Honest opinions please - first prototype

IH8U

IH8U

Joined
Mar 6, 2007
Messages
779
I made this EDC/fruit/paring knife over the last week and would like some feedback. I can take a punch so please be honest. I know where most of the flaws are and will take steps to ensure I don't make the same mistakes twice. I plan on giving this one to my father in law to help pressure him to help me out with some better tools.

This was a stock removal made from a nicholson file, brought to just beyond magnetic and quenched in warm vegi oil. File tested and tempered 2, 1 hour cycles at 400 degrees.

Specs:
Steel - carbon (nicholson file)
Grind - full convex
OAL - 6 1/8th
Blade - 2 3/4
Cutting edge - 2 5/8ths
Blade width - 11/16ths
Blade thickness - 3/32nds at spine
Handle length - 3 3/8ths
1/8 brass pins
gorgeous desert ironwood slabs slightly contoured and well rounded and comfy.
3-4oz tooled leather belt sheath

I have got in some 1095 that I plan to use for my first run of about 6 pieces and have some wicked desert ironwood burl for slabs. I have also made some jigs to help with my grinding and plunge lines. I have slightly refined the shape after playing around with this little guy and will drill some extra holes to create a better balance point. The next few will most likely be a flat grind with a convexed edge.

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Thanks guys, I really appreciate it.

File work - that would be a whole new animal for me. I'll look around for some tutorials to check the difficulty level.

Lanyard hole - cha ching, that may be what I need to balance it out a bit better. I'll pick up some tubing and give that a go.
 
overall i looks quite nice. but there are some things i did notice. take these as you will and do as you please. first i feel that your scale pins are to far apart, bring them in a bit so there closer together. but not a lot just a little more, this will ballance out the look. also the edge grind seems a little short to me. i like a convex that goes to the spine and has a slight convex to it. but its not the easiest thing to do. something i see quite often with convex grinds is that it has way to much convex to it making the edge angle to steep there for greatly reducing cutting performance. and the last thing i would mention is watching out so the top of the tip and the spine stay nice and crisp and do not get rounded over from convex grinding. Hope this helps, but over all it looks like a great little knife. o and one more tip. if you are using the artificial sinew for stitching i would twist it first before using it. i tie one end to something and unwrap a little more then you need from the spool and cut it off. then tie a knot in the end and put the knot in a hand held drill and spin it till it looks like cord. then have some one hole the drill so the cord stayes tight and take a thin strip of leather and ford it over the cord you just made and rub it back and fourth. this will melt the wax a bit and help keep it thisted. then remove it from the drill and what ever you tied it to and work out all the extra twists so that it wont twist up on its self. hop this helps, works great for me.
 
Perfect, thanks JT! I agree with all of your points and that is the feedback I was looking for. I'm hoping with the simple jigs that I have made up, the grinds will be more consistent and I want to go with a flat grind rather than the convex. It's not easy to make a good full convex grind and being green, I figured I should head a different route. I'm still unsure of the angle I should go with a flat grind, but that will be a learning experience too.

Awesome tip on the sinew!

Thanks very much.
Rob
 
IH8U said:
Thanks guys, I really appreciate it.

File work - that would be a whole new animal for me. I'll look around for some tutorials to check the difficulty level.
.
Click to expand...

i just meant some grip lines , similar to what spyderco puts on the back of their knives
its a common thing of many blades...
 
1 When you are drilling your pin holes, use a brad point bit and bring JUST the point through the bottm of the scale. Then turn over and go back through the hole. This will keep you from blowing the wood out like you did on the front hole. You really should have sanded the wood down to where it was no longer blown out. Looks much better that way, and still not too late.
2 If you are using files make sure you remove ALL the file marks. I can still see them in a few places.
3 IMO convex grinds are just messy and ugly stay away from them.:thumbdn:
4 Did you make the sheath? Very nice job if so.:thumbup:
5 There isn't much wrong with your front pin placement, but you could use one in the middle, and change out the rear with a lanyard hole.
Pretty nice first try. Keep it up.:thumbup:
Matt Doyle
 
Nice knive but great sheath, I like the design. Drill your hole for the pins early in the process so you can sand out break through and get a nice fit around the pins. I usually do a rough fit and drill my pin holes and then the final shape of the handles.

