I Made My First Knife!!!!

M

Matt Qualls

Joined
Jul 12, 2005
Messages
1
I'm Bruce Evan's son for all that don't know. Well it was alot harder than I had expected it to be but I guess thats because Dad makes it look so easy lol. My first blade that I ground ended up in the window sill because it was about as big as the tang and still wasnt right, I forged one and got the flat grind (FINALLY!) on one side but the other side i made completely flat lol :D . But the knife that i have finished has a 4-inch blade with hidden tang, mild steel guard, and a stag handle. I did a very dull and oiled 320 grit belt finish on it and the handle has 2 pins securing the tang. I will post a picture of it on Dad's website as soon as i can which will probably be this weekend late Friday night or so.

Matt

P.S. Any pointers on anything would be greatly appreciated.
 
That's great Matt,

I sure wish I had started making knives when I was your age. Not only does it give you a valuable method of making money in life, but it gives you something more valuable. Friends......
 
Congratulations! Can't wait to see it. You have a very good teacher. Be careful, the bug will get you.
 
I sure wish I had started making knives when I was your age. Not only does it give you a valuable method of making money in life, but it gives you something more valuable. Friends...

You said it Mark!!!!!

I don't think there's anything like making a knife and seeing the expression on someone's face when you hand it to them.

Stay with it Matt, each one gets better and you never stop learning!
 
L6steel said:
I don't think there's anything like making a knife and seeing the expression on someone's face when you hand it to them.
Click to expand...

I third that!!!!
 
Yep he did it :D
He forgot to mention that this first one has a convex grind on it...
It turned out pretty good for a first knife,didn't get a picture of it before he went home,but we will this weekend.

I havew to pick on him though, I tried to show him the correct way to grind,but he got flustrated and finally told me to let him do it "His way" :D :D Kids don't you just love them LOL.But he did get it and told me that now he will work at doing them the way I say it should be done.He did do really great at the forge though,can't wait to see what the next looks like.

He is already building his shop in his head,so I guess the bug has bitten him :eek: That will be cool and I hope he gets as excited as I do when going to shows and symposiums.Isnt it great when you can keep a kid in the shop and out of trouble.
Bruce
 
Sounds like the bug bit bad -- and that's a good thing.

Can't wait to see the pictures. :)
 
Its a good time to share together and the show time would be fun too. My oldest son has helped design knives but lives 200 miles away. We have made a couple together and he treasures them. Once he was so broke he had to sell everything he owned to survive but he still kept the knives! There is a bond that forms when we work together that cant be easily broken.
 
Matt it sounds like you are off to a great start. If Bruce Evans or anyone wants to show you how they do it, watch and learn, it will save you sooooo much time you wouldn't beleive it. I couldn't find any knife makers local to me that forged (i wanted to forge katana's :D ), so i tried going to lots of websites and learning by myself. I finally got to go to a hammerin at TrackRock, even tho i was only there for a couple hours my head was so full of actually seeing things done and hearing better ways to do it, that i am still processing it from the first one, and i have been back several time now, and each time i learn several new things.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top