My First Knife

J

Joshua J.

Joined
Feb 27, 2005
Messages
3,986
Nothing fancy, more a proof of concept than anything, I didn't even polish the blade after heat treat. It does fit my hand very nicely though, and should spread mayonnaise like a champ.
Hopefully this will be the first of many.









 
The handle is just some diamondwood, layered and stabilised stuff (really fancy plywood?). It's much cheaper than G-10 while still looking good.
 
Judging by the size of that thing you must really like mayonnaise! Good job!
 
That is a bad ass cleaver design. I like it. Nice job. I just finished my first knife too. Do U have a belt grinder? I did mine with hand files, and it took me forever to finish. I never want to do that much filing ever again (my knife is 17 1/2" long). How did you do your HT? I built a Riel Burner and got some fire bricks. I was surprised at how easy the burner is to make and at how well it worked.
 
Nice looking knife! I like the lines and general aesthetic. How does it feel in the hand? Looks like it would be a bit handle heavy.
 
TheBreeze495 said:
That is a bad ass cleaver design. I like it. Nice job. I just finished my first knife too. Do U have a belt grinder? I did mine with hand files, and it took me forever to finish. I never want to do that much filing ever again (my knife is 17 1/2" long). How did you do your HT? I built a Riel Burner and got some fire bricks. I was surprised at how easy the burner is to make and at how well it worked.
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I recommend a belt sander with at least a 1HP motor. I modified knives with a small $50 sander for years, putting the price of a few high end folders toward a good grinder is probably one of the first things you should do. Actually the sander I have now is still a bit of a waste of time since it's 6x48" and not the industry standard 2x72" (which is the format for all your most abrasive grits). At least it doesn't stall when you look at it.
People in the knifemaker's section could probably point out a few models that would be good to start out with.

For HT I bought a small 120V kiln (Evenheat KH418) with portability and ease of use in mind, also knowing that it will probably end up being used as a tempering oven once I have space/budget for something more powerful.
Unfortunately with this project I (re)discovered that it heats up very slowly (I did read reviews). My original plan had been to try some Rex121 and 15V, but HT specs usually say "heat rapidly" to Austinitization temperature, and soak times are usually less than ten minutes. Getting up to 2200F with this kiln takes hours. Thankfully D-2 and similar alloys don't see significant grain growth below 1985F (or so I read, IIRC it's the Vanadium and Tungsten content that restricts grain growth), so those will be my mainstay steel types for the time being.


DoctaD said:
Nice looking knife! I like the lines and general aesthetic. How does it feel in the hand? Looks like it would be a bit handle heavy.
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It balances on the index finger, but yes, if I give it a distal taper it would probably be handle heavy.
After doing some cutting I've decided that this would make a better EDC blade than kitchen knife, the handle is angled wrong for cutting on a flat surface and you can't really hold it in a hammer grip (your index finger has nothing to squeeze). The premiss of this knife was to get a 5" blade out of a 9" bar, and it does that pretty well, it just needs a few tweaks. I may re-do the design in thinner stock and with a wider bar, but right now I have some pieces of CPM 3V and 154 that need a little TLC.
 
I really like that. Set up a nice leather belt sheath and that's a nice chopper!
 
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