Knife?

D

Dav

Joined
Mar 19, 2000
Messages
94
Finished first knife (and that's a stretch) tonight in time to give to my 5 year old as a Birthday present. I don't have the capability of takng a picture at this time so it will be a while before I can post a pic.

I am both embarrassed and elated at the same time! I used 1/8 strap steel (pedigree unknown) hollow ground (started as a flat grind) 3 and 3/8's blade with OAL at 7 inches. Brass pinned (drilled crooked) with 1/4 inch tube (also drilled off square) as loop hole with 6 inches of paracord in a loop as a lanyard. Scales are a piece of white birch I had laying around in the shop sanded to a 400 grit finish, waxed (car wax) and loose buffed. Backstrap was torched and chased the straw to the edge. Not a strong knife (good letter opener maybe) and the blade is so full of faults that I can barely stand to have it in my vicinity.

Engraved (Vibro-Etched) to my son on his 5th birthday. I know that we'll both gain more experience along the Path...I hope that he wants to travel part of it with me.

Just an old mans' ramblings...

All the Best

Dileas Gu Brath
 
Dileas
anything you make for a youngster
is a posative thing it make a bond
between you and your 5 year old
no matter what it looks like
it will be beatiful to your child
no reason to hang your head,it will
be engraved in your childs mind
that his father made that just for
him,he will have that to look back
on and remember the day that his father gave it to him.
blessings Nathan
 
After you get so good that even Tom Mayo thinks your fighters have cleaner lines than his you'll still find that first knife as your best! My first ( and I can count the ones I have finished on one hand) I spent a year working on it, of and on. I cracked the handle getting over ambitious with my peening, the pins on the bolsters are quite visible, I messed up the ricasso and to the unaided eye my fix looks cool but close up even non-knife nuts could tell it is funny, the handle is too thick, and so on and so on. It is a dropped point hunter and is the most beautiful knife I have ever seen because I made it. I see all those faults but I know that knife will still be prettier than the ones I'll be making in 5 years, at least in my eyes. And your son will probably cherish that knife and may grow up and make 'em too! Very cool if I may say so.
 
That's funny about the first knife Crayola, not your story, just that I was looking at my first two knives tonight (dug them out of a drawer) and had a good laugh at my own expense.

I too think that you will cherish that first knife and want to hold onto it, but in my case, it's mostly as a marker to see how far I have come, and trust me, there is a long way to go.

My first knife was a flat-ground dagger with a somewhat fancy guard and a fluted koa handle. Not exactly the best choice for a beginning 14 year-old, but it got me started. And I made it with a cheap bench grinder and files, so if nothing else it taught me patience.

I ought to do a replica of it and post a picture of the two together, just for kicks.

Best of luck to you all,
Nick

[This message has been edited by NickWheeler (edited 06-01-2000).]
 
There is nothing quite like that first knife, eh. I quite proudly gave my first knife to my Dad for father's day and he quite proudly carries it and shows it to anyone who will listen about his son, the knifemaker. That's something I wouldn't trade for all the surface grinders in the world.

------------------
President of Knifemakers Anonymous - "The sickness can be cured!" Call 1-800-cutfingers
 
Dav, the only opinion that matters, your son's, will think that is the most beautiful knife he has ever seen. Years from now, when he looks at it and remembers that it was your first, it will still be the most beautiful knife you ever made. That's really special

Congratulations.

------------------
Jerry Hossom
www.hossom.com
 
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