Sam Wilson
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2012
- Messages
- 3,066
Hello, my name is Sam Wilson. I have been on the forum for awhile, and I recently decided to get into knifemaking. I have always loved hollow handle knives, so naturally, when I wanted a custom one, I decided to make it myself. I have posted pics of my completed knife, the Model 1, and as you can see, theres a lot going on there. I have dubbed it the M.O.A. SYSTEM, for Make it Out Alive. I will try to explain most of it, along with the pics, but Im sure I will miss some things. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask, and I will do my best to answer them. And yes, I am thinking about making these for sale as a knifemaker, so in addition to your feedback, I welcome constructive criticism. If there is enough interest, I will purchase a Knifemakers membership, and proceed accordingly. (Also, sorry, but Im not much of a photographer. I will try to get better pics in the future.)
I would also like to take a brief moment to let everybody know that I was inspired heavily by several knifemakers work. I wanted to give them credit for their work before me, and the influence it had on me, and my work (which is obvious in the pictures), whether I ever sell a knife or not. The classic style of Bo Randall, the absolutely aggressive beauty of Jack Crains work, and the clean lines and grinding of Vaughn Neeley. And a very special thank you to Chris Reeve, and the innovation, consistency, and hard-working reliability of not only his hollow handled knives, but the Sebenza, which was my first high end knife, and all the other contributions he has made to the knife industry. Thank you all.
What I want to communicate to everyone is that I didnt just throw this knife together. As you read through all of this, I hope that it is evident that I put a great deal of thought into every detail. I wanted to make, not just a hollow handled knife, but a real tool that provided the necessities for use in the wilderness, or survival, or whatever. First, this is a big knife. So Im just going to start at the blade, and go from there. The blade is approximately 9 ½ long, 1 7/8 wide, and the handle, from the back of the guard to the end of the butt cap, is 5 ¼. Overall length is about 15. The steel is 5160 heat treated @ 58 Rc, and as you can see, I gave it an aggressive stonewash. I made it from ¼ stock, but I distally tapered it from about an inch in front of the guard forward, so the majority of the blade is closer to a little over 3/16 thick.
I know ¼ is extremely popular, but I really like my knives to cut and slice, and I believe that is still more than thick enough for just about anything you need to do with a knife. Thats also why I used a full flat grind, as its my favorite for these types of knives. I believe it gives the best combination of strength, and cutting ability.
Moving down the blade, I used a stainless guard, which I silver soldered in place. I know some dont care for silver solder, but it was more than strong enough in my tests, and I believe it gives a touch of class to the knife. As far as the joining of the handle and the blade, there are three methods I used in conjunction with each other, and I personally believe that any two of those methods together are more than strong enough, but the third is there for insurance and peace of mind. First, the handle is channeled on the inside to receive the tang of the blade. The handle has to literally be driven on, it is such a tight press fit. Then, a ¼ steel pin is driven through the handle, the hole in the tang, and out the other side of the handle. It is then peened in place, on both sides. Finally, an epoxy which dries somewhat flexible, is poured in until the tang is covered.
In my testing, I could not get the handle off with a torch, hammer, and vise even before the pin was driven in, and the epoxy applied. So I believe that short of horrific abuse, the blade/handle joint presents no significant weakness. As you can see, I also radiused the corners to avoid stress risers, and increase durability.
As far as handle material, I live in the Pacific Northwest, and wanted to make sure I did all I could to prevent rusting. I used 316 SS, commonly referred to as Marine Grade stainless. The handle is cord wrapped, with approximately 20-30 feet of braided cord. One of the problems inherent in a round handle is the tendency for the handle to roll in the hand during heavy use. It doesnt show up in the pictures, but I lightly contoured the handle on both sides where your fingers go. It is very faintly flat-sided there, to help avoid rolling and index the knife handle.
The butt cap is aluminum. I know that having a compass in the butt cap is very popular, but I decided not to put it there for a couple of reasons. One, if you use the butt of the knife as a hammer, it may damage the compass. Two, you would then have to unscrew the cap every time you wanted to use the compass. And three, I put something else there.
I have always had a hard time using the small ferro rods that fit into hollow handle knives. By the time you hold onto them, theres not much area left to strike. And if its wet, you have next to no grip. So here is my solution.
Now you have something to get a good grip on, and can strike the full length of the rod. While were here, I will go ahead and briefly discuss the contents of the survival kit. I have only put the compass and the ferro rod in there. Everybody has different preferences and needs, so you can put what you want in there. The items are rolled up in the cloth, which is impregnated with wax. Now, in addition to keeping everything together, if you need emergency tinder, simply cut off a strip of the cloth, and you have an easily ignitable tinder source.
Moving on to the sheath, I like a clean front on my sheaths. I have found that the stone pouches on the front of other sheaths have a tendency to catch on things, and I just personally prefer to have the face of the sheath clean. So, how are you going to sharpen your knife? Here you go.
Also, as you can see, there is a PSK knife in there as well. It is stonewashed 1095, but I will probably use 154CM in the future, just for ease of maintenance. I will also probably cut a little vertical slit in the back of the sheath to slip the cords into, so theyre out of the way.
As you can see, there is not a strap that goes across the guard of the knife. As mentioned earlier, I didnt want to clutter up the front of the sheath, and I have always disliked those straps. They have a tendency to get cut, and you have to pull them out of the way to resheath the knife. With the method I have used here, the shock cord stays pulled back and out of the way, the S-biner gives very positive retention, and resheathing is simple.
Additionally, once youve unbuckled the knife for the first time of the day, to avoid having to use the retention strap every time, I embedded rare earth magnets into the sheath. These serve the dual purpose of keeping the primary knife in place, so that the retention strap is typically unnecessary, and I placed them so that they hold the PSK knife and sharpening stone in place too.
