First One Done

I

Iwannashoot

Joined
Jan 26, 2012
Messages
91
I finally finished my first knife, and boy what a process! It sure took alot longer than I envisioned when I first started, but I think that it came out OK for my first effort. I spent way too much time fixing mistakes or trying to cover them up.

One of the things that slowed me down the most was the HT. I got stubborn and decided that I had to do it myself. So I built a two brick forge and quickly found out that the torch that I already had didn't provide enough heat to get the whole blade up to non-magnetic. So then I had to build a burner to provide the additional heat. If anyone is interested in the details I would be happy to post what I have learned. I would llike to be able to give back to the forum as I really do appreciate all the knowledge that you experts so freely share on this site.

SAM_0032.jpg
[/IMG]

SAM_0030.jpg
[/IMG]

SAM_0029.jpg
[/IMG]

SAM_0028.jpg
[/IMG]

SAM_0027.jpg
[/IMG]

The build was totally by hand. The only power tools used were a cheap drill press and an 8" bench grinder. The bench grinder was only used to help rough in the profile. All of the rest of the profile and the bevels were finished with files and sandpaper.

HT was done as mentioned above in a 2BF and quenched in Canola. Rockwell hardness tested at Rc 59 after two one hour tempers at 400F.

Overall length is 8 3/4" and the blade is 3 3/4". Steel is some of Aldo's 1084 and the scales are Teak that I had on hand. Finish on blade is 500 grit and the finish on the scales is several coats of hand rubbed Tung oil. Pins are 3/32 brass rod from the Hobby Store and the thong tube is part of a Carbon arrow that was snapped in half by a wild hog that I shot.

All comments are welcome. Please feel free to criticize, as it will help me make my next one even better.

Thanks

Jeff
 
Perfectly respectable result for your first, especially considering that it was done by hand. That takes real patience, which is the # 1 requirement for good knifemaking.
Two suggestions come to mind:
The plunges appear to angle slightly backwards. I find that they look better if they angle towards the tip at least a little.
The edge looks a little thick, which is natural for a first knife and especially one that is beveled by hand. As you progress and are able to get a reliable heat treat, you may want to take your edges down thinner and find out just how thin you can go before you compromise edge integrity. Edge geometry is a subject worthy of focused study for a knifemaker, it is the very basis of cutting performance.
 
Last edited:
Excellent job! One thing that struck me is that the front of the handle seems closer to the plunge on the left side than on the right. Your finish on both blade and handle is great and I like the re using of the arrow for the lanyard hole lining. Thats cool.
 
Jeff, looks great. I did my first couple by hand and they were no where near that good. Impressive.
 
Very nicely done! What glue did you use for the scales? Teak can be a bit oily and can have issues holding on with some epoxies. Excellent work with all those small pins, I have seen people have a hard time with just two pins, let alone 6 and a thong hole!

Now that you have a two brick forge, take some of that 1084 or an old file make yourself a file guide for the next one. It will really help keep your plunge lines even and straight.


-Xander
 
Don't take this wrong... but I hate you :). I still can't get my plunges that uniform. Great job on the blade!!!!!
 
Nice work. Innovative use of scrap materials too, I never would have thought of using a piece of carbon arrow for a tube.
Darcy:)
 
Thanks for all the nice coments guys.

Justin- I'm very impresssed with your powers of observation. Those plunge lines do angle back.. It is one of the screw-ups that I just couldn't hide as my wimpy ass homemade file guide slipped back at the top edge. The damage was too deep to fix without great difficulty before my inexperienced self noticed what was happening.:eek: Oh well at least it makes it look slightly different from all the other drop point hunting knives I've seen.

Also, the edge was left a bit thick on purpose as I was a bit worried about warpage in HT. I don't know how sick I'd of been if I had screwed it up in HT after all the hours I had in it at that point. My second blank is in process and the bevels are already a tad thinner and I'm not done yet.

Horsewright- I think that is just a function of my crappy photography skills. I think that the photos are from slightly different angles because it looks quite even in person.

Fast14riot- I used a slow cure 1:1 ratio epoxy from Fiberglass Coatings Inc. here in St. Petersburg. I have alot of experience with it on other projects and it holds up better than most others I've used. One nice thing is that it is a little thicker consistancy than other epoxies, so it doesn't tend to run out of the bond line. Also, there are alot of drill divots in the underside of the scales and holes in the tang for the epoxy to get a good mechanical bite on.

Lastly- to the couple of guys that commented on the thong tube, that is not an original idea. I'm sure that I saw that somewhere in my travels on the web; I just wish I could remember where I saw it so that I could give proper credit to the person that came up with it.
 
I agree, very nice work on your first knife :thumbup:

Much better than my first attempt ;)

I'm not sure what your intended purpose was when you were designing, but if it was Hunter/Utility, you nailed it.

Aldo's 1084 for your steel choice ............ Perfecto !! If you do your part, it makes an excellent knife.
And you won't find a nicer guy to deal with for your steel than Aldo Bruno :thumbup:
http://stores.njsteelbaron.com/StoreFront.bok

Most likely you're hooked for life, and brother, making knives is a hard habit to break :)




:cool:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top