My General WIP Thread

[FullyTorque]

Amazing, beautiful work. I'm working on my second knife ever and can only hope that one day, after years of practice, I can make a knife as nice as your first three. No 3 is stunning.

 

[HallHandmade]

I think you will find the second and third blade ( from the top) and the santoku blade on the bottom left the best of that batch.
Make more of these and you will find them quite easy to sell.

Suggestion - You might want to make the santoku with a full tang to match the chef's/slicer and the utility blade ( #2 & #3). This three piece set will be all most folks will ever need in the kitchen.
A set like that with the quality you show in you previous blades will easily bring $500-600. Add a custom knife block and it could fetch $700-750.


Blade number four will make a great hunter/skinner.

Thanks for the advice. You are quite correct in your assessment, as the Chef/Slicer and the Santoku have been favorites so far with friends and family that I've shown these to. I agree that #2 would round out a very nice trio, now that you've got me looking at it that way. I got a commission for another #3 (from a friend who is a chef), but I think I need to get a larger radius wheel or platen so I can thin the stock out a bit and still get a proper grind height. He said he likes thicker, more rigid knives though, and I've seen some fairly heavy hollow ground chef/slicer knives.

I though a little about doing a full tang version of the Santoku, but I was unsure of myself. If I were to make a 3pc. set, would you suggest that I belly out the handles of the other two and match them with #3's handle?

I started this as a hobby/creative outlet, and although I didn't initially plan on pushing to sell my work, it seems like it may be a necessity to finance the many different ideas/techniques I'd like to try. Raw materials can get pretty rough on the pocketbook, even if you are crafty and patient with your purchasing. I've had a lot of encouragement and interest from friends and family, but I just don't want to let something go that isn't the absolute best I can do. There's also the practicality issue, which is that if I keep working at this rate and don't sell any, I'm going to be drowning in a mountain of knives sooner rather than later.

Vintagefan Your grinds look prefect in my eyes. Good Job. They follow the contour of the edge perfectly. With you being in the machine type shops for years did you build any type of fixturing to work with. as far as details go I personally think the opposite of some and seem to think its best to not get caught up in the details so much with the first few knives. Right now it is better to just go through the mations and not expect them to be prefect. I also think it is wise to stick to one pattern for the first few like 4-5 knives way you can easily get those repetitive and is easier to compare improvement from one to the other while getting the motions down.

Thanks!

As far as the actual grinding goes, I'm doing that on a pretty traditional KMG setup, 10" wheel and flat work rest, everything is basically freehand. I'm not using any kind of mechanical aids like a stop/file guide, but I do use scribed lines and layout dye to mark my edge center and my plunge starting point.

Most of the knives in this batch were done by gut feeling, I just started sketching right on the stock and then went from there. I did have some plan for each, but I also let them evolve on their own.

Amazing, beautiful work. I'm working on my second knife ever and can only hope that one day, after years of practice, I can make a knife as nice as your first three. No 3 is stunning.

Thank you. I think that patience and observation can solve any problem. Always default to extreme caution.

I've done a lot of grinding high speed steel lathe bits, as well as re-profiling of boring and parting tools, which is similar to knife grinding in many ways. You have several angles and surfaces that need to meet up with each other in a specific location, plus surface finish, accuracy, and sharpness all dictate what cut quality you will achieve once you take it to the machine. I think that is what gave me such a good starting point for knife grinding.

Even so, the first blade I ground was still an adventure for me. I've had close calls on at least 4-5 out of the 12 I've done so far, and almost an outright loss on 2 of them. I learned several tricks on my first few blades that have served me well through these last few.

When I screw up or feel myself possibly screwing up, I immediately bring the blade back and step away from the grinder. I study what just happened, why, and how it relates to what I have finished so far. Then I make a plan to recover my mistake. I get up a bit closer on the machine, and with a very gentle touch, do a couple "repair passes" to see how my proposed solution will work out. If I still feel comfortable then, I will begin to very gingerly try to bring it back to where I thought it should be. I check regularly, and if it seems like I'm going off the rails again, I step back once more and study again.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Make them either way you like, but make the set all the same.

