My First Knife WIP

U

unky_gumbi

Joined
Aug 28, 2009
Messages
7,951
I will be starting my first knife tomorrow, I have been gathering parts and getting things to gether for that last few weeks and the time has come to start. I will be using 5160 steel and stock removal with a hacksaw and files.
I have gone through a few design mods and with the guidance of the members here I think that I have one that will work

Design #1
knife.jpg

It was a start and after some suggestions I moved to
Design #2
knife_3D_R1.jpg

I stayed with this for a bit and actually did a test run on some mystery steel and once I got it in hand I knew that there was something not quite right. I wasn't till I bought a cheap knife that I figured it out and incorperated some of the aspects of the cheap knife into this the
Final Design
tempplate_2.jpg


While I was working on my design I also worked with a friend to come up with a file jig to help me keep my bevels constent
DSC00661.jpg

I know that there are some issues with the jig and that I must keep a constent eye on the bevel while working it to try and keep the distance between the file and the guide bar constant to maintain a good bevel.

Well thats it for tonight, hopefully tomorrow I will have pictures of the cut out blanks and a few of the start of the filing, but if not tomorrow something will be up come thursday night/friday morning
 
Personally I'd go with design #1, but lose the guard. I think it interrupts the nessmuk-like flow you have going on. Furthermore it will be easier to profile the blade, plus fit and finish will be simpler. If you are set on the third design, I would do something else with the guard. Widen it, move it forward so it's under the ricasso, and square the side facing the blade. Those are just my aesthetic observations.

Welcome to the obsession.
 
Its a bit to late for major changes now, I cut out 2 blanks tonight and filed one of them down to the working profile.

DSC00889.jpg

The tip is not rounded its just lost some of the scale and blends in with the background. I made a few changes while filing the profile to get it to feel natural in the hand


DSC00909.jpg

DSC00907.jpg

DSC00906.jpg


I have 2 distinct grips on the knife one for brute work and one for detail
DSC00905.jpg

DSC00904.jpg

DSC00910.jpg


And yes I got a couple of blisters, next time I will cut closer to the finished profile, and hopefully I will have a belt grinder by then.

Tomorrow night I will be starting the bevel cut, starting with the plunge cut.
 
The one mistake that I did make is I picked a bit too thick of steel for the design, I went with 13/64 right around the 6mm mark I think 5/32 or 4mm would have suited it better

Live and learn
 
I made a lot of hunters out of 5/32" material. It was my thickness of choice for most. However, I did have a 2 X 72 great grinder. Frank
 
So I got the bulk of the filing done tonight, took a while but I think its going to be worth it in the long run.

DSC00917.jpg

DSC00915.jpg


I got the blank clamped up in the jig, took a little while to make sure that I had things set up for flipping the blade over in the mirror image to do the other side, and started filing.

Here is the end result of 3 hours working the file

DSC00918.jpg

DSC00921.jpg


You can see a bit of a scratch I keep getting. I would almost have it gone and them make another one. It was stroke clean work area and file and stroke, but the darn thing kept coming back:mad: I have about .5mm to go on each side be fore the filing is done and its time to move over to sanding, so I hope to work it out before then.

Heres a closer look and the scratch, any suggestions on beating it would be great, the other choice is to switch to sanding now and juat do more of it.

DSC00922.jpg


Thanks for looking
 
You'll have to remove the mill scale from the flats anyway, and it will likely come out then.

Great job on the filing!

--nathan
 
Nice work. You want to switch to sandpaper before you get to where you want to be. Pieces of metal can get stuck in the file and put deep scratches in.
 
Yes, I know that the scratches are caused by metal getting cought in the file but even with cleaning both the file and work area between strokes I still get them, usually just before thethe previous one it worked out. I am judging that it will take .5-.75mm to get to my HT finish so thats why I say .5mm per side till the end of filing. Then it over to sandpaper and sanding blocks. I am giving myself another 2 weeks to get the HT finish then out it goes to Knifemaker.ca to be treated.
Once it gets back its on to the polishing and fitting/shaping the handle. I am still unsure what I am going to do for the handle, either some of the redwood burl I got here, or I may try making some denim mycarta. It all depends on how nice a finish I am able to get.
 
