nd in. thick
4.25 in. blade
4.5 in. handle
I would guess it is a nessmuk style knife but what do I know... i am a newby.

I have actually made 5 Knives all out of old Nicholsen files. Three of them turned out o.k. so I think I have some decent practice.

please tell me what you think.

thanks,
Andrew
 

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thats a new one Bill. I was being a chicken and didnt want to start grinding on it until you had looked at the design. I took the plunge and started grinding on it and it turned out alot better than the nicholsen knives ive done. I am such a chicken

The one you basically ground for me is sitting on my kitchen with a handle on it. I heated the handle up with the tortch from work and ended up warping the tang really bad. I tried to grind it flat and it kinda ended up being a sorta tapered tang knife. it looks kind of funny.. well at least I think so.
 
tapered tang knives are good. as a matter fact I prefer them over non tapered tangs. if all the taper is on one side that can be fixed also. we'll take a look when I finally get time to have you back up.
 
Sounds good Bill. If only It would Stop snowing... Oh yeah.. I am still available during the week too If thats easier..And I checked the job posting site that you mentioned and the job Is an out of state job with Meinke. If that is the one you were talking about. And I have talked to them before about the job and most of the are in Arizona. Which is kinda hard to pull off right now. My wife Tracey has about 6.5 weeks till she pops out my lil boy:O)
 
oh yeah... I almost forgot... I tapered the tang so much that i lost about 1/2 in. off the end of the knife... I like tapered tang knives as well... but I like ones that fit in my hand better:O)
 
Looks good.
Unless you are doing a partial scale handle with a thong on the end, I would round off that sharp point on the butt. It may end up being a problem with the scales chipping, or chaffing of your hand.

Stacy
 
bladsmth said:
Looks good.
Unless you are doing a partial scale handle with a thong on the end, I would round off that sharp point on the butt. It may end up being a problem with the scales chipping, or chaffing of your hand.

Stacy
Click to expand...

oh.. I never thought of that... ill have to do a mock cardboard knife and see what i like better.

thanks sir
 
heres another update...I mentioned in my other WIP about using files to finish blades.. well I didnt really post it, but I was getting really discusted with my grinder effen things up and had to change the blade a bit. As you can see I got rid of the small guard and had to shorten the blade up a bit. But I have to say. I am really pleased with the way it turned out. It is ready to heat treat I think.


Let me know what you think..

Oh by the way, In the last post I talked about moching up a cardboard knife to check if the pointy ends on the tang are a factor and there not so I left them..

Thanks for the advice.

here they are:
 

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I would suggest spending some time sanding it before you send it to HT. In the second pic it looks like there are some marks near the spine by the plunge line. Also unless you're having the handle go right up to the plunge line you might want to consider sanding out all those scratches from whatever belt you were using.

Other than that I think it looks pretty good. Just remember the deeper the scratches you leave in now the more you'll have to work to get them out later.
 
Fletch Helical said:
I would suggest spending some time sanding it before you send it to HT. In the second pic it looks like there are some marks near the spine by the plunge line. Also unless you're having the handle go right up to the plunge line you might want to consider sanding out all those scratches from whatever belt you were using.

Other than that I think it looks pretty good. Just remember the deeper the scratches you leave in now the more you'll have to work to get them out later.
Click to expand...

Yeah I see the scratches.:( I was in the process of taking pics of my first forged blade and decided to take pics of that one at the same time. I am going to try and hand sand thoes scratches out and post them again .

I have also tapered the tang(with the help of Bill Burke) and will post pics of that later.
 
Trust me, you don't want to have to be doing any more sanding than is necessary after the HT. It wouldn't hurt to take it to like 400 before the HT, at least on the blade. I'm sure you heard it already but if not use alternating directions as you move through the grits (parallel with the knife, perpendicular, etc) so you can see the previous lines disappear. And don't change grits until the previous scratches are ALL gone.
 
Fletch Helical said:
Trust me, you don't want to have to be doing any more sanding than is necessary after the HT. It wouldn't hurt to take it to like 400 before the HT, at least on the blade. I'm sure you heard it already but if not use alternating directions as you move through the grits (parallel with the knife, perpendicular, etc) so you can see the previous lines disappear. And don't change grits until the previous scratches are ALL gone.
Click to expand...

I do actually do 400 grit sanding with my 2x42.
I kind of reverted back to shaping and stuff with hand files and then checking my progress by hitting it with the 400 grit belt on my sander to get an accurate depiction of the quality of the grind...I get some nasty deep scratches with the filesnn no fun at all..
 
The small part stickin out NEEDED TO GO anyhow! Looks much better now, but I think it still needs help. I don't like the sharp angle you have going on in the finger groove area. I know you don't have a lot of room to work there now, but I think if you take a black sharpie and try to draw more of a sweeping radius into that area you will see that the overall flow of the knife improves drastically. That was the very first thing I noticed in your orig pic. Better now but, like I said, still needs a little help. Take the time to get all your little things worked out before finishing it, cuz you only get one chance....:thumbup:
Matt Doyle
 
Well, here I am.. With my first real knife.. and I say real knife because everyone of the knives ive bought save one ( my spiderco endura 2 I bought nine years ago) have failed me in almost every aspect. I have also made a few file knives.. they have turned out ok but still didnt live up to my standards of being called a "real knife"... well here it is:.. same blade style.. made of 0-1 steel. diferentiallt heat treated with a nice little hammond, as well as a tapered tang. The handle material is jade g-10 ( I know it doesnt look like it.. but it is, and great looking too) and the pins are 1/4" steel rod. It is not all the way hand sanded.. I need a very stable bench to do that on and Ill probably be sanding it down to 600 mat finish if I can later.

Bill Burke has graciously helped me with this knife.. He showed me how to do the heat treat and even tempered the blade for me.( thats why there are soo few pics... its been at Bill's)..Nathan Burgess donated the steel and Bill Hyde gave me the g-10... I know this knife isnt of the best of quality but I am proud.

There are mistakes But that is was knife making is all about... making mistakes and learning from them..

Thanks again Bill Burke, Nathan Burgess and Bill Hyde for the materials and time.
 

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