Knife #5 WIP - Wish me luck (PHOTO HEAVY)

[Erin Burke]

Because making a knife isn't quite difficult enough, I decided to add a camera to the mix... really spice things up.

Feel free to comment on how I am doing things. I'm a new guy with only four knives under my belt. Any advice would certainly be appreciated.

This knife will hopefully end up being a decent-sized fighter with a nice hamon. I am using 3/16" 1095 from Kelly Cupples. Typically my first step is to produce a sketch. Since I am currently exclusively a stock-removal guy due to restrictions in my shop space, my designs are limited to the size of bar-stock I am working with. I have some 1-1/4" bar and some 1-1/2" bar in 3/16"... for this particular knife I chose the 1-1/2" bar. So I drew up the design shown below to fit the bar stock. To make my pattern a bit more rigid I will glue it to a manila folder (w/ glue-stick) before I cut it out.

I then trace the outline on the bar-stock and start cutting out on the bandsaw. Below is a photo of my hairy-knuckles and my DeWalt portaband in action. This is a great saw and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a quality knifemaker's bandsaw that takes up minimal space. :thumbup: You will have to build a replacement table though.

The following photo shows the blade fresh off the saw.

I then head over to the grinder to clean up the profile using an 8" wheel, an 1-1/4" small wheel and an old 40-grit 977.

To be continued...

 

[Erin Burke]

Now that I have the basic profile ground I can start working on the bevels. I pretty-much start with the main bevels because that's the way I've always done it. I figure that's where I'm most likely to botch the whole knife anyway... so if I'm going to screw it up big time, I'd like to do it right away so I can start over.

The photo below shows how I mark the center-line of the blade. I paint everything up with blue Dykem then use a transfer punch to scribe the line. Seems kind of silly considering I have a nice height-gauge not 5" away , but I find the transfer punch method to work well for me. Since I am working with 3/16" steel, the 3/16" transfer punch should give me a nice center-line. I generally choose a larger punch so I can scribe two parallel lines to define the edge.

Here I am working on my main bevels. This blade will be flat ground. At this time, flat-grinding is my preference for larger blades. I don't have the confidence to hollow-grind larger blade at this time... I have a long recurve in my junk pile that still stares accusingly at me. In this photo I am working on the flat platen on my grinder with the tool-rest in place and using a push-stick. And yes... I do need to do some sit-ups.

Here is a photo of my partially-ground bevels.

To be continued...

 

[JasonSCarter]

Lookin Great So Far! :thumbup:

 

[panch0]

Looks good to me. Can't wait to see it completed.

 

[Bruce Bump]

Looks very good so far. You have some cool tools. I want a portaband like that one someday. It looks like it would do some precise cuts.

 

[Erin Burke]

Thanks Jason & Panch0.

Bruce... it's a great little saw. Seems like several of the guys around here have them. I saw Mr. Wheeler's saw in action once, and it seemed like a simple and elegant solution for limited space and budget. At the time, he had a bracket built for clamping his in a vise. I got mine from ToolKing.com for about $200.

Back to the WIP...

Well, I somehow managed to mess up the clip/false-edge. I knew I was going to have problems with it... knife #4 had a false edge and it was a PITA. I would love to hear how others are doing this. I think I was able to salvage everything, but it now looks different from the template.

This next photo shows me drilling the pin holes in the handle. I do this before tapering the tang so the holes end up square. As a side-note, I really like the clamps shown in the photo. I posted a whole THREAD on them awhile back (when I was posting under the name Hypocrite). They can be purchased at HF for super cheap, but need to be modified to work with a T-Slot table.

The photo below shows the two 1/8" pin-holes drilled along with a bunch of other holes for "epoxy pins" and weight-reduction. What can I say... once I start drilling holes I can't stop. It's therapeutic. My next step will be to taper the tang. I scribed a line near the ricasso area where I want the taper to end (it doesn't show up clearly in the photo, but the scribe is pointed at it). You can also see the modified false-edge as mentioned above.

I did not get any photos of the tang-tapering process for this knife. I did take a few when I was working on another knife however. Pay no attention to the knife... the process is the same.

First I scribe parallel lines around the edge of the handle (using, ironically enough, my height-gauge ). These lines are particularly important at the butt of the tang where they represent the minimum thickness at the bottom of the taper. I then hollow-grind down the center of both sides of the tang on my 8" wheel. I use a 150lb magnet wrapped in electrical tape to hold the blade for this process.

Below is what the tang looks like after this step.

Next I throw on my flat platen and grind out the taper. All of this work is done with a 40-grit 977.

to be continued...

 

[TekSec]

Sweet! Is that granite you have for your flat surface? Looks great so far!

 

[Erin Burke]

The photo below shows what this knife looked like after 40-grit tapering. You can still see parts of the hollow-grind on the tang, but these will end up hidden beneath the handle scales.

At this point I decide I'm ready for heat treat. This again, is a point where I didn't take many photos. I really only have the one below that shows the blade after quench. The blade was differentially heat-treated... I use satanite clay... in my kiln. Before application of clay, I ran the blade through two 1200F stress relief cycles. I applied clay, heated to 1500F (letting soak for approx. 5-minutes), and quenched into 130F Parks 50. Scrape off the remaining clay and temper in my wife's oven... two cycles of two-hours at 420F. If anyone sees where this HT recipe should be modified in the future, please let me know.

After HT, I do rough clean-up on the grinder. I take the bevels and flats to about 400-grit. Then starts the hand sanding.

