My first one done!

J

jtwodogs

Joined
Feb 1, 2009
Messages
421
This was my "Learner knife". It was an old Mill Bastard file that after grinding was sent with some other blanks to Peters for HT @59 RC. The wood was some Osage Orange that was rather wormy. So I had to work with that.
Hopefully I have learned from my mistakes on this one, and will be able to do better in the future. I have come to the realization that hidden tangs to me anyway seem a lot harder then full tang. I did get a razors edge on it. Sliced up a garbage can of light paper, my wife's cosmo, and about shaved my arms clean. lol
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I have yet to try a blade that long. Are full tangs easier than hidden tangs? Not in my opinion, they both have the same amount of work, it's just different work. Hidden tang you're fitting guards and cutting a pocket for the tang, but on full tangs you have radii to grind and sand to a smooth surface. You also have a lot more places to screw it up. That's just my take on it
 
jtwodogs,

Feels great to get one done, right? It's very rewarding to have a fully functional knife you can use at the end of all your hard work. Can you post a close up picture of the area in front of the guard? It looks like you have some unusual stuff going on there. Here's what I'm noticing. You have a very soft transition line between the main bevel and your clip. That would look much better with a nice crisp line. The guard is a bit short. The handle doesn't meet the guard as well as it could. It looks like maybe you left the handle material a bit proud from the guard? That should meet the back of the guard without any gaps or level changes. The handle is a bit long too by maybe 3/4". What is confusing me a bit is what is going on at the ricasso. Do you have a bolster there? What is that brighter area? Also, it seems you have placed the Spanish Notch too far back. The notch is supposed to make it easier to sharpen the blade at the heel of the edge without buggering up the ricasso so it is usually placed at the bottom of the plunge cut. This moves the rear corner of the cutting edge away from the ricasso. You have placed the notch behind the cutting edge completely. I'm not trying to nitpick the thing to death. They're just a few things to think about. This is obviously a fine effort and you should be well pleased with it.
 
I know it looks proud but the wood is flush with the guard, I think your right the way it looks the guard is a little small, but I actually plan to have the wood cut down more which would have made the guard look more "Right sized", but in truth the way the tang was shaped I feel like I would have started to hit it, so I quit before I did that.

I also know that the handle is a little long. To be honest I bought so many knives that have short handled for me, that I swore when making knives I would give plenty of handle, especially one this long. Just my take.
Thanks though for the review, your points are well stated and I will learn how to it better in the future.
 
Here is the pic you were wanting I4Marc.
Sorry my camera sucks, close ups don't focus well, hope it gives you a better idea of what I did.
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jtwodogs said:
I know it looks proud but the wood is flush with the guard, I think your right the way it looks the guard is a little small, but I actually plan to have the wood cut down more which would have made the guard look more "Right sized", but in truth the way the tang was shaped I feel like I would have started to hit it, so I quit before I did that.

I also know that the handle is a little long. To be honest I bought so many knives that have short handled for me, that I swore when making knives I would give plenty of handle, especially one this long. Just my take.
Thanks though for the review, your points are well stated and I will learn how to it better in the future.
Click to expand...

jtwodogs,

Ah, yes. The new pictures help a lot. I see that the bright area is just the smooth steel and the line is from the original file texture. That's cool. I too feel that many handles are too short and I like a bit longer handle myself as well. I can see the handle/guard joint better now too. It looks fine. The knife is very nicely done and my comments were only food for future thought.
 
jtwodogs said:
Sorry my camera sucks, close ups don't focus well, hope it gives you a better idea of what I did.
Click to expand...

look at your camera menu you should have a "macro" setting for taking close ups, my cheap cannon power shot does, my Kodak easy share had one too
 
i4Marc. I really do appreciate your comments, they were helpful. When I looked at the knife and handled it again, the handle could have been made shorter and still been very usable. I guess because of my last problems I became a little over zealous on the length of it. I have a Bravo III from BRKT. Which is an awesome knife except the handle needs to be longer for a knife that large.
Also I know my fitment at the guard area could have been a lot better, I have since purchased one of the good file guides with the carbide inserts, that should help in that area. When trying to do a final fit of the knife to the guard to try and get everything squared up without a good file guide (I had made one out of cheap steel that seem to file as easy if not easier then the actual metal it was supposed to be protecting), I felt like I was chasing my tail, got to a point were I was "That will have to be good enough". The one thing that I have learned (kinda knew goin in) that you have to have the proper tool to do a proper job. I fear my other knife did not fair any better as far as that blade to guard area.
 
jtwodogs,

Nobody can expect of themselves or of others that the first or even second knife will be perfect. Even guys who feel pretty confident working with their hands building stuff in general (me) take a real cold shower when they start making knives. Seems easy. It is not. So when people give you their thoughts about your work at this stage it is only encouragement. It's not that you should have done it a certain way it's that it could be done that way with proper technique gained with time and some effort. The most you can expect from yourself is to do the best you can at that point in your development as a maker. As long as you learn something from each one you are getting what you are supposed to out of the exercise.
 
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