I have thanked this forum before for all of the knowledge it has given me. Now I'd like to show you what I have made so far. I have only finished 6 blades in the last 5 months due to work and a new baby, but they have been a very good learning experience. I just took some better pics of all of my work, and I will post them in order of first made to last made. As always, critique is welcomed. Its how I learned a lot of what I have done in the first place. Thanks for looking!
My first knife, 1095 with hamon, cocobolo scales. I received criticism on this one about the handle shape and pin placement. Notes taken, and hopefully improved on.
My second knife, 52100 and heat treated trying the triple quench. Its 1/4" thick, and only has a 25 degree edge on it yet will shave hair like a razor. My homemade micarta handle turned out decent, I think. Sheath turned out well too. Notice my pin placement is much better.
My third blade, 1/4" 12 1/2" long blade distal taper from guard to tip,forged 5160 w/ cocbolo handle wrapped in black leather. I think this one turned out better then expected. While forging, I thought I was never going to get this thing straight. It took a while, but I got it.
My fourth and fifth blades, AEB-L stainless, 1/8" thick. Handles are black walnut from my backyard. I took down a tree last year and decided to season some of the wood to make a rifle stock. Then I got into knifemaking and decided to make scales with it instead. I'm not sure about my heat treat. I tested them with my files and they won't scratch with the hrc 55 file, and just barely scratch with the hrc 60 file. So I didn't get them quite as hard as I wanted. But they sure did take a nice edge. I tried a couple different sheath styles. One is friction fit, and the other has a strap. First time I used 1/8" stock. Sure is a lot easier to make a blade out of.
My sixth blade, forged 52100 hunter, curly maple handles, and my first molded friction fit leather sheath. I made this one for my dad. I think he'll be happy with it . I used smaller stainless pins because I thought they looked better with the handle color and take away less from the look of the wood grain.
So here they all are. Hopefully I'm doing ok so far for an amateur.
My first knife, 1095 with hamon, cocobolo scales. I received criticism on this one about the handle shape and pin placement. Notes taken, and hopefully improved on.
My second knife, 52100 and heat treated trying the triple quench. Its 1/4" thick, and only has a 25 degree edge on it yet will shave hair like a razor. My homemade micarta handle turned out decent, I think. Sheath turned out well too. Notice my pin placement is much better.
My third blade, 1/4" 12 1/2" long blade distal taper from guard to tip,forged 5160 w/ cocbolo handle wrapped in black leather. I think this one turned out better then expected. While forging, I thought I was never going to get this thing straight. It took a while, but I got it.
My fourth and fifth blades, AEB-L stainless, 1/8" thick. Handles are black walnut from my backyard. I took down a tree last year and decided to season some of the wood to make a rifle stock. Then I got into knifemaking and decided to make scales with it instead. I'm not sure about my heat treat. I tested them with my files and they won't scratch with the hrc 55 file, and just barely scratch with the hrc 60 file. So I didn't get them quite as hard as I wanted. But they sure did take a nice edge. I tried a couple different sheath styles. One is friction fit, and the other has a strap. First time I used 1/8" stock. Sure is a lot easier to make a blade out of.
My sixth blade, forged 52100 hunter, curly maple handles, and my first molded friction fit leather sheath. I made this one for my dad. I think he'll be happy with it . I used smaller stainless pins because I thought they looked better with the handle color and take away less from the look of the wood grain.
So here they all are. Hopefully I'm doing ok so far for an amateur.
