New to knife making: WIP thread (first 2 complete)

Well since I got one of the steak knives drilled I figured I may as well try and get a bevel on it.

I decided I would have a go at using the 4x36 to grind the bevel... used a 120 grit belt.

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I went very slowly at first, and was very scared to screw it up... eventually I got a feel for it and it turned out surprisingly well!

The sides aren't 100% equal, so I may take it back to the grinder and grind a little more into the plunge on the one side (the side I haven't shown you lol)...

I finished the knife to 220 grit, and it will go to 400 along with the other 3 when they are drilled, countersunk and beveled.

Tip was nice and even too so that was a nice surprise.

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O1 Set are going into the mail tomorrow afternoon after work. Those I should have back next week from Rob and I can get to putting handles on them. I'm really excited to get the first two done, I spent a couple more hours on my rainy saturday off working out the remaining scratches in the plunge lines as best as I could.

Wednesday will probably get rained out again for work so hopefully I'll get some more shop time then.

I need more 120 grit belts.. only have the one of hand and I believe it was slightly worn already. Just gotta wait for payday first :D
 
Finally an update =)

A BIG one too. My knives came back from heat-treating yesterday. To any Canadian Knifemakers that are starting out... Rob and Marilyn at knifemaker.ca are totally tops to deal with. They will be getting a lot more business from me in the future, it took only a week from when they recieved my knives to have them back at my doorstep.

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Anyways, on to the fun. You all remember my botched attempt at the screw/washer handle idea. Well I got these mosaic pins and brass tubing instead, and they are gonna look great! Pins/tubes cut into lengths.

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To start today, I cut out my handle blanks into lengths and drilled them all. Then shaped them with my 4x36 and disc sander while they were temporarily pinned together.

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Then they were dimpled to help with the epoxy adhesion.

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Then I went to taking the scale off my knives. They were both treated to 58-59 rockwell hardness. I settled on a 400 grit satin finish. I did attempt to go up to 600, but I didn't really like how it polished when I let the paper load up, so I kept it at 400.

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All taped up and ready to get some scales!

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I got MSI Slow-cure 30 minute epoxy from KMS tools today. It has a 30 minute working time and 24 hour cure time. I figured this was slow enough for a good and solid bond.

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So I put on my nitrite gloves and glue em up, and used a rubber mallet to tap the pins into place.

Here they are lightly clamped, taking care not to squeeze them too hard and have all the epoxy ooze out. Tomorrow afternoon i will shape and put an edge on these babies :D

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Thanks cb! I'm having so much fun with this.. time just flies when I'm working out there, I spent 3 hours in the garage and didn't even notice it :D
 
Well S30V was not in my opinion for you to jump into. It is difficult to work and very tough to finish well. A hand held drill will give you lots of problems. A small bench type is a great move up if you can afford it and carbide drill bits are the way to go for most blade steels.
I think your work is super, Mister !!! stay with it !!! Frank
 
I'm still unsure why I ordered S-30V after reading about it being hard to grind, hard to hand finish.. and a long list of other things that would make it difficult to work with given my tools and current skill level. Can you recommend an easier stainless? Is CPM 154 a better/easier option for me at this point? I still have a fair amount of time before the set needs to be completed, so I'm fully prepared to put these 4 aside and grind another set out of an easier steel.

Thanks for the compliments, I still have a lot to learn but I hope to keep getting better =)
 
Update on the first 2. They are all done as of this afternoon =)

I cut the pins off with a hacksaw as close to the slabs as possible, since I heard that grinding the pins/tubing too hard could lead to them getting hot and weakening the epoxy bond.

Then I shaped them with a 40 grit belt on my 4x36, and progressively polished with 120-400 belts. Then finally wet sanded them at 400 and 600 grit.

This is the end result :D Complete with in-hand pictures!

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All I need to do is wait for my grinder/sander to come in and I will put an edge on them!

A big thanks to everyone at this forum for the bountiful information and helpful criticism on this project. They aren't perfect, thankfully my picture taking skills/camera are crappy enough to hide them lol... but I can see the flaws, and I have ideas of how to prevent them on my next knives. I'm definitely hooked! But I couldn't be happier with how my first 2 knives ever have turned out!
 
Just a small little update. These still don't have an edge (grinder/sander comes in tomorrow) but one thing I have always loved about carbon steel is doing a patina... these were done just now with a 25 minute layer of french's yellow mustard.

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I think this adds a bit of character to the knives. I will be developing a makers mark (will post a mockup for you guys to critique soon!)and they will eventually get that put on later in the summer, but for now this is what we have.

As per the recommendations of some of you these S-30v steak knives will be put on hold.. and I'm going to order some CPM-154. I will also order it precision ground.. so I don't have to deal with the mill finish like the s-30v... will update this thread again when the steel arrives and I start work on them again.

Again, thank you for all the kind words and help through this WIP. I appreciate every word, and I can tell you now.... I'm hooked :D

PS: I will probably add a blade blank from NickWheeler to this WIP because I have a special person in mind for a new hunter =)
 
Wow , those turned out great . I wish my first knife looked that good. I messed up the handle by not clamping an area tight enough leaving a glue gap . I used acorn nut screws and didn't shorted the bolt so when I cut down the nut it exposed a hollow hole in the middles on one side. So the handle is going to be completely redone once I figure out how to remove it without damaging the blade. In the mean time I'm starting a new knife , it's d2 and I have it almost profiled and then to start the bevels and ricasso. I'm having serious issues with the ricasso , regardless of the different techniques I read I just can't get them how I want. I guess I just need more practice . Your knives have me very envious , keep up the good work!
 
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