Your evaluation method when grinding is a good system.

 

[HallHandmade]

Note to mods: I think this thread may now belong in the new Hammer and Tongs section. I would have PM'ed but don't have priveleges yet. I do plan on buying a supporting membership asap.


This weekend I finished up the small utility/EDC Wharncliffe. It was my least favorite in the beginning, but it really grew on me once I finished it.


After post HT clean-up. I went to 400 hand sanded on the flats and 320 as ground on the hollow.

I made the scales out of 1/2 of a black G10 set, and a couple scraps left over from the grey buckeye hunter I finished a couple weeks ago.

I beveled the scales on the 6x48 with a 220 belt, then hand finished with 400 then 1000 on my imitation panavise.

After a quick buff these guys really sparkled. I wish I had more from than same block.

I used my pistol grip die grinder with a 1" drum to finish out the insides of the handles. I love this thing. Sioux is the OEM for a great deal of Snap-on's air tools, and I snagged this guy for cheap on ebay because not many are familiar with the name. It runs incredibly true and doesn't slow under normal load, so you can get amazing finishes with it.

It made very quick work of the inside curves on the handle.

I used the 1" drum to finish pre-beveling the handle on the inside curve before hand sanding, then set it up in my panavise.

This is after rough sanding the top of the handle with a strip of worn out 220. I brought it right up to the edge of the tang, then finished out with a narrower strip of 400, then 1000.

I had to wait for the sun to come up for decent pics, I'm really happy with how this little guy came out. It just sinks into the hand, and looks a lot more balanced aesthetically now that the scales are on and finished. That isn't a burr at the end of the blade, just some fuzz from me fiddling with it.

There was a small chip from peening on the front pin, but I didn't mess with it, and it ended up finishing out nicely with only a very slight shadow.

I'm very happy with the ergonomics on this. I was very worried about getting a good balance of ergos, looks, and compactness, I think it did fairly well. It also works nicely with an index finger on blade/middle finger curled under grip (like you'd use for zipping open a package), because of the double width choil.

This is a peek at a ladies' slim hunter I'm finishing, pink/black G10 liners with dyed stabilized buckeye.

 

[David Sharp]

Nice work!

I think I may have heard about you from another fellow up here developing a new grinder attachment. If I can ever do anything let me know.

 

[AVigil]

That is a nice Wharncliffe.

Great job!

 

[HallHandmade]

Nice work!

I think I may have heard about you from another fellow up here developing a new grinder attachment. If I can ever do anything let me know.

David, I was the one you spoke with on the phone recently. I'm not sure if the guy you're thinking of posts here and/or has an account. I remember him telling me that he visited the forum sometimes.

I'm still working on my new-fangled grinding gizmo. Ended up losing 5 days on an out of town job I couldn't refuse, then had a couple knives that needed attention (or at least I wanted to give them attention).

I'm still looking forward to meeting up, as soon as I make some real progress on my toy I'll touch base again.

That is a nice Wharncliffe.

Great job!

Thanks

BTW, I still plan on coming through on the contact wheel offer, just need to catch up with life first. Haven't had a free day since last time I had all those free days.

 

[AVigil]

BTW, I still plan on coming through on the contact wheel offer, just need to catch up with life first. Haven't had a free day since last time I had all those free days.

Thanks I appreciate it and look forward to meeting up and talking knives.

 

[HallHandmade]

Got another one done from that batch I've been working. This is my first fully sculpted handle, I really like it. It's quite a bit of sanding though, even though I consider myself reasonably quick at that kind of stuff. Either way, totally worth it. This one is 1084 and stabilized buckeye.

Photo Spam:

 

[Willie71]

This one I really like!!!

 

[htony1]

man you knives are fantastic, what kind of sheaths are you planning?

 

[Josh Mason]

Wow. I am stunned that these are your first knives. The handle on that little wharncliffe is amazing.

 

[NickWheeler]

Pretty crazy how fast you came along in a few months Ian!

