Photos New maker looking for feedback

[Joshua Fisher]

Hello everyone, new to the forum and new to knife making and wanted to get some feedback on a design, this is the second finished knife I have ever made, please let me know what you think about the design, it is meant to be a small edc knife and so far it’s been working great for me but I’d like to see what others think. As I said I’m fairly new to knife making so I am also looking for technical advice as well, I want to get better and continue to make nicer knives so if anyone sees anything they think I should focus on improving please let me know.

https://imgur.com/a/4NtLM

 

[Stang Bladeworks]

Looks good. From what limited experience i have the best advice i can give is keep making and your skills will progress. But know that what you have here looks really good.

 

[Justin Schmidt]

For your 2nd knife it looks great. Hell your pictures are better than most, mine included.
Only suggestion I have is bring the tip up some so its more of a drop point instead of leaf shaped. But thats more personally preferance really. But i would definitely clean that plunge out

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

First - really good job!

The main thing I see is a very thich blade. The scales look thinner than the tang ( partly camera angle?).
The projection below the ricasso shows how that thickness affects the looks. I would ever so slightly round that projection.

It also will make the knife feel heavy in the hand.

In the next blade try a steel about .125" thick. I think you will like the difference in look and feel.

One final note - The human brain/eye is trained to spot things that are different. That is why the one tiny scratch on a blade, or grain flaw in a handle will stick out like a flashing neon sign.
When using mosaic rivets, be sure to clock the pattern. Make it so one spot is exactly at 12"00. Your is very close, and most likely no one would notice it ( except me ), but if it was a bit more off center, it would pull the eye toward it.

Again, very nice knife.

 

[Joshua Fisher]

Thank you everyone for the feedback, I will definitely try to get the plunges cleaned up better in the future, I’m going to try using a plate with a radius ground into the edge with and adhesive back paper, something that nick wheeler showed for dialing in plunge lines, I don’t want to blame the machine cause there is always a way to make up for lack of precision but I’m using a 1x30 sander and noticed I will need to spend some more handwork to get the plunges looking good in the future. It’s 3/16 1095 and I wish I had went with .125 or .156 instead but I got a big sheet of it at a really good close out price so I’m thinking of trying some tapered tangs to reduce the thickness, this knife had quite a few holes drilled into the handle for weight reduction and the balance point is about 1/2 inch behind the ricasso but it still looks really thick. Any tips for trying a tapered tang with just a small sander? Also thank you Stacy for pointing out the position of the mosaic pin I hadn’t even thought about making sure the pattern was lined up and will definitely do that in the future. Thank you again everyone.

 

[Joshua Fisher]

Stacy how do you think that design would look with a Japanese style handle wrap, maybe use the thickness of the steel as a advantage, I’m not sure if the handle may be too narrow, I have a few blanks like this one I’m working on and I might give it a try and post pictures for feedback or advice, as long as I don’t epoxy the wrap until I know it’s what I want I can always undo it and use normal handle scales

 

[AndrewC]

The human brain/eye is trained to spot things that are different. That is why the one tiny scratch on a blade, or grain flaw in a handle will stick out like a flashing neon sign.
When using mosaic rivets, be sure to clock the pattern. Make it so one spot is exactly at 12"00. Your is very close, and most likely no one would notice it ( except me ), but if it was a bit more off center, it would pull the eye toward it.

Stacy, you never cease to amaze. Great general point, i.e. we evolved to notice exceptions: something moving, a stick cracking, something out of palce or rong. -- it's a survival trait. (In fact research shows that, as asymmetry is a strong indicator of genetic abnormality, we subconsciously notice tiny facial asymmetries in a doctored photo and rate the person more 'ugly'.) More to the point, I've never thought of 'dialing in' my mosaic pins to top-dead-center, as it were. S'pose if I were using a '3-ball' pattern like Kramer's I mighta thought of it; not so much with more compass points. DANG, now I've got something else to get OCD about....
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Breaking News Update: I just went and checked my (real) Kramer chef*. Total surprise: the mosaic pin is not lined up! Top dot's more at the 57-58 minute mark. I notice that is NOT now the case with the BK-branded Zwilling knives - figure between the Japanese mfg's and the German owners that would be the case.

* (Yep, I own an original - I got my custom order in back when he was only a demi-god. Real nice guy, btw. Just found that out again 'cuz I literally just talked to Bob 5 minutes ago. Didn't mention the mosaic pin thing though.)

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I use a neat trick when doing mosaic rivets. I carefully saw a slot in the end that matches the exact alignment desired. When inserting the rivet, I use a small screwdriver to rotate it to dead center.

You are right about how evolution has shaped our recognition of thongs. We ignore most of what we see because out brain thinks it knows what is there. There have been several great optical experiments that prove how wrong we can be. My favorite is the gorilla walking across the set of a musical number with a couple dozen letard clad dancers ... and no one notices. The other is three shapely blonde cheerleaders. Only the center one is cheering ... and jiggling a lot. They change the end one for a boy wearing a blond wig, skirt, and crop top. You can watch it several times and won't see it happen. I think the series is called "Brain Science" or something like that. It has many episodes that explore how we perceive things. You will not believe how or brain misleads us.

I have trained myself to spot the anomaly. If I drop a tiny part or diamond, I freeze and stare at the floor blankly. I let my brain find what is different .. and that is where the item is.
I also see insects, small animals, and other tiny natural things in the woods or in the yard that everyone passes by. People ask how I spot them so easily and I say, "By not looking for them."

 

[AndrewC]

I use a neat trick when doing mosaic rivets. I carefully saw a slot in the end that matches the exact alignment desired. When inserting the rivet, I use a small screwdriver to rotate it to dead center.

You are right about how evolution has shaped our recognition of thongs. We ignore most of what we see because out brain thinks it knows what is there. There have been several great optical experiments that prove how wrong we can be. My favorite is the gorilla walking across the set of a musical number with a couple dozen letard clad dancers ... and no one notices. The other is three shapely blonde cheerleaders. Only the center one is cheering ... and jiggling a lot. They change the end one for a boy wearing a blond wig, skirt, and crop top. You can watch it several times and won't see it happen. I think the series is called "Brain Science" or something like that. It has many episodes that explore how we perceive things. You will not believe how or brain misleads us.

I have trained myself to spot the anomaly. If I drop a tiny part or diamond, I freeze and stare at the floor blankly. I let my brain find what is different .. and that is where the item is.
I also see insects, small animals, and other tiny natural things in the woods or in the yard that everyone passes by. People ask how I spot them so easily and I say, "By not looking for them."

(grin about thongs especially) My boys love that show - Brain Games?. Even when we're looking for the twist, we often miss it.

For finding a dropped tiny part, my trick is to get my eye down at floor level and look across it. (That of course assumes my floor is free of clutter, which is more often than not purely a hypothetical.) More often, the instant I notice I've dropped something I look down, "de-focus" i.e. NOT try to find it but just see the scene in time to notice motion, and also try to hear the tink-tink-tink for a clue. (If it's magnetic, that simplifies things but usually that's not the case.) Then kind of a spiraling-outward grid search. Totally understand the 'not looking for' mindset though, more like letting your hind-brain find the anomaly. Kind of zen.

Oh, yeah, the other "assume the floor's clean" option is a tactile sweep. And finally, the "what's the absolute worst place it could've gone...?"