My first knives I made 5 instead of 1

[MacKenzie]

And my first time posting here after lurking through the forums for the past 6 months. First off THANK YOU ALL for the information you have consistently been providing here.

I started down this rabbit hole with zero woodworking and metal working experience. The only thing I had to go off of was my experience using kitchen knives and a lot of YouTube/this forum research. I started with the idea of why make just 1 knife, then try and remember all of the details in who-knows-how-long when I am on the next. Instead, I went with starting 7 knives.

This way I could improve through repetition on each step of the process then and there focusing on the details, challenges, etc. After working an hour here, an hour there for the past couple months I am proud to say I finally have 5 knives nearing completion, 1 warped to hell blank and a petty in 2 pieces.

I wanted to share my work with the community and get any and all feedback from you all, as you all have way more experience than I do. I forced myself to learn every step including heat treating, etching and saya cover making.

The knives are a collection of fun handles, a set of Buffalo Bills Home and Away Jersey colors, a Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt and some wild ones. The blades are made out of 15n20 and 1084, handles are maple burl, ebony, g10, and resin, depending on which knife you are looking at. I would love to see what you all think and get as much criticism as possible for the next wave of knives. Already plan to soften the cutting edge arch a bit, I am 6'4 and kitchen tables are notoriously low so subconsciously I made a more aggressive arch. Additionally, I think the heel on the Petty knives is a bit too pokey.

Thanks!
MacKenzie

 

[Psy223]

I see one major problem with your first effort. And that is I now feel like a loser.

Seriously that looks like time well spent. The jersey colors are an appealing idea, Which parts of the process were more or less difficult than you expected?

 

[MacKenzie]

I see one major problem with your first effort. And that is I now feel like a loser.

Seriously that looks like time well spent. The jersey colors are an appealing idea, Which parts of the process were more or less difficult than you expected?

No losers here! Anyone into knife making is a winner in my book!

Yea I wish I could just focus on the knives but work and family surely do come first so an hour here and there is what I get! So finding time is the most difficult part. The part of the process that I think was more difficult than expected was getting the hole for the hidden tang right and getting a snug fit. That is where I think I had the most trouble in what I thought would be an easy step. The easier than expected part would be hand sanding. It's very straight forward and therapeutic especially after watching a ton of Nick Wheeler videos. Maybe because I am used to using sharpening with a whetstone so back and forth motion brings back a sense of calm maybe? Or I am just crazy and am the one person who actually enjoys hand sanding. *Shrug*

The Jersey colors were a fun idea, I was essentially thinking, what the hell am I going to do for handles...I can't just do the same one 5 times. So I looked around at work and thought it was a good idea. I'm actually gifting them to one of the Players that enjoy cooking.

 

[Dusty One]

Nice looking work !