At this point I would like to than Deker and Mr. Bump for saving my sanity (and also maybe my marriage ). Both of these gentlemen have mentioned Rhynowet paper in the past. For my previous knives I had been using HF papers. I thought "sandpaper is sandpaper" right?... WRONG! Upon the recommendation of Deker and Mr. Bump I decided to shell out a hundred bucks or so to get several hundred sheets of Rhynowet in various grits from 200 to 2000 from Supergrit. It showed up on my porch midway through hand-sanding this blade. All I can say is "WOW!". There is absolutely NO comparison... I now have a stack of HF paper that will never touch steel again. In fact, I may pile it up in the yard, douse it in gasoline, and dance around the fiery pyre... and possibly urinate on the flames. HF paper should be ashamed of its very existence. I did the math, and the Rhynowet from Supergrite costs about $0.46 per sheet (w/o shipping) while the HF stuff costs about $0.37 per sheet. But the Rhynowet actually works. It cuts for more the one pass. I sanded more with 1/3rd of a sheet of Rhynowet than I could sand with three sheets of HF garbage in the same grit... and had a MUCH nicer finish. Simply awesome. Deker and Bruce... if your ever in the Seattle area, I owe you some beers. Lots of beers.

The photo below shows my hand-sanding setup. The photo was taken when I was still using HF paper. I am using a 12" length of aluminum angle for a sanding stick. The blade is clamped to an African Padouk board that I have clamped in my vise. You can't see them, but I have some pieces of leather supporting the tip of the blade.

Below is what the blade looked like after a quick etch. What do you think of the hamon?... It's my first 1095 hamon.

Now I have to figure out how to build a guard.

To be continued...

 

[Erin Burke]

Sweet! Is that granite you have for your flat surface? Looks great so far!

Yeah, I picked up a couple of granite surface plates from Grizzly a while back. They are fairly cheap as long as you don't have to have them shipped. The 18"x24" one pictured weighs in at 154lbs. I have a smaller 9"x12" plate that I use for sanding flats. Granite plates were another idea that I stole from Mr. Wheeler after my one visit to his shop. :thumbup:

Erin

 

[Bruce Bump]

I wish I could take all the credit for the Rynowet paper but Deker turned me on to it. Glad you like it.

This is going to be a sweet knife! Nice explainations and pictures too.

 

[NickWheeler]

Holy crap Erin.... you're coming along like crazy dude... NICE!

I don't know how many blades I clay hardened before I came up with one worth finishing... First try for you??? You suck!

Rhynowet is fantastic paper, it works amazingly well on the 9" disk. I got to try Black Ice recently for hand sanding and it's freaking nice too. Haven't tried it on the disk yet.

Looking really good Erin... I'm hoping I'll have some spare time in September so you can come back.

And quit with that "Mr." stuff! LMAO

 

[go mike]

Dang, I can't decide whether to ask you how much of the HF sandpaper can fit in a flat rate box, or to buy some rhynowet.

 

[James_Terrio]

Dang, I can't decide whether to ask you how much of the HF sandpaper can fit in a flat rate box...

That HF stuff isn't worth the postage. Even the finer grits are full of inconsistencies that will drive you bonkers trying to get a nice smooth finish. Even the 3M automotive wet/dry stuff is a BIG step up. I will try some of that Rhynowet as soon as I can.

 

[go mike]

I sent this in an email to Erin, but I thought I'd post it here too.

The cheapest place to buy rhynowet that I've seen is 2sand.com. Erin said the sheets are about $.46 each, and 2sand has them for $.37 a sheet, with free shipping on orders over $200.

...Edited: Nick corrected me in saying that this is NOT the red line stuff.

 

[Mace]

Looks great!
Mace

 

[Erin Burke]

Holy crap Erin.... you're coming along like crazy dude... NICE!

I don't know how many blades I clay hardened before I came up with one worth finishing... First try for you??? You suck!

Dude... I compare everything I make against the precision I got to see in your shop... then I want to throw all my stuff in the garbage. I'm still digesting some of the info that I picked up there.

Looking really good Erin... I'm hoping I'll have some spare time in September so you can come back.

Let me know when... my cup is empty. I'd gotta see what tricks you've got up your sleeve for grinding clips, making guards, and I obviously need to learn a little something about leather-work. Plus, I need to take you up on the Rockwell testing. I have four knives that may or may not be heat-treated correctly.

And quit with that "Mr." stuff! LMAO

Just like to show respect to those who can do more push-ups than I can.

 

[NickWheeler]

Mike, those are Indasa products in your link, but what SuperGrit carries is Rhynowet Redline. It's Aluminum Oxide abrasive which is typically a better abrasive than SC. It's just that SC was readily made in a wet-dry form. The adhesive used with Rhynowet Redline allows super fine AO abrasive to be used in wet sanding situations.


It is also MUCH MUCH MUCH better on a 9" disk than SC paper. (Thanks Burt Foster!!!)

 

[Erin Burke]

EDIT: Thanks for clearing up the difference Nick.

 

[go mike]

Thanks for the correction Nick. I didn't realize there was a difference. I'll be on the hunt for the red line stuff now (and let people know of the cheapest source if I find one).

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Now I have to figure out how to build a guard.......



Nice job so far.

As to the guard, you should have done that "figuring out" prior to HT. The holes you will need for it should have been drilled while soft. You will have to use carbide drills, now.

The guard would be a saddle guard, with a slot cut in it to allow it to be slipped up onto the blade from the bottom side. It is pinned/riveted into place with pin material of the same metal as the guard.Usually two rivets are used.

Tip:
Make the holes in the tang at 150% the size of the rivets. This prevents the bolsters or guard from rising up as you peen the rivets.

Stacy