Looking for Feedback

S

Sgt John

Joined
Mar 24, 2013
Messages
90
I've been making knives now for a little over one year and I feel like I'm progressing in the craft. I am looking for some general feedback on a few of my latest projects. This is all in an attempt to upgrade my membership level within the next year to possibly sell one or two blades.

Here is a little about my processes-stock removal, just recently got a Coote 2x72 (previously it was files, sandpaper, and the occasional use of an HF 1x30 for profiling/handle shaping), one brick forge for heat treat (using Aldo's 1084), using steel color and magnet for hitting austenitizing temp, canola oil for quench (heated to approx. 120-130), toaster oven with additional internal thermometer to hit 400 degrees F for two 2-hour tempering cycles, finishing out blades with belts then sandpaper for hand-rubbed finish, using Devcon slow-set epoxy (will be switching to Acraglass soon) for scales and various pinstock (includes micarta, brass, nickel silver). I'll be switching to a blown propane forge with muffle once I tweak the gas/air mix for appropriate temps to heat treat (I know this could take some tweaking as I do not currently have a PID or TC yet). Maybe some tempilsticks will be on order in the near future.


Please feel free to provide some feedback on anything that you see in the photos (personal preferences, aesthetics, design flaws, etc). A few of these are users, so you may see some scuffs and other marks. I'm no photographer and these pics honestly miss a bit of detail on each knife and cast shadows, so I apologize for the quality of the photos. I'm working on that as well. Thanks for looking.

John




 
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Overall, not bad. Filework looks really nice.

Try gradually tapering the size of the filework as it gets toward the tip and the blade gets thinner. This really makes filework pop. Sort of the "Doppler effect" in steel.

The handles look a bit "blocky" on some of them. I would put the second from the top blade on the third from top handle and that would make a really nice hunter.

The front of the handles at the ricasso needs to be shaped, sanded, and buffed before assembly. They are way too square on most of those as they are. Best one is the Micarta.

The small knife looks nice. Perhaps it would look a bit better to bring the handle up a bit more on the bottom to make it in line with the blade edge.

It could be the photos, but the steel looks rather thick, and there seems to be little or no distal taper on most of those.
 
Thank you for your feedback, Stacy. I really appreciate it and will,work on all areas suggested. As far as the thickness and distal taper -- the two stock thicknesses you see are 5/32" and 1/8". As far as thickness/distal taper, it must be the photos, because the distal taper measures from .020" down to .008" on the micarta one. I know the little one is a tad thicker than I wanted it to be.

I was shaping and finishing my first six knives as you mention in your reply, but since then I have switched to what I was seeing in the exchange on a few that I felt were nice. I will go back to my original practices and give that area much more attention. Same for handle shaping. Thank you again. Your input is very important to me.
 
Thanks,
One other thing that I noticed is you are still trying to shape the knife to fit the bar of steel. Shape the steel to the shape of the knife. that will get rid of the straight back from butt to tip. A small bit of curve goes a long way to help the looks ( just ask any gal).
 
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