I use a file on 1095 prior to HT to clean up the plunge, looks like a little more sanding at the plunge may be needed. You can also do the plunge with the edge of a file and then grind the edge to match to get a nice clean look.

I do alot of flat grinding and not sure what you are saying as far as the angle? The angle is determined by the amount of edge you want to leave and the height that you and going up the blade. Grind a 45 degree angle on the edge on both sides leaving a flat on the edge about the thickness of a dime. Then grind away the 45 (at the upper part where the angle meets the blade, until you reach the height and the flat of the edge.
 
It's a great looking knife. Way better than my first attempt. I agree with Jt about the convex. I prefer a true full height, thinner convex. It seems, for me anyway, to perform much better. When I first started, my early knives were like this, then I tested one and the cutting ability wasn't to spiffy.
But it's all in preference.
Great job!
Later,
Iz:thumbup:
 
I have made several knives out of nicholson files, using the same HT you did. The ones I tempered at 400 all chipped a little during sharpening or after some use. The ones I've tempered at 425 have not chipped. Might bump your next batch up a little. I'm with JT on the pins. If you are going to use two, move them in a little toward center. Good finish on the handle, and the sheath is great. Could put some more work into removing file/grinder marks on the blade. If you can get all the marks out down to maybe 220 grit prior to HT, your finish work will be easier.
 
look at the butt end of the handle, from the pictures it looks like that is almost round in cross section. this will be difficult to control when using as a pairing knife. possibly consider a teardrop or a more flattened oval shape as it reaches the butt

a basically round cross section can be fine towards the front of the handle, but if you maintain the round shape you have what is usually called a "broomstick" handle
 
Wow Rob, very nice indeed!

Some great advice here as well. Nice job on that sheath, the tooling is good looking.

John
 
The first question to ask is always "does it cut?" Testing can give a lot of clues about what's right with it and what could be better.

JTknives said:
...the last thing i would mention is watching out so the top of the tip and the spine stay nice and crisp and do not get rounded over from convex grinding.
Click to expand...

One thing that helps for me is to leave some extra "meat" on the spine and tip, and grind them last, after the bevels are all set. This keeps them nice and crisp and gives a nice sharp tip.

Good points about convex bevels. I love 'em, but there's a reason few factories make 'em, they're kind of a bear to do well. They're sweet when done right, though, and that one looks like it's fairly close to getting thinned out and smoothed out so you get a nice even reflection when you look at the blade. Go ahead and finish her off, it's only done when YOU say it's done :D
 
one thing that will help TREMENDOUSLY as a knifemaker:

NEVER be afraid to tear a knife apart to fix something you don't like,

if you think you can do it better then by golly do it better.

keep trying until it matches YOUR idea of how it should look COMPLETELY
 
stephanfowler said:
one thing that will help TREMENDOUSLY as a knifemaker:

NEVER be afraid to tear a knife apart to fix something you don't like,

if you think you can do it better then by golly do it better.

keep trying until it matches YOUR idea of how it should look COMPLETELY
Click to expand...

VERY well said! Put that knife in the oven @225 for 15 mins, the pins push out, the scales come right off and you're back at it in no time. No reason to leave what you don't like. Don't fix it next time. Fix it THIS time!
Matt
 
wowzers, I go out to lunch and comeback to some great feedback. I will make a list of to-do's and take to heart all the advice given. Even though I made this one up to do a sort of "how does it feel" test, knowing the oven trick to remove the handles may lead me to go back and fine tune it.

Thanks all for contributing, I sincerely appreciate it.
Rob
 
IH8U said:
...knowing the oven trick to remove the handles may lead me to go back and fine tune it.
Click to expand...

I didn't know that either, great tip! Maybe this thread will turn into a great list of tricks and techniques for us new guys :thumbup:
 
I make (and sell) a lot of little knives like this. The overall design is great, few things and really dunno if they were pointed out.

Deepen the finger notch or "choil" at the front, the way it is now a finger is likely to slip onto it.

On the next one or if you can on this one, consider angling the front of the scales, it'll add some spark to the flow of the knife.

I'm not going to repeat everyone about the pins, although I've been known to space them way apart because of the grain of the wood.

Overall a great looking early knife. Your leatherwork is freaking awesome!
You could clean up the plunges a little bit with a small chainsaw file. That's how I cut my plunges in to make them match, then clean up with sandpaper wrapped around the same file.
 
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