First real knife made!

P

porterb123

Joined
Jun 8, 2009
Messages
97
I have made about 4 or 5 knives with basic hand tools or side grinders over the last 20 years but recently wanted to make more and better quality knives. I built the grinder in a box from Jamie and this is my first full flat grind.
It is not as easy as I thought.
How do you get a perfect straight grind line parallel with the spine when stopping the grind?
I went over the top with the grind and had to thin the whole knife to get rid of most of the groove at the spine. I also used a 40 grit to grind the bevel before heat treat and later found that was too coarse and left grind lines that were hard to get out after heat treat. Almost had the knife too thin getting all the coarse lines out.
Any advice or critique is welcome.
Blade is CPM D2, heat treat by Texas Knife Makers Supply
Handle mat. is Abalone...wifes choices as this is hers
Corby bolts and epoxy.
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The mate to this was ground with an 80 grit, then 220 and finished with 360. It is thicker but I still do not have the knack yet for stopping the grind before the spine. It is not finished yet. I'm gonna try and hook up with Stan at his shop and get some tips
 
Looks good. My newbie advice, still being one myself, would be to add more grits, probably around the 120 or 150 range, maybe switch to 300 and 400 grit instead of going all the way from 220 to 360.

Would you call this a kitchen knife?
 
I love the lines on that thing. Great job! Here's something I learned from my first knife to the next one: contouring the handle. I was so proud of how my first knife looked but once I started contouring the handle to fit my hand I was almost embarrassed by my first handle. My concept on contouring is to make the handle thinner where the thumb and forefinger fit, and then the proverbial palm swell to fill into the hand. If you're like me, you won't believe the difference of how it feels in the hand.

But, I feel I'm nitpicking. You did a great job on this knife and should be very proud of it.
 
zaph1 said:
Looks good. My newbie advice, still being one myself, would be to add more grits, probably around the 120 or 150 range, maybe switch to 300 and 400 grit instead of going all the way from 220 to 360.

Would you call this a kitchen knife?
Click to expand...

Yes, it is a paring knife. The mate to it will be a bird and trout type.
I do need to get some more belts!
 
Tinker Simpleton said:
I love the lines on that thing. Great job! Here's something I learned from my first knife to the next one: contouring the handle. I was so proud of how my first knife looked but once I started contouring the handle to fit my hand I was almost embarrassed by my first handle. My concept on contouring is to make the handle thinner where the thumb and forefinger fit, and then the proverbial palm swell to fill into the hand. If you're like me, you won't believe the difference of how it feels in the hand.

But, I feel I'm nitpicking. You did a great job on this knife and should be very proud of it.
Click to expand...

I have a third knife layed out with a 4 1/4" blade that I planned to contour as you have stated.
Thanks to all!
 
Nice looking knife Porter.
Gonna be in the shop saturday if you wanna drop by.
Stan
 
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