Hello, my name is Matt and I've been making knives in Philadelphia for about four/five months now. I'm still trying to get my hands on decent tools but I've managed to put together a tiny shop in a very cramped space. I'm using the Grizzly 2x72 and I don't hate it nearly as much as other people seem to but I've never used a nicer variable speed grinder so my opinion might someday change. I have made a few knives that I'm fairly proud of with it though so I think of it fondly for now.
I've avoided posting here forever because I couldn't wrap my head around this place but some folks over on another forum told me it was time to get my act together and introduce myself. Please excuse my ignorance if this is the wrong place or way to go about introducing myself. Anyway, I suppose you'd rather look at knives than hear about me so here are a few from my first few months. Thanks for looking.
So far I've only made about three styles of knives, two camp knives and a skinner. This one is the larger of the two camp knives. 1/8" O1 with a 4" blade and about 9" overall. The handle is G10 with vulcanized fiber spacers/liners but I'm not a fan of them so I'll probably stop with that from here on out and stick to G10 or metals.
This is one of the smaller camp knives. This one went to my brother for hunting season this year. It's also O1 (actually all of my knives are O1 so far). I've made a few of these now but this one turned out pretty ok (for me, anyway).
This was one got finished a while ago and it kind of bugs me now. It turned out alright but seeing the photos now I realize I should have rounded the handle over better. I used Burlap micarta and again, vulcanized fiber liners because I couldn't get my hands on any yellow G10 that was bright enough to look good.
This is another small camper with "houndstooth" micarta and (I think Cocobolo). I bought a couple of sets of scales and took the labels off of them before I paid attention to which one was which. I'm an idiot.
This is one of the skinners I mentioned. I really like these but it's the only knife I've made that hasn't been sold so I guess it must not be as cool as I think it is. They're fun to make though so I'll probably make a few more. The handle is "Tangerine" Burlap and black paper micarta.
This is my most recent knife I finished. I love this thing but tomorrow it's on its way to Sweden, which is pretty exciting to me. It's another one of the big camp knives with "Natural" burlap micarta and OD Green G10. This was the first time I tried a forced patina (instant coffee) and I think it turned out pretty ok. It was also the first time I tried etching (rather than "marking") my maker's mark because I wasn't sure if a marked logo would show up under the patina. In hindsight, it probably would have. This one also has three hidden pins - two under the bolster and one above the lanyard tube.
I was planning on using a brass bolster on one of these knives when I profiled and drilled them so I added the two clearance holes in the tang for 1/8" pins. I didn't end up using a brass bolster on any of these but I figured since they were already there, I might as well use them since there was quite a bit of space between the front of the scales and the first corby rivet. You can see where they are placed in the green, brown, and yellow knife pictured above because I didn't think to try hidden pins on that one.
I didn't mean for that to be as long as it turned out to be. If you made it this far, thanks for reading my gibberish.
It feels good to finally contribute something and not just lurk in the corner reading all your information.
I've avoided posting here forever because I couldn't wrap my head around this place but some folks over on another forum told me it was time to get my act together and introduce myself. Please excuse my ignorance if this is the wrong place or way to go about introducing myself. Anyway, I suppose you'd rather look at knives than hear about me so here are a few from my first few months. Thanks for looking.
So far I've only made about three styles of knives, two camp knives and a skinner. This one is the larger of the two camp knives. 1/8" O1 with a 4" blade and about 9" overall. The handle is G10 with vulcanized fiber spacers/liners but I'm not a fan of them so I'll probably stop with that from here on out and stick to G10 or metals.
This is one of the smaller camp knives. This one went to my brother for hunting season this year. It's also O1 (actually all of my knives are O1 so far). I've made a few of these now but this one turned out pretty ok (for me, anyway).
This was one got finished a while ago and it kind of bugs me now. It turned out alright but seeing the photos now I realize I should have rounded the handle over better. I used Burlap micarta and again, vulcanized fiber liners because I couldn't get my hands on any yellow G10 that was bright enough to look good.
This is another small camper with "houndstooth" micarta and (I think Cocobolo). I bought a couple of sets of scales and took the labels off of them before I paid attention to which one was which. I'm an idiot.
This is one of the skinners I mentioned. I really like these but it's the only knife I've made that hasn't been sold so I guess it must not be as cool as I think it is. They're fun to make though so I'll probably make a few more. The handle is "Tangerine" Burlap and black paper micarta.
This is my most recent knife I finished. I love this thing but tomorrow it's on its way to Sweden, which is pretty exciting to me. It's another one of the big camp knives with "Natural" burlap micarta and OD Green G10. This was the first time I tried a forced patina (instant coffee) and I think it turned out pretty ok. It was also the first time I tried etching (rather than "marking") my maker's mark because I wasn't sure if a marked logo would show up under the patina. In hindsight, it probably would have. This one also has three hidden pins - two under the bolster and one above the lanyard tube.
I was planning on using a brass bolster on one of these knives when I profiled and drilled them so I added the two clearance holes in the tang for 1/8" pins. I didn't end up using a brass bolster on any of these but I figured since they were already there, I might as well use them since there was quite a bit of space between the front of the scales and the first corby rivet. You can see where they are placed in the green, brown, and yellow knife pictured above because I didn't think to try hidden pins on that one.
I didn't mean for that to be as long as it turned out to be. If you made it this far, thanks for reading my gibberish.
It feels good to finally contribute something and not just lurk in the corner reading all your information.