I know this has been a very long post, but I am obviously excited about my creation, and wanted to make sure all the details were clear. Im sure I missed some things, so if you have any questions, please feel free to ask away. I would also like to hear suggestions on what to do better, and what you like and don't like. Thank you,
Sam Wilson :thumbup:
I would also like to take a brief moment to let everybody know that I was inspired heavily by several knifemakers work. I wanted to give them credit for their work before me, and the influence it had on me, and my work (which is obvious in the pictures), whether I ever sell a knife or not. The classic style of Bo Randall, the absolutely aggressive beauty of Jack Crains work, and the clean lines and grinding of Vaughn Neeley. And a very special thank you to Chris Reeve, and the innovation, consistency, and hard-working reliability of not only his hollow handled knives, but the Sebenza, which was my first high end knife, and all the other contributions he has made to the knife industry. Thank you all.
What I want to communicate to everyone is that I didnt just throw this knife together. As you read through all of this, I hope that it is evident that I put a great deal of thought into every detail. I wanted to make, not just a hollow handled knife, but a real tool that provided the necessities for use in the wilderness, or survival, or whatever. First, this is a big knife. So Im just going to start at the blade, and go from there. The blade is approximately 9 ½ long, 1 7/8 wide, and the handle, from the back of the guard to the end of the butt cap, is 5 ¼. Overall length is about 15. The steel is 5160 heat treated @ 58 Rc, and as you can see, I gave it an aggressive stonewash. I made it from ¼ stock, but I distally tapered it from about an inch in front of the guard forward, so the majority of the blade is closer to a little over 3/16 thick.
I know ¼ is extremely popular, but I really like my knives to cut and slice, and I believe that is still more than thick enough for just about anything you need to do with a knife. Thats also why I used a full flat grind, as its my favorite for these types of knives. I believe it gives the best combination of strength, and cutting ability.
Moving down the blade, I used a stainless guard, which I silver soldered in place. I know some dont care for silver solder, but it was more than strong enough in my tests, and I believe it gives a touch of class to the knife. As far as the joining of the handle and the blade, there are three methods I used in conjunction with each other, and I personally believe that any two of those methods together are more than strong enough, but the third is there for insurance and peace of mind. First, the handle is channeled on the inside to receive the tang of the blade. The handle has to literally be driven on, it is such a tight press fit. Then, a ¼ steel pin is driven through the handle, the hole in the tang, and out the other side of the handle. It is then peened in place, on both sides. Finally, an epoxy which dries somewhat flexible, is poured in until the tang is covered.
In my testing, I could not get the handle off with a torch, hammer, and vise even before the pin was driven in, and the epoxy applied. So I believe that short of horrific abuse, the blade/handle joint presents no significant weakness. As you can see, I also radiused the corners to avoid stress risers, and increase durability.
As far as handle material, I live in the Pacific Northwest, and wanted to make sure I did all I could to prevent rusting. I used 316 SS, commonly referred to as Marine Grade stainless. The handle is cord wrapped, with approximately 20-30 feet of braided cord. One of the problems inherent in a round handle is the tendency for the handle to roll in the hand during heavy use. It doesnt show up in the pictures, but I lightly contoured the handle on both sides where your fingers go. It is very faintly flat-sided there, to help avoid rolling and index the knife handle.
The butt cap is aluminum. I know that having a compass in the butt cap is very popular, but I decided not to put it there for a couple of reasons. One, if you use the butt of the knife as a hammer, it may damage the compass. Two, you would then have to unscrew the cap every time you wanted to use the compass. And three, I put something else there.
I have always had a hard time using the small ferro rods that fit into hollow handle knives. By the time you hold onto them, theres not much area left to strike. And if its wet, you have next to no grip. So here is my solution.
Now you have something to get a good grip on, and can strike the full length of the rod. While were here, I will go ahead and briefly discuss the contents of the survival kit. I have only put the compass and the ferro rod in there. Everybody has different preferences and needs, so you can put what you want in there. The items are rolled up in the cloth, which is impregnated with wax. Now, in addition to keeping everything together, if you need emergency tinder, simply cut off a strip of the cloth, and you have an easily ignitable tinder source.
Moving on to the sheath, I like a clean front on my sheaths. I have found that the stone pouches on the front of other sheaths have a tendency to catch on things, and I just personally prefer to have the face of the sheath clean. So, how are you going to sharpen your knife? Here you go.
Also, as you can see, there is a PSK knife in there as well. It is stonewashed 1095, but I will probably use 154CM in the future, just for ease of maintenance. I will also probably cut a little vertical slit in the back of the sheath to slip the cords into, so theyre out of the way.
As you can see, there is not a strap that goes across the guard of the knife. As mentioned earlier, I didnt want to clutter up the front of the sheath, and I have always disliked those straps. They have a tendency to get cut, and you have to pull them out of the way to resheath the knife. With the method I have used here, the shock cord stays pulled back and out of the way, the S-biner gives very positive retention, and resheathing is simple.
Additionally, once youve unbuckled the knife for the first time of the day, to avoid having to use the retention strap every time, I embedded rare earth magnets into the sheath. These serve the dual purpose of keeping the primary knife in place, so that the retention strap is typically unnecessary, and I placed them so that they hold the PSK knife and sharpening stone in place too.
I know this has been a very long post, but I am obviously excited about my creation, and wanted to make sure all the details were clear. Im sure I missed some things, so if you have any questions, please feel free to ask away. I would also like to hear suggestions on what to do better, and what you like and don't like. Thank you,
Sam Wilson :thumbup:
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