My first WIP thread, my first ever knife.

C

Calaustria

Joined
Sep 5, 2009
Messages
23
So, I've been working on my first knife for a while, pretty much just freehand on my 4x36 belt sander. I've gotten a basic shape, and have started working on the flat grind. Still not even close to an edge though. What do you guys think about the basic shape?

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Yay! Another WIP thread.. WIP's are awesome.

Welcome to the addiction :D

Basic shape looks pretty good to me, bear in mind I'm still a newbie at this game myself. The only thing I can say that personally I'm not liking about it is the lack of some kind of finger guard. Should you do any hard thrusting with it there isn't much preventing you hand from sliding up the razor sharp edge you'll eventually have on it.

What is the OAL on it and what kind of steel are you using?
 
I agree, gotta love WIP threads. Gives us newbies something to look forward too and get inspiration from.

Overall length appears to be around 10 3/4" from my guesstimation. 4 3/4" handle and right about a 6" blade.

I'm with Fletch, I think you should maybe round out the forefinger area just a bit more to give you a little more protection from the blade or see about installing a guard of some kind. Also, filing in a choil of reasonable size will help you distinguish where the blade begins if you don't install a seperate guard.
 
just looking at the first picture, theres a bit of a dip about an inch and a half from the end in the top of the handle.
i would either grind that out or put in another dip just a bit further up just in the interest of symmetry

but thats just me
 
The shape looks good and very usable.

One thing you can do to protect the hand from slipping is to put a bit of a flare into the shaping of the handle at the very front (looking at the knife from the top, or spine). The curve out there would serve fine as a guard.

Anothing to think is what is the knife intended for. Honestly, unless it's a fighting knife, how much hard thrusting are you going to do?

Good job, especially for your first knife. Isn't it awesome watching them take shape. I'm finishing up #6 and working on #'s 7,8,9,10,11, and 12 right now.

Charlie
 
Here's my (hopefully helpful) suggestion. It seems most knifes have the grain going from ricasso to point, not spine to edge. The last knife I made I screwed up because I did a lot of grinding from spine to edge then switched to ricasso to point. Whichever way you want the final grain to be, start the way early and only go that way from start to finish. I also use a 4x36 sander. If yours is similar to mine, I found tilting the belt up and working on the roller was a lot easier than trying to work on the flat surface.
 
zaph1 said:
Here's my (hopefully helpful) suggestion. It seems most knifes have the grain going from ricasso to point, not spine to edge. The last knife I made I screwed up because I did a lot of grinding from spine to edge then switched to ricasso to point.
Click to expand...

How did that screw it up? At some point you have to move to hand sanding and the best way to determine if you've gotten all the marks out from the previous grit is to alternate between edge/spine and tip/tang.
 
Right, I think the general consensus (from what I have read) is to alternate directions up to a certain grit then make sure its one direction only afterwards.
 
Thanks a lot for the input guys. I didn't want to put a guard on it, because I don't see myself doing much hard thrusting with it anyway. I figured the dip in the top of the handle would be enough, but now I'm going to grind it down a little more. As for the small one at the back of the handle, that's just not evened out yet. It's O1 steel, forgot to mention that.

As far as the sander, you're right about the roller. I've been using that a lot, but I don't want to use it for the blade, because its hard to get a flat grind on it. I'll try to work on it a bit today, and post some more pics tonight :D
 
Good to know.I found the perpendicular scratches tough to get out. I'll try switching directions more often on the next knife.
 
Those 4 x 36 sanders are bears, they really build character(and calluses). I started out on one, looks like you are well on your way. The only thing I can say is the handle seems a little wide, just an opinion though. Also be careful grinding on that wheel, its crowned, I made that mistake and now I have a knife with a slight hollowed area in the middle of the grind, lessons learned. Dont try to squeeze out too much on your first, remember you are just starting, you have plenty of time to improve, I beat myself up and ended up ruining quiet a few before I realized I just needed to take it one step at a time.
 
Calaustria:
I think the overall profile is fine.
I make a couple hundred razor sharp knifes a year, and no one has had their hand slide up onto the blade yet. On many knives, I do flare the handle at the front to make it have a firmer grip.
Play with that palm swell a bit and make sure it feels comfortable on the hand.

