My First Knife WIP

Fletch Helical said:
Definitely like the looks of the second drawings better. To be honest I don't mind either one just a question if you want a single or double guard.. Personally if I had to choose on a larger knife like that I just feel the double guard looks better. If you're that undecided make both :D
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Well doing both would be nice but I only have enough steel for two if I place and them very carefully so I am not too sure if I have the skills to get them both off the same piece:o
 
Full ACL reconstruction. I had the torn meniscus scoped in the first operation to unlock the knee:D I can weight bear on it, but that's about it for the next few days.
 
Don't rush the healing on the ACL, and make sure to do the physio. If you are here in Winnipeg I would suggest Physiotherapy Works, Thats where I am going for my elbows right now. Really good staff and reasonable prices
 
So I spent the weekend sanding on the second knife and its ready to have the handle drilled, and like Fletch I noticed that my plunges are not quite equal. I spent so much time sanding and rounding that I am going to leave them as they are though. I will take pictures and post them tomorrow. All thats left before heat treating is to clean up any marks left from drilling so I will be one day behind my goal of sending them out on the 15th. I will be ordering the final pieces to finish them up at the same time so now its on to the new designs till the new year as I think that I wont see them back till then. I will be going with a kydex sheath for one and leather for the other.
As for the flaws in the first 2, I am chalking them up as learning experiences on what to watch for and what not to do.
 
unky_gumbi said:
So I spent the weekend sanding on the second knife and its ready to have the handle drilled, and like Fletch I noticed that my plunges are not quite equal.
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I'm sure there is a fix for this.... How easy it is to do however is another story I'm sure.
 
For mine it would be break out the files and start moving it back to match the other side easy enough but I am going to let it pass this time. Next ones are going to have to be perfect so it means paying closer attention to the lay out and to constently check my progress as I go. I may be able t round things out to better match the bolsters when the get back. They look great if you only look at one side at a time :p
 
I think if you look at them this way, the double guard makes the most sense with the handle design.

To me, the single guard favours a handle that would not flare out as I think the natural "flow" would be to a straight back of the handle or one that drops from the plane of the spine (sorry no photoshop to show what I mean.) The symmetry of the handle is broken by the guard and makes for a clunky transition to the blade.

In the other case, the double guard suits the symmetry of the handle and the the break between the guard and blade is a much more natural transition.
I think if you look at other dog-bone bowies, you'll see that mostly the guard is symmetrical.

Just my $.02 but the left one looks like a tine is chopped off. The eye wants it there to preserve the overall symmetry.

bowie_1_rev02a_02.JPG
bowie_1_rev02jpg_02.JPG
 
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So just a little update here, I have both ready for heat treating

firstknives.jpg

I know it looks like some bad scratches but it isnt, I cant locate the charger for my camaera so I scanned the blades and this is how they came out

here is the next project for me, the blanks for the what I am calling bowies.

nextknives.jpg


I will be working on profiling them tomorrow afternoon, as I have a couple of bike wheels to build for a friend

I have 2 of thesee pieces of scrap left over and as soon as I looked at them I saw the image I drew on this one so that may get thrown into the mix too.

scrappiece.jpg


Total legnth of the scrap pieces is 6" and 7/8" at the thickest part, cutting edge would be 2 1/2" from choil to tip
 
OK first 2 are off for heat treating now, so the next thing will be figuring out sheaths. I had originally though Kydex, but the closer I get to a finnished knife I feel that leather would suit the knife better. The only thing is what weight should I go with? I want tough, yet still light and attractive, any suggestion?
 
I use 8/9 oz. leather for the majority of my sheaths, but for a smaller knife, I sometimes use 6/7 oz. with a 8/9 oz. welt. I find the 6/7 will still hold up shape pretty well. In my opinion, anything thinner than that, and you loose some of the sheath rigidity/ability to hold shape.

--nathan
 
SBranson said:
I think if you look at them this way, the double guard makes the most sense with the handle design.

To me, the single guard favours a handle that would not flare out as I think the natural "flow" would be to a straight back of the handle or one that drops from the plane of the spine (sorry no photoshop to show what I mean.) The symmetry of the handle is broken by the guard and makes for a clunky transition to the blade.

