Knife so far....any recommendations?

[Justin Presson]

Here is what I have so far. Before I go any further just want some opinions and have a few questions. Here is what I'm working with. 1080+ steel .132 thick, file jig and all hand work I do not have a belt sander or nothing. I like the looks of this grind but want to know if it is better to go full flat? Also I do not have a caliper so using a dime to gauge my edge and it is just o'er a dime width. Is it better to be over or under a dime thickness or right at it? Thanks in advance

 

[John Katt]

looks awesome

keep the grind lines as clean and crisp as you can

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Looks good. A dime is between .06" and .05". That is too thick before HT unless you have a grinder. I would keep filing until the edge is about 3/4 a dimes width ( .04"), and then switch to hand sanding. Wrap the paper around a block of hard wood or steel bar. Start at 120 grit and sand till all scratches are gone. Repeat at 220 and again at 4400 grit. The blade edge should now be about 1/2 a dimes thickness ( .025-.030"). It will be ready for HT then. The grind will creep up a bit during this time, and will be nearer the spine. After HT you will sand again starting at 120 grit, and continue to at least 400 ( you can go as high as you wish). This will further reduce the edge thickness and raise the grind height. It may even get up to the spine. When done with the finish sanding the edge should be about as thin as a business card. At this point, wrap the blade with tape and assemble the handle. Once the handle is done, all that is left to do is sharpen the edge.

 

[Fletch Helical]

Looks great one thing to remember is to drill then handle out for pins, corbys, weight reductions, etc BEFORE the HT. One minor suggestions would be that the butt looks a bit big but that's just my opinion. Remember when you put the scales on it everything is going to be "fatter" in your hand. Get some play dough at some point while you're still in the filing phase and mold it around the handle to get a feel of how it might feel with scales on it. Assuming you're going that way and not wrapping it.

 

[Justin Presson]

Thanks for all the advice I really appreciate it. Looks like I have some more work to do. I'm going to do the playdough thing to. Here is another pic for reference of size.

 

[tryppyr]

Don't forget to drill some holes in the tang before heat treating it.

 

[Justin Presson]

I definitely need to get my holes drilled. Going to use Corby bolts just need to order them and figure out size to drill pre heat treat.