Knife #9 Finished - First Hidden Tang

Erin Burke

Erin Burke

KnifeMaker...ish
Joined
May 19, 2003
Messages
1,330
I just finished my first hidden tang knife this week. Overall, I'm content with how it turned out; but I made a LOT of mistakes on this one that will NOT happen next time. Quite a learning experience. :D

Some Stats:
Length: 6-5/8"
Blade: Just a hair under 3" (tip to choil?)
Steel: 1/8" 1080 (from Kelly Cupples) Flat-Ground w/ hidden-tang
Handle: WSSI Gray/Black dyed Stabilized maple burl w/ 416ss pin
Guard/Ferrule?: 416ss w/ black spacer (I do hate this spacer... for many reasons, some to do with me and some to do with the spacer material itself.)

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Last year I had my first batch of maple stabilized at WSSI, and back in November I put 16 of these blocks up for sale on Knife Dogs to cover the cost of processing. All of the blocks sold but four, and these ones just seemed to linger. I figured I'd use my first hidden-tang adventure as an opportunity to use the least attractive (my opinion) of these four "un-sellable" ;) blocks (just in case I messed up). I think it worked out OK. What do you think?

Erin

Note: The featured artwork in the photos comes courtesy of my wife Angie.
 
That's a good looking knife, as I am wanting to make hidden tangs in the near future would you mind elaborating on what mistakes you made? Just for future reference incase I find myself in the same boat, lol!

Also, if that's the least pleasing block you have then I can't wait to see the other three!
 
I love the wood on that one! Good job! The artwork in the background is interesting...she does nice work, a lot of detail. I am an artist myself...wildlife in oils and acrylics mostly.
 
R.C.Reichert said:
I love the wood on that one! Good job! The artwork in the background is interesting...she does nice work, a lot of detail. I am an artist myself...wildlife in oils and acrylics mostly.
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The one in the photo is actually a encaustic collage of antique European postcards. Her day job is photography… but her new passion is pouring wax on stuff. :D
 
Wow, great knife! And I'm not entirely sure what you consider "unsellable" since that is some beautiful wood.
 
Good looking knife and the wood looks great!. I love the overall shape and design, it's a little differant but looks like it'd be very handy.:thumbup:
 
BrettA said:
That's a good looking knife, as I am wanting to make hidden tangs in the near future would you mind elaborating on what mistakes you made? Just for future reference incase I find myself in the same boat, lol!
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Brett,

Most of my mistakes involved the guard (there's probably a more appropriate term... since it doesn't really guard anything. Maybe ferrule?)/spacer/handle transition. What I did was finish out the guard/ferrule first, then tried to match the spacer and handle up to the guard/ferrule without scratching or damaging the finish on the stainless. I also tried to (ever so slightly) chamfer the area where the handle meets the spacer. This whole area doesn't flow as smoothly as I would have preferred.

If I were to do it again, this is what I'd do:
First I'd rough shape the guard/ferrule to the shape I want. Then I'd install the spacer material and handle material (maybe even using alignment pins) and shape everything nice and smooth. Then I'd remove everything, and add the grooves and final finish to the guard/ferrule. I also wouldn't use this particular black spacer material again. It just doesn't look black. It looks more like the color of a piece of black licorice where it has been broken in half... kind of a coffee brown in spots. Not what I wanted. :mad:

That's about it. Good luck with your first hidden tangs. :):thumbup:


BrettA said:
Also, if that's the least pleasing block you have then I can't wait to see the other three!
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At this point the other three are still for sale... two blue and one black/gray. This particular black/gray block had more activity at one end than the other, which is why I figured it would work our well on this knife (considering the short, three-finger handle).

Erin
 
White Rabbit said:
Wow, great knife! And I'm not entirely sure what you consider "unsellable" since that is some beautiful wood.
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"Unsellable" only refers to the fact that the blocks weren't selling. This is actually some nice maple, and WSSI does some amazing stuff to it. :thumbup: If you have any wood that you're thinking about having stabilized, I whole-heartedly recommend sending it to Mike at WSSI. :)
 
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