Hello, I joined the forum a while ago and but never really started posting as I took a hiatus from knife making for a while. I recently fired up my forge again and made myself a knife, this is my seventh knife to date. I am still learning with each blade I build and enjoy the process. The following are a series of photos I took on my iPhone during the build, please excuse the quality!
Forging the blade from O1 tool steel. The bar is from plywood shear blades used to trim the ends of the veneer.
I measured it up after the first round of forging and found that I needed a bit more length on the tang as well as curve to the blade.
Forging completed.
Blade profile ground before hardening.
Hardened blade with the tang ground as well as the handle assembly. I used an old B8 bronze cymbal that I had laying around, quilted maple that I logged with my dad, and some cocobolo scraps that were around the shop (this knife is mostly made up of stuff I had laying around!).
All polished up and brought very close to an edge.
A close up of knife No.5, the inspiration for this design. As you can see with the older handle the bronze will mellow out to a nice patina over time
Rough shaping done and ready for gluing the butt pieces on.
Sanded to 600 grit and finished with danish oil. It was still at wet at the time of the picture and soon dried to a matte finish.
Here you can see I am mid way through making the sheath. If you notice there's tabs designed to hold the handle into the sheath which lock it in. I never liked the idea of using snaps or friction to hold the blade in so I came up with this. There's a satisfying feeling as the knife *clicks* into place after a slight resistance. It will never come out unless you pull directly up on the handle, and no amount of shaking will dislodge it.
Rough assembly with wooden pins, ready for tooling.
The completed pair. I finished the sheath with Walnut brown Samans wood stain and wiped it down with Chapham's bees wax for shine and a top coat.
I really like how this blade turned out despite several mistakes along the way and lacking some tools. It took me several weeks of spending a few hours after work to complete this knife and I enjoyed every moment. Please comment and ask questions.
Forging the blade from O1 tool steel. The bar is from plywood shear blades used to trim the ends of the veneer.
I measured it up after the first round of forging and found that I needed a bit more length on the tang as well as curve to the blade.
Forging completed.
Blade profile ground before hardening.
Hardened blade with the tang ground as well as the handle assembly. I used an old B8 bronze cymbal that I had laying around, quilted maple that I logged with my dad, and some cocobolo scraps that were around the shop (this knife is mostly made up of stuff I had laying around!).
All polished up and brought very close to an edge.
A close up of knife No.5, the inspiration for this design. As you can see with the older handle the bronze will mellow out to a nice patina over time
Rough shaping done and ready for gluing the butt pieces on.
Sanded to 600 grit and finished with danish oil. It was still at wet at the time of the picture and soon dried to a matte finish.
Here you can see I am mid way through making the sheath. If you notice there's tabs designed to hold the handle into the sheath which lock it in. I never liked the idea of using snaps or friction to hold the blade in so I came up with this. There's a satisfying feeling as the knife *clicks* into place after a slight resistance. It will never come out unless you pull directly up on the handle, and no amount of shaking will dislodge it.
Rough assembly with wooden pins, ready for tooling.
The completed pair. I finished the sheath with Walnut brown Samans wood stain and wiped it down with Chapham's bees wax for shine and a top coat.
I really like how this blade turned out despite several mistakes along the way and lacking some tools. It took me several weeks of spending a few hours after work to complete this knife and I enjoyed every moment. Please comment and ask questions.
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