I can't tell for sure, but that dark line from top to bottom at the ricasso???? Is that some sort of second plunge line? It should be a smooth and flat surface from the plunge line ( where the bevels start) straight back along the tang.

zaph1, Calaustria, and others;
I would avoid using the roller or small wheel on your grinder to hog off steel faster. That is the number one reason the blade flats on many first knives look like a roller coaster. You want to grind flat right from the start. If using a grinder, the way to get rid of the coarse lines is to have the surfaces flat and go to progressively finer grits. Most of us recommend doing the first knife or two by hand to slow down the mistakes. They happen real fast on a grinder. After the initial power sanding, you should go to hand sanding anyway. When hand sanding, change the direction of the stroke at each grit change. That way you can tell when all the previous scratch lines are gone. If power sanding, try and angle the sanding lines a bit form grit to grit where possible.

Avoid getting the edge too thin in the early grinding stages. It has to be about .040" when ready for HT, usually at 400 grit. If it is too thick that is a lot better than too thin.

Go slow, (But faster than Matt/fletch), and think out your progression of steps ( which Matt/fletch does well).
Don't forget to drill the tang holes.
Remember, the shape when it is ready for HT is the shape it will be, so get the little things right before HT. The thickness at HT is more than it will be when done, though.


Fill out some info in your profile, we always like to know a bit about you.

Keep at it, but realize that steel dust rubbed in the finger tips is more addictive than black tar heroin.
 
Stacy, if I could ask, do you keep the blade still while grinding flat? I used the roller and constantly pulled the metal towards me. I figured if I used the flat area and pulled the metal toward me, the end of the metal was on the grinder longer than the first part to leave the grinder. I do understand about deep cuts with the grinder on the roller. Luckily I developed a good rhythm and was able to prevent the deep cuts by using many light passes over the roller and never try to take too much at once. I usually did 10 pulls on each side then flip the blade to keep even.

bladsmth said:
Calaustria:

zaph1, Calaustria, and others;
I would avoid using the roller or small wheel on your grinder to hog off steel faster. That is the number one reason the blade flats on many first knives look like a roller coaster. You want to grind flat right from the start. If using a grinder, the way to get rid of the coarse lines is to have the surfaces flat and go to progressively finer grits.
Click to expand...
 
bladsmth said:
Go slow, (But faster than Matt/fletch) :(, and think out your progression of steps ( which Matt/fletch does well) :).
Click to expand...


Hey I only work about an hour or 2 at a clip a day, and I don't always go at it every day. ;)

And don't forget there was about a month and a half to 2 months down time during that WIP I was waiting on a blank and then a HT :p
 
Just yankin' your chain, Matt. You are doing great on your project.:thumbup:

zaph1:
Flat grinding is a skill that takes some practice and time to learn. There is an excellent video on it, IIRC. ( someone who has it may post that info )
I use the flat platen on the grinder, and after flattening the entire blade blank surface, I taper the blade longitudinally toward the tip ( distal taper),. Then I add the bevels by slowly grinding from tip to plunge and back. If you start at the plunge, you will almost always get a 2" grind line on the upper part of the bevel. Keep the blade moving or you will make a dip in the bevel where you stopped. On the first pass or two, only go up to about 1/4" from where you want the plunge to be. It will move back a tad each pass....and more on each grit.

Also, remember that every action will be repeated again at each grit. That means that if you go to the final dimensions at 100 grit, you will be far beyond them at 400 grit....and even farther after HT and re-sanding. Leave some meat to take off at the next step. On most first knives, it is better to start with the intention of making the knife 10-15% ( or more) larger than what you really think looks good. That way, by the time you have made a lot of errors, and over sanded/ground the blade, it will be exactly right. Many camp knives end up looking more like drop point hunters because of too much metal removed in the sanding
 
Just remember when thinking about that rule you factor in the sanding needed to get out the deeper scratches from the lower grits. If you're using a 120 or 220 belt and take it to a dime. You're going to remove more metal getting up to 400 or 600 or whatever grit you like before doing the HT. Take my word that trying to get out a moderately deep scratch after HT is a royal pain.
 
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