First one is done!!

jonnymac44

jonnymac44

Joined
Sep 27, 2007
Messages
7,680
Well, I can see tons of room for improvement, but I'm happy to say that my first knife is DONE! I owe a lot to those here in this forum who have been so generous with knowledge and advice, and I hope to be able to pass some along to others as well someday:thumbup: Thanks all.

There are some things I would change but overall I like the idea of this little two finger wharnie. It's comfy in my hand and has a nice sharp edge on it. I would have liked the handle to be a bit less bulky but I was worried I was getting close to grinding through the top of the corby bolts so I played it safe. I have 7 or 8 more blades getting close as well in various states of completion, so there should be more to share soon.

Here are some specs,

It's my own design made from 1/8" ATS-34 hardened by Peters in PA to 59-60 RC, flat ground with unfinished flats and a scotchbrite finish on the bevels. Handle slabs are dark brown micarta. Overall length is about 4.25" with a 2" cutting edge.

Comments and criticisms are welcome. Thanks for looking....

FirstKnifeEver.jpg


FirstKnifeEver1.jpg


FirstKnifeEver3.jpg
 
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Murdok,
Thank you! You have definitely been an encouraging force for me so far. I appreciate it. I have several more blanks of this design already profiled and have all sorts of ideas about how I'm going to change it. Maybe tubes instead of corby's, a thinner handle, and the blade will be a bit longer. The original design had a blade a bit longer than this, but some of the tip was sacrificed to the learning curve:o, about 1/4" I think. I also think I'll leave the spine of the blade squared off, maybe just break it a tad at the corners. The rounded spine on this one is the result of my very first attempt at a freehand swedge........need a bit more practice in that area:)
 
Well for starter I would advise on slowing down and trying something a little smaller as you next project. ;)

Kidding aside, good start. Can't wait to see more.
 
Thanks Sam, I appreciate that!
I've gotta get the youngest to bed and then I'll snap one:thumbup:
 
Patrice Lemée;8711517 said:
Well for starter I would advise on slowing down and trying something a little smaller as you next project. ;)

Kidding aside, good start. Can't wait to see more.
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Big knives scare me!:D:D
 
Lookin' good.:thumbup: Congrats, man!
 
Cool stuff Johnny. :thumbup: I didn't know you were making knives now. Addicting isn't it? :D
 
Yes, looking forewards to seeing the rest.
I like the way you've left the flats untreated
 
Well done sir, welcome to the addiction! I'm digging the unfinished flats but one thing I think that would make it "pop" better is to take some time and really work the bevels to make them more polished. They don't need to be a mirror finish but... My attention seems to want to get drawn more to the sanding marks on the bevels than anything else. (then again I'm a bit anal about that). I like a nice hand rubbed finish on a blade which takes a bit more time but I think it adds to the beauty of the knife. To me, and this is just my opinion, seeing sanding marks going perpendicular to the blade makes me feel like they just stuck it on a belt grinder and called it done. A nice hand rubbed finish parallel to the blade is a thing of beauty. Overall though she's a beauty looking forward to seeing more :thumbup:
 
Very nice... Kind of fun, isn't it?

take the time right now to apologize to your wallet :) it only gets worse from here!
 
Thanks for all the encouragement, guys! This has been a lot of fun so far. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time and I'm glad I finally took the plunge.

Fletch, I hear what you're saying and I have played around with really working on a finer hand rubbed finish. Some knives I make will probably have one, and others may end up looking a little more utilitarian like this one. To be honest, I know how to put a nice hand rubbed finish on metal, but with this one, I was pretty anxious just to put something together so I admittedly spent less time than I would have liked to on certain areas of the knife. I'll go a bit slower in the future:D
 
Johnny,

That thing is great. Well done. I like your bevel and the grinding lines. I prefer the utilitarian approach - like Scandinavian furniture. Simple, clean.

How did you clean up the flats and still leave them unfinished?

Erik
 
alb1k said:
Johnny,

That thing is great. Well done. I like your bevel and the grinding lines. I prefer the utilitarian approach - like Scandinavian furniture. Simple, clean.

How did you clean up the flats and still leave them unfinished?

Erik
Click to expand...

Thanks! After I got the blade back from heat treat, I soaked it in vinegar to remove the oxide which was very thin and came off easily in a few hours. Then I finished up the bevel with a 220 grit belt and and medium scotchbrite belt. The unfinished flats were cleaned up lightly with red scotch brite pads before I attached the handle slabs, just enough to get rid of the last of the yellowish hue left from heat treat and to shine the high spots just a touch. I didn't go very deep at all.
 
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