- Joined
- Dec 5, 2005
- Messages
- 28,403
Back in January of 2009, Nick Wheeler very kindly sent me a knife blank.
Along with it, he sent a large file and some 1086 bar stock.
Nick Wheeler sent me off on a journey, and for that I will be forever grateful.
The bar stock and the file produced two complete knives, with another 3 at various stages of development. A few of you might remember the 'uh oh, not a knife' thread which was an accidental, and at times embarrassing, WIP thread. But it was a lot of fun and you guys were such good sports, and I could not believe the amount of encouragement and support I received as well.
That whole experience, from the moment the package arrived til now is a highlight for me and a turning point.
********
I like to have lots of projects on the go at once. The only problem with that is it takes forever to get anything done
.
Petah, a resident of the forum from across the water, (from the island I live on), generously sent me some knife making materials recently, including two wonderful sets of birdseye(?) maple scales. That was so awesome Peter- thanks again!
Right around this time, I figure about 3 weeks ago, I visited a carpenter friend to see if he could rip some yew for me for another knife project. Well, the yew was garbage, full of bugs, but he pulled out some very nicely seasoned cherry and walnut and ripped it for me instead. I couldn't believe my good fortune! But what topped that off, was that on my way out, he also gave me three copper nails. He was happy to have a nice chunk of yew to burn in his woodstove and enjoys hanging out in his shop with friends and running his tools.
********
The struggle was over, and now my project had everything required to move forward. No more answers were needed, and the time to put competence to the test had arrived.
After a year and a half of trying to figure out what to do with this knife blank, the materials to finish it found there way naturally home to me, I had built a proper bench and got a vise, is that coincidence? Is it a coalescence? Is it a confluence? I don't know, so I'll shut up already, and here's the pictures, in a sec
The package had arrived. And I totally had no idea whatsoever to do with it. I had never attempted to make a knife, and didn't know how to start half way.
I have learned that there is great value in 'finishing' a knife. One must interpret the design, because you only get part of the picture; the profile, stock thickness, grind, holes. How to shape and what to use in a 3D context without the forethought of the guy who designed the knife is kind of hard. It adds a whole other layer of learning which is so valuable to the beginning/budding knife maker. Not quite like going to the maker's shop for a weekend but awesome in a similar but different way.
After pressing everything all together with JB Weld overnight, I started filing away with that big ass file that Nick gifted to me so long ago. I have grown to cherish that file, it symbolizes so much for me. Anyway, the sad thing about all this contouring was that I ended up cutting it all off with a saw because the grip was so damn fat. But that experience was really valuable, it was kind of a practice run. So when it came down to doing the contouring the second time I had it pretty much nailed.
Speaking of nailed...
I took this picture tonight. I wasn't going to start this thread until I finished the knife. A lot can go wrong still, and I could totally smurf it up. But I think it's good to see the outcome, whatever the success factor might be. In fact, this job is full of little screw ups already- the holes I drilled in the slabs don't line up with the lanyard hole in the blank, there's still some ugly file marks on the exposed portions of the tang, and the contouring isn't EXACTLY the way I envisioned it. But it's pretty close, and generally I'm stoked. This is the first time I attached a handle like this and I really learned a lot.
So, I got the copper nails stuck through the handle now and the JB Weld will let set for the night. When I looked at the little scene of the knife peacefully resting with its belly full of two part metallic epoxy, I just had to snap a picture, and then it's like, might as well do the thread thing tonight too
. After she's done, I'll post again. Hopefully it will be a success!
The credit for the kind of learning which I find so awesomely available goes to guys who post WIP threads, in fact I don't know if I'd think I'd be able to even do this if it weren't for WIP threads. Really, a HUGE thank you to all you guys who do this stuff. It's so cool!
ps. it just occurred to me to name this knife. I'm going to call it the TFK- True Friends Knife.
Along with it, he sent a large file and some 1086 bar stock.
Nick Wheeler sent me off on a journey, and for that I will be forever grateful.
The bar stock and the file produced two complete knives, with another 3 at various stages of development. A few of you might remember the 'uh oh, not a knife' thread which was an accidental, and at times embarrassing, WIP thread. But it was a lot of fun and you guys were such good sports, and I could not believe the amount of encouragement and support I received as well.
That whole experience, from the moment the package arrived til now is a highlight for me and a turning point.
********
I like to have lots of projects on the go at once. The only problem with that is it takes forever to get anything done
. Petah, a resident of the forum from across the water, (from the island I live on), generously sent me some knife making materials recently, including two wonderful sets of birdseye(?) maple scales. That was so awesome Peter- thanks again!
Right around this time, I figure about 3 weeks ago, I visited a carpenter friend to see if he could rip some yew for me for another knife project. Well, the yew was garbage, full of bugs, but he pulled out some very nicely seasoned cherry and walnut and ripped it for me instead. I couldn't believe my good fortune! But what topped that off, was that on my way out, he also gave me three copper nails. He was happy to have a nice chunk of yew to burn in his woodstove and enjoys hanging out in his shop with friends and running his tools.
********
The struggle was over, and now my project had everything required to move forward. No more answers were needed, and the time to put competence to the test had arrived.
After a year and a half of trying to figure out what to do with this knife blank, the materials to finish it found there way naturally home to me, I had built a proper bench and got a vise, is that coincidence? Is it a coalescence? Is it a confluence? I don't know, so I'll shut up already, and here's the pictures, in a sec
The package had arrived. And I totally had no idea whatsoever to do with it. I had never attempted to make a knife, and didn't know how to start half way.
I have learned that there is great value in 'finishing' a knife. One must interpret the design, because you only get part of the picture; the profile, stock thickness, grind, holes. How to shape and what to use in a 3D context without the forethought of the guy who designed the knife is kind of hard. It adds a whole other layer of learning which is so valuable to the beginning/budding knife maker. Not quite like going to the maker's shop for a weekend but awesome in a similar but different way
.
After pressing everything all together with JB Weld overnight, I started filing away with that big ass file that Nick gifted to me so long ago. I have grown to cherish that file, it symbolizes so much for me. Anyway, the sad thing about all this contouring was that I ended up cutting it all off with a saw because the grip was so damn fat. But that experience was really valuable, it was kind of a practice run. So when it came down to doing the contouring the second time I had it pretty much nailed.
Speaking of nailed...
I took this picture tonight. I wasn't going to start this thread until I finished the knife. A lot can go wrong still, and I could totally smurf it up. But I think it's good to see the outcome, whatever the success factor might be. In fact, this job is full of little screw ups already- the holes I drilled in the slabs don't line up with the lanyard hole in the blank, there's still some ugly file marks on the exposed portions of the tang, and the contouring isn't EXACTLY the way I envisioned it. But it's pretty close, and generally I'm stoked. This is the first time I attached a handle like this and I really learned a lot.
So, I got the copper nails stuck through the handle now and the JB Weld will let set for the night. When I looked at the little scene of the knife peacefully resting with its belly full of two part metallic epoxy, I just had to snap a picture, and then it's like, might as well do the thread thing tonight too
. After she's done, I'll post again. Hopefully it will be a success!
The credit for the kind of learning which I find so awesomely available goes to guys who post WIP threads, in fact I don't know if I'd think I'd be able to even do this if it weren't for WIP threads. Really, a HUGE thank you to all you guys who do this stuff. It's so cool!
ps. it just occurred to me to name this knife. I'm going to call it the TFK- True Friends Knife.
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