Made my first knife

M

Mike Reilly

Joined
Dec 17, 2014
Messages
30
So I just completed my first knife. At 51, I suppose I'm a little late getting in to making knives, but it just seemed like a fun thing to do. I learned a lot and have a lot of thoughts on how to do better on the next one.

ko9giuEl.jpg


I'd like to thank everyone here for all of their freely shared information, it's been very helpful. I'd also like to thank the metal shop teacher at the high school I teach at for allowing me access to the grinder and help heat treating. I used 1084 steel, kurouchi finish and (Honduran?) Rosewood handle, hidden tang. During the course of working on the handle, I discovered flap discs. Man I wish I knew about them when I was working on the taper on the blade! I got the handle to tip taper pretty much exactly what I wanted, but the spine to edge taper isn't what I'll do next time. It doesn't start tapering down until a half inch down and as a result it wedges a bit when cutting. The edge turned out nice and sharp, though and it's quite usable.
 
nice job! I like it. (I made my first knife in April this year at 49. Maybe they can teach old dogs new tricks!)
 
Mike,
Very nice work and looks a lot better than my first back in 97. It great that you see things to improve on the next one and that means you have been BITTEN! LOL

Make each one better than the last and you will always find things to improve.
 
Thank you both for your kind words. Enough steel is on order for about a dozen more knives of this size, although I'll experiment with other simple designs as well, since I do need a good skinner for hunting.
 
Must be a mid-life crisis hobby LOL
I'll be 50 this coming summer, and just started gathering tools and materials to try building a knife or two.
Nice work on your first, Mike
 
I did my first santoku recently and had the same wedging problem. It re-ground it after the knife was all done to fix this. It goes a little slow but it's easy enough to do (just keep the blade from overheating).

Can you explain how you did the blade finish? It looks great.
 
Mike,

Your knife looks great for a first knife or a 20th. If you go with a bright hand sanded finish on the blade it is easier to adjust the taper with sandpaper. It can be done on a belt though with care. I started a couple of years ago and I'm 49 now. It's never too late to get into the game.
 
zhyla said:
I did my first santoku recently and had the same wedging problem. It re-ground it after the knife was all done to fix this. It goes a little slow but it's easy enough to do (just keep the blade from overheating).

Can you explain how you did the blade finish? It looks great.
Click to expand...

Just leave the scale on after quenching or put food safe oil of your choice on before tempering. How hard was your santoku to regrind after it was hardened?
 
Mike,
I grind all of my knives post HT, I just profile and drill before hand. The last temper on most of the steels I use is about 400 degrees and water boils at 212? I dunk, watch for steam and then dunk again after each pass. I also developed my Finger Skins for grinding post HT. The also work great for handle sculpting,working the back of the belt with the platen out.

I've got a Christmas present for ya. PM me your address telling me if you have Medium sized fingers or super fatties and I will send you a set of finger skins.
 
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