Experience with steady hands at a grinder is a huge benefit to understanding how your body mechanics affect things. When I was in the machine shop program the instructor actually got irritated with me because I went through the sharpening/grinding of drills and lathe tooling so fast, like I had "cheated" some how. I tried explaining that after you've ground a few hundred knife blades, a drill bit is a cake walk.

Clearly it works from the other side as well. All those years of grinding/sharpening in a fab/machine shop setting got you prepped for blades.

Of course some natural talent didn't hurt 'ya either.


Impressive progression Ian... :thumbup:

 

[JZknives]

Here is my little knife

its 440c , its not heat treated yet. There is a copper inlay (i messed up the filework and for some reason just filed a notch out thinking it would look cool , then decided to try inlay)

I love the sheath i made for it. For some reason I enjoy the sheath more than the knife.

 

[HallHandmade]

man you knives are fantastic, what kind of sheaths are you planning?

Thanks!

A lot of the knives in this thread have now moved on to their homes, but I do have a shot of the one above with its sheath (which I finished recently)

Wow. I am stunned that these are your first knives. The handle on that little wharncliffe is amazing.

Thanks! I just did another run of those little guys, I think it's on page 3 of the fixed blade F/S section now. I'm about to start another one in Koa.

That little wharncliffe was one of those "it just happened" kind of things. It is one of my favorites amongst these earlier knives (I don't think I've been around long enough for any of my work to be considered anything but "early", really )

Pretty crazy how fast you came along in a few months Ian!

Experience with steady hands at a grinder is a huge benefit to understanding how your body mechanics affect things. When I was in the machine shop program the instructor actually got irritated with me because I went through the sharpening/grinding of drills and lathe tooling so fast, like I had "cheated" some how. I tried explaining that after you've ground a few hundred knife blades, a drill bit is a cake walk.

Clearly it works from the other side as well. All those years of grinding/sharpening in a fab/machine shop setting got you prepped for blades.

Of course some natural talent didn't hurt 'ya either.


Impressive progression Ian... :thumbup:

Thanks Nick. I totally agree with you on the grinding. One of the reasons I love Knifemaking is because it is like the Pentathlon of handcrafting. I've done a lot of different things over the years to keep myself always learning, and Knifemaking is testing my limits (and beyond) in just about every skill I've learned. There is much tie-in/crossover with other professional fields.

I could imagine that many of our makers here could impress the heck out of folks in the machining/aerospace industries, and quite a few other industries as well. I think it was Strigamort that asked me to check out a video of Chris Reeve's shop tour, and he mentioned something to the effect of his company holding higher quality standards than any aerospace shop, particularly in their folders. I don't know if I would go quite that far (some of the mechanical assemblies for space flight can get insanely strict in tolerance), but I certainly agree with the gist of what he's saying.

I feel like many of the makers are not just jacks of all trades, but kings of all trades. I feel privileged to work alongside such a talented group of people. I honestly feel that there some makers out there that are amongst the most skilled artist/craftsmen ever to have lived. It's quite a standard to aspire to.

If you look at the fact that a successful professional knifemaker is not only a master of many skilled trades, but a skilled artist and designer, a mechanical "engineer", amateur scientist/metallurgist and a business manager, and it starts to become really impressive for those that have been around this stuff. Not easy, but probably the most fun and challenging thing I've ever done.


The help and support I've gotten here, locally, and through my customers, I feel is the only reason I've come this far, this fast. I'm very grateful regarding where I am and why.

It is almost comforting knowing I can do this for years to come and still learn something new on every knife. I could probably do a completely different knife every week for the rest of my life, and only scratch the surface. Awesome.

Here is my little knife

its 440c , its not heat treated yet. There is a copper inlay (i messed up the filework and for some reason just filed a notch out thinking it would look cool , then decided to try inlay)

I love the sheath i made for it. For some reason I enjoy the sheath more than the knife.

Very cool.






Mod Note: I made this WIP thread before the Hammer & Tongs section was created, if a mod could give it a scoot to the proper subforum, it would be very much appreciated. Thanks!