Well I switched to sanding tonight, fogot the camera at home so any pictures I take will be with my cell phone. Not the greatest pictures but the will do.

091127_190643.jpg


091127_190716.jpg


091127_190734.jpg



The scratches in near the plunge cut are a bear to get rid of, my sanding block will only go in the same direction as the scratches so I may find myself going back over that area many times. Something that has occurred to me as I have been sanding, do I really need to bring the handle area to the same level as the blade or is just get rid of the scale?
Oh well back to sanding, should have the images up around 10pm central time if anyone is interested
 
Last edited:
So back again after another day of sanding. Things are starting to look the way I want them. I will say that no one will ever make money making a knife by hand.
I made it to 320 grit today and the sanding seems to get faster with each step.

these pictures were taken at 240 grit
DSC00925.jpg


DSC00926.jpg


DSC00927.jpg


And just for the heck of it, here's me sanding away.
DSC00929.jpg

I am using my knee to support the blade while sanding, and yes I am at my place of work doing this, more room and better light. I am switching my sanding direction 90 degrees with each grit and sanding till I can see no scratches from the previous grit. I am also using an old file and a piece of scrap steel as sanding blocks. I am planning on taking tomorrow off and starting back at it on Monday. I have another knife to file down and I need to get my holes marked out and drilled. If everything goes as planned I should be sending both out to be heat treated by December 14th or 15th

George
 
That looks good so far.

You might like to get a small chainsaw file into that V-cut out choil and round it out a bit more or it can be the starting point for a crack.

It looks like you work in a bike shop...I had to do a double take, another maker here did a similar WIP and owns a bike shop in BC....(lorien?)
 
12345678910 said:
That looks good so far.

You might like to get a small chainsaw file into that V-cut out choil and round it out a bit more or it can be the starting point for a crack.

It looks like you work in a bike shop...I had to do a double take, another maker here did a similar WIP and owns a bike shop in BC....(lorien?)
Click to expand...

I am slowly working the choil to a rounder shape, and yes I work at a bike shop, I do the majority of the repairs and builds. We are the biggest shop in the city for sales and service. I don't do sales just repairs and set my own hours, so its a good life for me.
 
Ao the sanding didn't take as much material off as I thought it would, so I stepped back and started the sanding all over today. I thought that I would loos 1.2 a mm per side to get to my heat treating finish, well it I only lost 1/2 mm total, so in my noobie estimations starting it all over again I will get the other 1/2 mm. I talso allows me to go back and get some of the other things I missed, like the tip ended up thicker then the rest of the edge so I am putting more time into that area. I am thinking that a 600 grit finish for heat treating, then step back a couple of grits and bring it up to a polished finish after it comes back from heat treating. Any thoughts on theis plan?
 
So I prety much have blade number 1 ready to send to the heat treater, just have to drill some holes
Heres what I am thinking of
pins.jpg

Blade number 2 will be a mirror opposite of the first handle wise. I stumbled on some maple to use as scales and I will switch the pins and bolster out for stainless steel
Any thoughts on pin placement and size would be appreciated
 
Since 5160 is an oil hardening steel I would not go any finer than you are now.When it comes back from H/T you will have a decarb layer and some scale to remove.600 rit is just a waste of time IMHO.If it were Stainless you could go to 600 no problem.
Looking great so far.
Stan
 
SBuzek said:
Since 5160 is an oil hardening steel I would not go any finer than you are now.When it comes back from H/T you will have a decarb layer and some scale to remove.600 rit is just a waste of time IMHO.If it were Stainless you could go to 600 no problem.
Looking great so far.
Stan
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input, the reasoning behind going to 600 grit was to get an idea of how much further I would need to go to get to a mirror finish and nothing more. I have another blank to do before sending things out for heat treating so I was just doing a bit of experimenting on the first one.
I just need to finish up the sanding on the edges and do some drilling and the first is ready to go, second one should go much faster, goal is to have both ready to head out in 2 weeks, may have to take a little break because of the hollidays, I am sure Rob's (KNifemaker.ca) plate will be quite full at the time.
 
You can get a pretty good mirror finish at 1500 to 2000 grit,but if you do as well at 600 as you have so far the finer grits go a lot faster.The hard part is 220-400 grit after that it goes pretty quick.
Stan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top