My first full on fail

Kevin McGovern

Kevin McGovern

Joined
Jul 31, 2015
Messages
3,118
I've made maybe forty knives at this point. I had some rough mistakes early on especially, but I finally pulled a full on deal breaker. This is one of six for a customer who happens to be my wife's cousin. I put one of the tang holes too close to the edge for me to be reworking the profile this late in the process, and I ground through. Well, I've been wanting one of these drop point hunters for myself since I've made about 16 of them. So bright side is I get to keep this one...

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Congrats!

I have blemish knives in my shop and kitchen cupboard. If the blade is good, cosmetic blemishes are fine for personal use.
 
Shop knife:), I've made myself a whole set ...unintentionally. Don't know how I got along without them.
 
From personal experience I try to turn lemons into lemonade. If you can't then scrap it. Some cool knives and designs have been made from screw-ups.
 
Soooo... you finally made the 'ol "epoxy showing through your handle cuz you ground it too close" mistake. Welcome to the club!

Shop knife. Stinks when you have time and materials sunk into a project, but it is the best learning opportunity and I'll bet you never repeat that mistake.

One thing I am wondering is why are you grinding the tang to final shape after the handles are glued. I only ever do a little finish sanding, but the final shape is done by then. Certainly not roughing out the profile when it is glued. Just curious...
 
Fail? FAIL? I don't see a failure. I see jimping and filework which should raise the price by $50.

- Paul Meske, Chippewa Falls, WI
 
TRfromMT said:
Soooo... you finally made the 'ol "epoxy showing through your handle cuz you ground it too close" mistake. Welcome to the club!

Shop knife. Stinks when you have time and materials sunk into a project, but it is the best learning opportunity and I'll bet you never repeat that mistake.

One thing I am wondering is why are you grinding the tang to final shape after the handles are glued. I only ever do a little finish sanding, but the final shape is done by then. Certainly not roughing out the profile when it is glued. Just curious...
Click to expand...
Several things converged to create the situation. It is not sop for me.
 
i have a pile of fails, and i have only made 176 knives lol. you are doing well ! i would just grind a wide swoop behind the finger curve until the mistake has disappeared and blend it in. here is a quick sketch of how i would approach it.
 
john april said:
i have a pile of fails, and i have only made 176 knives lol. you are doing well ! i would just grind a wide swoop behind the finger curve until the mistake has disappeared and blend it in. here is a quick sketch of how i would approach it.
Click to expand...

Yes I considered that, and I may well do that. Unfortunately, this is for an order of 6 knives, so I will have to start from ground zero on replacing it.
 
I had an order for 6 steak knives, and was going through some family stuff at the time. I ended up making 13 to get 6 matching knives. Shit happens sometimes. :grumpy:
 
man, I don't know what you guys are talking about? i've never made one mistake yet. thought i had once... but i was mistaken of course :D
 
Whoa!

No reshaping after glue up!

that is a real shame
 
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