Not my first knife

DWidling · Mar 5, 2020

That one was pretty bad. But this is my second and things are looking a bit better! The blade is 01 and the handles are zebrawood. Plunge lines could be a little cleaner and I'm still experimenting with the mixture I use for treating the wood. Currently this one is in my kitchen undergoing daily use to see how everything holds up. What do you guys think?

Tom Lewis · Mar 5, 2020

Nice looking knife. That's a lot better than my second knife

DWidling · Mar 5, 2020

Thank for the feedback! It turned out better than I had hoped...now let's hope it wasn't beginners luck.

JustinJ · Mar 5, 2020

That looks great!

I'm pretty new at it, and have been posting a few of mine, and thought I was doing awesome for my first few knives, but this has me re thinking that! Plunge line looks great to me, thats what was kicking my butt the most at first.

I've been working strictly with O1 as well so far, and just finished a kitchen knife too.

Cushing H. · Mar 5, 2020

Nice. Very nice. (gotta love the makers mark too!)

Britt_Askew · Mar 5, 2020

Looks really good. I love the handle too, never used zebrawood before, looks like its end grain - if so I hope it holds up

DWidling · Mar 5, 2020

JustinJ said:
That looks great!

I'm pretty new at it, and have been posting a few of mine, and thought I was doing awesome for my first few knives, but this has me re thinking that! Plunge line looks great to me, thats what was kicking my butt the most at first.

I've been working strictly with O1 as well so far, and just finished a kitchen knife too.

I'm pretty sure I made a very similar comment a little while back when I saw your knives.... You do some incredible work, and I'm particularly impressed with your bolsters, which Im too hesitant to try. Thank you very much for your feedback!!

DWidling · Mar 5, 2020

Cushing H. said:
Nice. Very nice. (gotta love the makers mark too!)

Thanks! I couldn't make it any smaller because my wife's machine wouldn't cut the details properly in the vinyl. But I kind of like the hugeness of it.

DWidling · Mar 5, 2020

Spalted said:
Looks really good. I love the handle too, never used zebrawood before, looks like its end grain - if so I hope it holds up

It is endgrain! I've sealed the pores using the time tested superglue method, and the epoxy I used was the water proof g-flex stuff, so I'm hoping it'll be ok. It's finished with a few coats of BLO only, and a beeswax finish over top. I'll let you know how it holds up!

FredyCro · Mar 5, 2020

That's very clean! Is that a belt finish?

JustinJ · Mar 5, 2020

DWidling said:
I'm pretty sure I made a very similar comment a little while back when I saw your knives.... You do some incredible work, and I'm particularly impressed with your bolsters, which Im too hesitant to try. Thank you very much for your feedback!!

That really is some great looking work. I love the lines of that knife.

Dont be scared to try the bolsters. From the looks of your work, you wont have any problems. They certainly do add a lot of time and labor to a knife though.

Kevin Kf knives · Mar 5, 2020

Your second knife is better than the one I just finished for the KITH. Nice

i4Marc · Mar 5, 2020

Nice lookin' knife. Would have been nice to get a little more light on the handle though. Next time take a piece of foamcore board or even a sheet of xerox paper and bounce a little light into the shadow areas.

DWidling · Mar 5, 2020

FredyCro said:
That's very clean! Is that a belt finish?

It is, yes. It's finished on a Trizact A160, nothing else done. I'm just finishing up a blade with a hand-rubbed finish though and I think I like that a lot better than the belt finish. A lot more work though obviously.

JustinJ said:
That really is some great looking work. I love the lines of that knife.

Dont be scared to try the bolsters. From the looks of your work, you wont have any problems. They certainly do add a lot of time and labor to a knife though.

Do you have any tips/ tricks/ resources? I've only done a very limited amount of research, but if there's something you learned from experience that you don't mind sharing I'm all ears.

kmf600 said:
Your second knife is better than the one I just finished for the KITH. Nice

Thanks for the feedback! Not sure what KITH is though (still a newb), mind explaining?

DWidling · Mar 5, 2020

i4Marc said:
Nice lookin' knife. Would have been nice to get a little more light on the handle though. Next time take a piece of foamcore board or even a sheet of xerox paper and bounce a little light into the shadow areas.

I agree. I got too excited and didn't set my shot up properly, but next time I'll get some fill in there and get some detail in the shadows. Thanks for the feedback!

Kevin Kf knives · Mar 5, 2020

DWidling said:
It is, yes. It's finished on a Trizact A160, nothing else done. I'm just finishing up a blade with a hand-rubbed finish though and I think I like that a lot better than the belt finish. A lot more work though obviously.

Do you have any tips/ tricks/ resources? I've only done a very limited amount of research, but if there's something you learned from experience that you don't mind sharing I'm all ears.

Thanks for the feedback! Not sure what KITH is though (still a newb), mind explaining?

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/2019-2020-winter-kith.1696810/page-4#post-19596410

Hubert S. · Mar 6, 2020

That looks great. I love the handle wood and the satin finish. I've done a few superglue finishes on tool handles and small woodworking projects and one DIY micarta knife, and it has always come out glossy with a bit of a plastic feel. I've got to try BLO and wax on top of it.

DWidling · Mar 6, 2020

Hubert S. said:
That looks great. I love the handle wood and the satin finish. I've done a few superglue finishes on tool handles and small woodworking projects and one DIY micarta knife, and it has always come out glossy with a bit of a plastic feel. I've got to try BLO and wax on top of it.

Thanks for the feedback! I've used superglue to finish the pores on two knives but neither one felt or looked the way you describe. From what I understand the idea is to apply the glue and then let it dry (at this stage it will be glossy w/ a plastic feel), but then sand it completely down to the wood. The only superglue left will be in the wood pores, and so there gloss should be almost entirely gone. That's the way I've done it on this knife, and the wood came out looking natural. If anything the BLO will add a touch of gloss, though not much.

FredyCro · Mar 6, 2020

That looks super fine for a160, I have a100 and a65, can't wait to try them out.

DWidling · Mar 6, 2020

FredyCro said:
That looks super fine for a160, I have a100 and a65, can't wait to try them out.

The photo makes it look a bit finer than it is in reality. I've got an A65 add well which I feel looks a little too fine for my taste, but which is a nice grit to go down to before doing a hand-rubbed finish. I don't have an A100 but that might be a good middle ground.