In the other case, the double guard suits the symmetry of the handle and the the break between the guard and blade is a much more natural transition.
I think if you look at other dog-bone bowies, you'll see that mostly the guard is symmetrical.

Just my $.02 but the left one looks like a tine is chopped off. The eye wants it there to preserve the overall symmetry.

bowie_1_rev02a_02.JPG
bowie_1_rev02jpg_02.JPG
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To be honest, I like the single guard much better. I find the double guard to be rather distracting on this knife, almost too much for the eye.
 
So while I wait for the first two to come back and I tinker with the bowies, I decided that maybe I should come up with a makers mark. I really like the electro etching and the ability to get constent and aligned marks. I just have to figure out what I want on it. This is what I have come up with so far
_SGM_logo.jpg

Only thing is I think that the handmade in Canada wont be readable once it is shrunk down to fit a knife. I also know that it looks unbalanced but things are even its justthe capital letters draw the eye to one side.

I am proud to be a Canadian and that my knives are handmade and want that to be refected in my mark. Any suggestions are welcome, just because I am proud to be Canadian doesn't mean I don't like anyone else. I think everyone shouldbe proud of thier country
 
Great looking work sofar!

A word of friendly advice from a fellow proud Canadian and hobbyist maker..... the horse goes before the cart.

Finish out those blades, put handles on em, then worry about the sheaths. If you are still happy, worry about getting a proper makers mark.

I think the mark looks good btw. A little lopsided to the left as you stated.
 
Sparljo said:
Great looking work sofar!

A word of friendly advice from a fellow proud Canadian and hobbyist maker..... the horse goes before the cart.

Finish out those blades, put handles on em, then worry about the sheaths. If you are still happy, worry about getting a proper makers mark.

I think the mark looks good btw. A little lopsided to the left as you stated.
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Not to far from finishing the first two, just waiting for them to come back from HT, I am hoping to get them back by the 15th. Handle material is cut out and waiting for the blades to come back so they came be drilled and attached. The bowies designs are near completion too, and the handles for them arebeing cut out this weekend. So I have a bit of free time to get ome other things in motion. Joys of having no family near me I have had plenty of time on my hands over the holidays, on Christmas day I sanded the first bowie too 400 grit, and on boxing day I filed one bevel on the second bowie. I should have the second bevel done tonight early tomorrow, and have the weekend to sand it down.

As for the mark it is perfectly even its just the capital letters drawing the eye over. I may drop the capitals and go all lower case and replace the "handmade in canada" with just a simple maple leaf.
 
It's just my opinion, but I think it's best to go with a simple and clean mark that is easy to read.

Wanting to have "handmade, and a city, state, country," and all of that stuff is understandable but I think it's more important to do the very best work you can and let the work build your name. Then your name can stand alone on the knife and say all that it needs to. :)

But that's just me :)
 
I love winter time in the bike shop:)
 
NickWheeler said:
It's just my opinion, but I think it's best to go with a simple and clean mark that is easy to read.

Wanting to have "handmade, and a city, state, country," and all of that stuff is understandable but I think it's more important to do the very best work you can and let the work build your name. Then your name can stand alone on the knife and say all that it needs to. :)

But that's just me :)
Click to expand...

here is as simple as I have gotten yet still saying the knives are canadian made



logo.jpg


I am going to play around with the font a bit more to streamline it even more and still look attractive to me.
 
Lorien said:
I love winter time in the bike shop:)
Click to expand...

I hate it, believe it or not I like the busy season with the 12-16+ hour days. there is so much work to be done that the time flys by. In the winter you can only build so many Norco Pinacles, Giant Boulders, and Trek 3700s before you start to go bonkers. Yeah we get some nice bikes in too, but the bread and butter bikes out number then about 5 to 1:grumpy:

Nice avitar pic, make me miss living in Eastern Ontario, atleast there I could run out to Tremblant and Bromont and the occasional run over to Whiteface mountain, all I have here are skate parks and dirt jumps. No white knuckle DH runs to get the rush on:mad:
 
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