My first skinner.

[RRobaldo]

This is a skinner I just finished for my brother-in-law. He's an avid hunter and this will be a birthday gift.

The blade is 4.9"
The handle is white tail deer shed antler. (no deer died to make this knife)
The guard is 1/4" brass bar stock.

What do you think? Pros? Cons? Be honest, where can I improve?

Thanks,
Lance

 

[Kevin Jones]

First, welcome to Blade Forums Lance.

You state this is your first Skinner, how many knives have you made total?

In my opinion you have made a very good effort here and the knife shows you have skills and are off to a good start. Your guard looks pretty good and I'm impressed (from what I can see) with your handle/guard fit-up. Would like to see a photo of the ricasso to guard fit-up. These are two areas where new makers really struggle early on.

I would like to have seen you use a straighter stag carver for the handle as your knife suffers a little from an ergonomics perspective. A dropped point may have worked better here than your upswung tip.
Try tapering your blade from base to tip on the next one.

Hope I haven't bumped you out too much with my critique, as I said you do show skills and determination. Please continue to show your work here. :thumbup:

 

[RRobaldo]

Heck no, you haven't bumped me up too much at all. That's exactly the kind of criticism I'm looking for.

I had a heck of a time grinding out that guard from the bar stock!

The only tools I had to work with are a 4X36 belt sander, a 6" bench grinder and a 1X30 harbor freight belt sander. Considering the tools, I think it came out very nicely. I really need to get ahold of a 2" slack-belt grinder.

I'll try to get a better pic of the ricasso to guard. I silver soldered the guard to the blade, so it really looks to be one piece with no gaps.

Actually, this is only my 3rd knife, and I probably shouldn't count my first at all. I took a 1 day class with Ken Largin (Kelgin Cutlery) a few months ago. My first knife was with him, and I think he did more work on it than I did by the time it was done.

Here's a picture of my first knife EVER (the one I made with Mr. Largin's tutelage):

My second knife was a full tang made from an old bandsaw blade. Not much to look at...

This is my third attempt at a knife and I think I'm "starting" to get the feel for it.

I would've rather used a straight stag too, but this one was made from one of my brother-in-law's antler's. Since the knife is for his birthday, I thought making it from his antler would be nice.

 

[Kevin Jones]

I would've rather used a straight stag too, but this one was made from one of my brother-in-law's antler's. Since the knife is for his birthday, I thought making it from his antler would be nice.

That makes perfect sense. I'm sure he will like it.

 

[RRobaldo]

Here's a closeup where the ricasso meets the guard.

I got it pretty square to the guard and you can't tell where the tang goes through the guard into the antler.

What do you think? I'm sure there's some improvement I can make here. I think perhaps a little more time on the buffing wheel might improve things more.

Lance.

 

[RRobaldo]

Last night I finished up a sheath to go with the knife. I'm no leather worker, so it's a VERY simple sheath I made from a kit. But I can't give a knife as a gift without a sheath to put it in.

 

[Kevin Jones]

Thanks for the additional photo.
Still impressed with your handle/guard/ricasso fit-up at such an early stage.

Your polish will improve with a little more time, experience and use of buffing wheels/compounds.