My First Knife Build, Advice and Criticism Welcome

Tanner Frisby · Jul 12, 2011

I realize that this isn't the best knife that has ever been made, but it is special to me as it is my first. It is left hand ground, tanto edge 5160 that has been etched with Muratic acid (pool Chlorine, 31.45% HCl to water by volume) and let drip point down to dry. Micarta handle (burnt a little at the bottom, would fix this up if I were to sell it), Aluminum guard. Note: there aren't actually pins in this version, just four metal disks, as I was unable to drill through the high carbon tang. Help here would be appreciated. On the back there is a rather large "TF" symbol which I use as my logo. It is placed her and at this size because I deeply scratched it with a Dremel while working on the handle, so it is more of a recovery than an aesthetic touch. While I don't plan on selling this (as it is my first knife) I am interested in the aproximate value of it and maybe the value it could bring if it were remade to not include some of the above errors. Tips, questions, advice and criticisms are always appreciated.
Thanks,
Tanner Frisby

Edit 2: Images now fixed, thanks Kreole!

Edit: Well, I seem to have had a mishap with the images, does anybody know what I have done wrong?

ex using {} instead of [] : {IMG}http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/19/sheathedknifep.jpg/{/IMG}

Here are some indirect links then:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/19/sheathedknifep.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/88/sheathbackp.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/9/sheathfrontp.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/84/hiltandgaurdtopp.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/43/hiltandgaurdbottomp.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/803/bladetopp.jpg/

Phyx · Jul 12, 2011

None of the pictures are working, bud.

clich · Jul 12, 2011

ive never seen a knife built out of a bunch of little red x's, i dig the originality, -1 cuz i cant seem to find the cutting edge

jk man cant wait to see it, im sure it rocks

crunky · Jul 12, 2011

That grind job looks really good for a first time :thumbup:
Mind if I ask what sort of tools and equipment you used to make it?

Phyx · Jul 12, 2011

I'm diggin' the character of that micarta!

ono724 · Jul 12, 2011

Okay, it's not really my cup of tea, but I think you did a great job with it. Especially for your first knife. Every knife from here on out will just be that much better.

Tanner Frisby · Jul 12, 2011

crunky said:
That grind job looks really good for a first time :thumbup:
Mind if I ask what sort of tools and equipment you used to make it?

For the edge, I used ~$30 worth of Dremel cut of wheels. I have since bought myself an angle grinder (much easier and much faster) along with a 3" x 18" belt sander (sadly this only goes up to a common grit of 240 and a specialty grit of 600, so I will need to find/make a 2 by 72).

clich · Jul 12, 2011

sweet man, i like it just like i thought i woud. keep it up

Tanner Frisby · Jul 12, 2011

Thanks for the comments, and I am still interested in advice, problem areas you see and an appraisal.

stevomiller · Jul 12, 2011

Good first effort. If you want specific tips, tricks, design critique you should post this in the knifemakers general shop talk forum next door. Also, there are fantastic stickies in that forum, I'd recommend reading them FIRST and then asking some questions.

Best,
Steve

Siggyhk · Jul 12, 2011

Not bad. I'd like to see the front gaurd extended. Maybe add a grind on the back of the blade, perhaps sharpened.

thedmasterr · Jul 12, 2011

Nice job? What is the length/thickness of it? Looks like one tough knife! I have giant hands so the handle might be too small for me.

Tanner Frisby · Jul 12, 2011

thedmasterr said:
Nice job? What is the length/thickness of it? Looks like one tough knife! I have giant hands so the handle might be too small for me.

Something like 6 1/8" blade, ~4-5" handle and 1/4" thickness.

kreole · Jul 12, 2011

Here you go (if you quote my post, you'll be able to see what I did). Cool knife!

thedmasterr · Jul 12, 2011

Tanner Frisby said:
Something like 6 1/8" blade, ~4-5" handle and 1/4" thickness.

Nice dimensions. Have you hacked into anything yet

?

Tanner Frisby · Jul 12, 2011

Thanks very much!

I have edited my first post.

Tanner Frisby · Jul 12, 2011

thedmasterr said:
Nice dimensions. Have you hacked into anything yet ?

Yes, I had this knife HT at my community college's Black Smithing department. Today was my last class (SMAW welding, not smithing as I am taking a separate apprenticeship for that) and I had to finish this knife up to show. I also brought a watermelon for the class. I found that it was hard to cut into the watermelon because of the thick spine, however, it did the job just fine. This blade also throws the best out of all of my knives, mainly due to the weight compared to my others (about twice as heavy).
Thanks,
Tanner Frisby

Casey4545 · Jul 12, 2011

Wicked looking knife man that thing could kill about a thousand zombies! keep up the good work!

Myal · Jul 12, 2011

I suspect your problems drilling the tang would be because the knife was already heat treated when you tried to drill it .
What did you do for heat treat ? ( just curious )
Its got an interesting guard .. I personally wouldnt have put a guard on a blade of that shape , just my personal preference tho .
Its an interesting mix of concepts , a tanto bowie with a kinda bayonetish kinda guard , what do you intend for it to be used as ?

Tanner Frisby · Jul 13, 2011

Myal said:
I suspect your problems drilling the tang would be because the knife was already heat treated when you tried to drill it .
What did you do for heat treat ? ( just curious )
Its got an interesting guard .. I personally wouldnt have put a guard on a blade of that shape , just my personal preference tho .
Its an interesting mix of concepts , a tanto bowie with a kinda bayonetish kinda guard , what do you intend for it to be used as ?

The tang was not HT already. When I tried to drill the holes, I kept burning out my bits. Later I did some drilling work at the shop I work at. The drill there went slower than my drill press will go and he use a 1/3 motor oil 2/3 water mixture (do they really mix?) and had me squirt it when the bit (or maybe the metal?) started to smoke. I wasn't using this process when I tried to drill my tang, just fully speed and grit; burnt through a bunch of drill bits. My question is: is their a certain drill bit that is exceptional at drilling metal? I have since drilled through the 1080 side of a 1080/5160 billet and hit the noticeably more difficult 5160 side.

As for the HT, I took this to the Black Smithing department of my local community college and he stuck it in his forge, brought it up to orange (maybe a small tad of yellow in the orange, but mainly orange) and, upon my request, dipped the edge in quenching oil and rolled it to the tip and repeated once more and then submerged and left me to lift and lower a wire catching basket until it was cooled (to about 130 F) and then removed, wiped and sheathed. Soon after (I had to go back to welding for about 30 or 45 min though) I returned and he had a sledge hammer head sized block of steel in the forge that he pulled out (at yellow-yellow/orange) and placed on a firebrick. Then, he took my knife and moved it along the spine until he got the coverage of the lighter straw color to the edge, and then colored the tip purple, so that it wouldn't chip.