Intro and first knife.

G

gammarad

Joined
Jun 15, 2015
Messages
74
Hi all.
My name is Alejandro, and I've been reading the forum for a couple of months. I found lot's of info that helped me enormously, and even more that I have yet to process. I have always loved knives, but only recently started thinking about the possibility of making them. I am simultaneously in love and overwhelmed by the miriad of different skills required for this craft.

Here's my first knife. I have to say that I found many problems along the way, and made many mistakes. I had to force myself to finish the piece, fighting the constant urgency to redo. But I'm glad I did, as each step of the process has it's own set of difficulties.

Some details on the knife:
The blade is 1095 (I had the steel before reading the recommendations on using 1084). It was water quenched, and that was a challenge on it's own. I completely understand the recommendation to use a fast oil, instead.
The handle is a cotton/linen composite in epoxy. I'm quite proud of the 45% cloth/resin ratio I was able to get with no dry spots or delamination. Originally I intended to use multiple brass rivets, but with a lot of complications piling up, I decided at the last minute to use a single tube rivet and epoxy.
The etching was done by applying a resist to the whole blade, laser etching the paint, and finally electrolitic oxidaton.

I would love any input. My apologies for the bad photo, I'll try tomorrow with natural light and better equipment.

Regards,
Alejandro.

PD: apparently I cannot post attachments :( How do I upload a picture?
 
Here it goes.
IMG_20150715_230639_zpszxubld8q.jpg
 
Not bad at all for your first knife. Observations based on this one pic are that it looks like you have some sharp angles on the handle that need rounding off. The lanyard tube is too close to the butt. I would put a pin or corby bolt in the front of the handle along with the lanyard tube. Overall it looks pretty good.
 
Welcome to Shop talk.

The above comments all apply. Also, avoid all thin projections at the front of the handle. They will break off in use.

The etching is interesting, but I don't think it adds to the knife.

No matter how strong you think the epoxy bond is, it will fail eventually. You need at least two points of strength ( rivets, pins, bolts, tubes) to hold the handle on.
 
Thanks for your feedback, guys!
@Matt, I agree on the lanyard hole being too far back, but I wonder if you meant that by aesthetic or structural reasons (or both). On the rounding of the scales, I guess I was just being too cautios trying not to remove too much, and now in retrospective I could have gone much further.

@Stacy, my original idea was for the etching to be much smaller as a marc, but I had some issues getting the resist good enough to show small details. I enlarged the drawing to show the details, but after seeing it, I also had the feeling that it was out of place with the rest of the knife.
 
gammarad said:
Thanks for your feedback, guys!
@Matt, I agree on the lanyard hole being too far back, but I wonder if you meant that by aesthetic or structural reasons (or both). On the rounding of the scales, I guess I was just being too cautios trying not to remove too much, and now in retrospective I could have gone much further.

@Stacy, my original idea was for the etching to be much smaller as a marc, but I had some issues getting the resist good enough to show small details. I enlarged the drawing to show the details, but after seeing it, I also had the feeling that it was out of place with the rest of the knife.
Click to expand...

The tube being too far back is back structurally and aesthetically. The thin area at the butt can break off and it looks better moved up. I try and make things as symmetrical as possible. If the front pin is 3/4 from the front then the rear pin 3/4 from the back. Try drawing the knife to scale exactly like you want it then transfer it to steel.
 
Also, finish all your sanding/ buffing on the blade first. Then finish all the sanding/ buffing on the forward edge of your handle material before glue-up. Trying to finish that area after the parts are glued will result in the blade finish being disturbed. If you finish the front of the handle before the parts come together then all you need to do after assembly is clean up the glue before it dries. All in all I'd say that's a fine effort for a first knife.
 
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