I just finished my first knife yesterday evening. It's not on the level of you professional knife makers I know, but I'm not a pro and put allot of work into it and am mighty proud of it. I took many pictures all along the way and you can see those here in my google drive, but the end result is below.
I originally started out with A2 steel but having no experience with my new grinder it didn't end up so well and my first two knives never made it past the grinding out the bevels stage. Those two were quickly scrapped. I was going to start a third in A2, but I learned that to get it heat treated it was going to take at a minimum 2-3 weeks and cost the same as if I was getting 15 done. I then switched to 1084 so I could heat treat it myself. Made up a 4 brick forge and off I went to making my third knife that ended up being my first COMPLETED knife, this knife.
The 2 type's of wood I used in the handle has some sentimental value and is from my family land in Seminole Oklahoma. The red stuff is cedar and comes from a leftover piece that me and my son cut down 2 years ago and left ageing in the top of my garage. The rest of it was used to make a native american flute last year. The brownish colored stuff I have no idea what it is. There is a bit of a story behind it. Our Seminole land is where myself and my other family members all meet up for and deer hunt on. On this land there is a huge Bodark tree with one limb that grows perfectly horizontal and is about as big around as a mans waist. We call it the hanging tree cause that limb is where everyone hangs their deer after field dressing to age a couple days before we skin it out. My family has been hanging deer off that huge limb for about 60 years. Anyways, there used to be big tree beside that one and no one can remember what kind of tree it was cause it fell down about 10 years ago and has been laying over into the hanging tree. This deer season we finally cut it all out and I salvaged a couple big logs from it. One of those logs is the other part of the handle. I like to think that tree was feed from the fallen blood of about a hundred or so deer. Not serious.
The darker colored wood had tiny cracks in it when I first started that I thought would be ok. Those cracks got bigger and bigger the more I filed and sanded and i tried sealing them up with superglue but that didn't work so well. I then dremeled them out fully, so they wouldn't crack more later and filled with some West System epoxy that I died black. That worked perfectly though it looks not as good as I envisioned it would.
The guard I tried forging from a piece of 1084 at first but after three tries on three different pieces i couldn't seem to get it to fit nice and tight. I then went to a piece of Nickel/Silver and hand filled out the tang slot and it worked much better. In the future I need better files rather than the cheap diamond coated jewelers files I bought just for this. With better files and more patience on this step it should end up allot better next time.
I showed my youngest son (13) this knife after completing it and he thought it was awesome and begged for it so it is going to find it's way into his stocking tonight. I put his initials on the sheath and they look pretty rough. If I had a swivel knife those initials, would have looked allot better. I think with a bit more practice the leather sheaths in the future will be allot better.
I put a 20 degree edge on it with one of those Lansky systems and then finished it on a 4000 King water stone. This knife slices through sheets of paper like they aren't even there and easily shaves. I even beat it through about half a pine 2x4. No edge rolling or chipping on the edge. Thats good enough for a 13 year old and I think will hold up for skinning deer quiet nicely.
I welcome constructive feedback. Thank you.
I originally started out with A2 steel but having no experience with my new grinder it didn't end up so well and my first two knives never made it past the grinding out the bevels stage. Those two were quickly scrapped. I was going to start a third in A2, but I learned that to get it heat treated it was going to take at a minimum 2-3 weeks and cost the same as if I was getting 15 done. I then switched to 1084 so I could heat treat it myself. Made up a 4 brick forge and off I went to making my third knife that ended up being my first COMPLETED knife, this knife.
The 2 type's of wood I used in the handle has some sentimental value and is from my family land in Seminole Oklahoma. The red stuff is cedar and comes from a leftover piece that me and my son cut down 2 years ago and left ageing in the top of my garage. The rest of it was used to make a native american flute last year. The brownish colored stuff I have no idea what it is. There is a bit of a story behind it. Our Seminole land is where myself and my other family members all meet up for and deer hunt on. On this land there is a huge Bodark tree with one limb that grows perfectly horizontal and is about as big around as a mans waist. We call it the hanging tree cause that limb is where everyone hangs their deer after field dressing to age a couple days before we skin it out. My family has been hanging deer off that huge limb for about 60 years. Anyways, there used to be big tree beside that one and no one can remember what kind of tree it was cause it fell down about 10 years ago and has been laying over into the hanging tree. This deer season we finally cut it all out and I salvaged a couple big logs from it. One of those logs is the other part of the handle. I like to think that tree was feed from the fallen blood of about a hundred or so deer. Not serious.
The darker colored wood had tiny cracks in it when I first started that I thought would be ok. Those cracks got bigger and bigger the more I filed and sanded and i tried sealing them up with superglue but that didn't work so well. I then dremeled them out fully, so they wouldn't crack more later and filled with some West System epoxy that I died black. That worked perfectly though it looks not as good as I envisioned it would.
The guard I tried forging from a piece of 1084 at first but after three tries on three different pieces i couldn't seem to get it to fit nice and tight. I then went to a piece of Nickel/Silver and hand filled out the tang slot and it worked much better. In the future I need better files rather than the cheap diamond coated jewelers files I bought just for this. With better files and more patience on this step it should end up allot better next time.
I showed my youngest son (13) this knife after completing it and he thought it was awesome and begged for it so it is going to find it's way into his stocking tonight. I put his initials on the sheath and they look pretty rough. If I had a swivel knife those initials, would have looked allot better. I think with a bit more practice the leather sheaths in the future will be allot better.
I put a 20 degree edge on it with one of those Lansky systems and then finished it on a 4000 King water stone. This knife slices through sheets of paper like they aren't even there and easily shaves. I even beat it through about half a pine 2x4. No edge rolling or chipping on the edge. Thats good enough for a 13 year old and I think will hold up for skinning deer quiet nicely.
I welcome constructive feedback. Thank you.
