Oh no! Not ANOTHER knife...

Lorien mate, you really do need to forget filling that bucket up and buy yourself a belt grinder....just watching you hand sand that blade gives me sore arms and makes me think of excuses not to do any more work on it for a night or two!
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What Ian said Lorien. :thumbup:

You can still fill the bucket if you want to. Just sweep up the dust and dump it in. Think of all the knives you could be making in the same amount of time...But I have to admit this one is looking good. When I said in your other thread to "go slow and make small mistakes because they are easier to fix", I didn't really think that you would take it this far. You definitely get points in my book for sticking with it and you are learning some skills that will come in handy later in your knife making hobby.
 
Very cool. The knife is looking great. Sand, sand and then sand some more. Congrats on not freezing your cojones off btw.
 
Hmathews said:
Think of all the knives you could be making in the same amount of time...
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This is precisely why it's good for me to be working this way right now. I have so much to learn that the hours I'm spending doing this serve double duty as contemplatory time in figuring out the next steps, and how to approach other knives whose designs I've been dialling in with the same agonizingly slow pace. When it takes this much time to make a knife, it's pretty important to have the design solidified first. Takes longer, but I waste less material and less time in the long run. Or at least that's what I tell myself.

I'd love some proper powered tools, but all my money goes either back into my business or into my family's requirements. Some of it goes to knives, but most of that cash has dried up:(.

Thank you very much Harry, I really do take your advice and encouragement to heart. As you can see.:)

Riz, thanks man:D.
 
all my money goes either back into my business or into my family's requirements.
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You have your priorities right Lorien! Other things may come in time, but family is always first. I pretty much didn't get into making knives until I was retired and my boys were in high school and college. I made my first real knife with a disk sander in a B&D 1/4" drill. I'd have been better off sticking with a file. I'd have made a better knife and would not have burned out a drill. :grumpy:
 
Great thread. I have a 12 inch (blade length) monster chopper I have been tinkering with for a while now.

1/4 inch 5160.

I finished my first knife, which I heat treated in my hibachi grill with an oil quench.

I think, when I get the big one finished, I will send it out for heat treat, because of it's size.
 
it's kind of funny how things sometimes work out.

Last night, on my way home, I was thinking about my little shop and about my statement regarding my desire to acquire some powered tools. I concluded to myself that power tools are not what I need first. It's the specialty and measuring stuff. I already know that I can make a knife without a powered tool, but I really want my knives to be accurate.

So, to that end, I started thinking about what I REALLY need. For starters, a granite slab and a height gauge would be really nice. I have my method, but it's pretty ghetto. I also want a file guide, and a carbide bedded one at that. Not to mention some more files to fill in the gaps and to replace some crappy ones that I still use even though they suck. A bunch of hand tools including leatherworking tools...

Anyway, I concluded that I would not acquire powered tools until I have everything I need to make an accurate knife.

This morning, after seeing the family off, I rode my bike to work as I always do. I wasn't thinking about knives or anything much else- beautiful sunny morning was good enough to keep my brain occupied.

After I picked up the mail, I decided to walk through the hardware store on my way back to the shop. I don't go there too often as I never seem to have time, but I indulged today and lo and behold, look what I found!

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The best part was that it was on sale! 70 bucks! How could I pass on that? The last couple knives I made really suffered from poorly aligned pin holes, due to the fact I had to use a 9V cordless hand drill. A drill press has always been at the very top of my list of things to get.

But, there is almost always a reason why something is on sale;
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Kind of ironic that I'd have to fix my brand new, powered tool, using a file.
Anyway, it's fixed!
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I'm so happy that I won't have to rely on someone else and using their shop to build part of my knife. This thing is going to come in SO handy.
Now I can't wait to get started on the guard and handle. But, gotta get back to sanding first!

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What a strange day!

A fellow that I've known for many years from the mountain bike community found out recently that I'm into knives. I didn't know that he was, until recently.

Anyway, he found that knife making wasn't really for him, about 15 years ago. Today, he brought over all this knife making stuff!

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So, I guess I have a belt sander now, too.

Uh oh.
 
Lorien said:
What a strange day!

A fellow that I've known for many years from the mountain bike community found out recently that I'm into knives. I didn't know that he was, until recently.

Anyway, he found that knife making wasn't really for him, about 15 years ago. Today, he brought over all this knife making stuff!

So, I guess I have a belt sander now, too.

Uh oh.
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That is FANTASTIC! Glad for you. Now GET BACK TO WORK!
 
Nice little collection of stuff you've acquired there...:thumbup:

I started out 5 years ago with nothing much in the way of power tools except a drill press, a Dremel and an angle grinder.

Looking back, I now appreciate the effort I put in to make those first knives. Roughing out the grinds with the angle grinder, filing, drilling guard slots, filing, shaping guards with the Dremel, more filing...;)

The first 40 or 50 knives were made the hard way, but a lot was learnt. The belt grinder, milling machine, etc just speeded up the process. The Loveless/Barney book was what made me realise just how much easier things could be done with the right machines:cool:

As for 'spare' money for knifemaking supplies....tell me about it.:rolleyes:

Two daughters means very little spare cash!:D

Ian
 
Lorien,
I had to laugh at your "situation"; one minute I'm reading a post about your contentment with hand tools and then God smiles upon you and bestows royal blessings of power tools. Pretty dang funny huh?
Yes, power tools are much faster as lot's of folks have stated here. But the sad thing is that even though they are faster in good ways they are also faster in bad ways. If you know what you are doing they will speed up the process of making a knife. If you don't know what you are doing they will speed up the process of making mistakes. If you're going to keep making knives you will surely know when it's time to step things up or should I say "power things up". I'm still mostly using hand tools because like you I'm trying to savor every angle, curve and notch and understand why they are there. I've come to enjoy it even though it can be slow and at times tedious. When those things are less mysterious to me I think it will then be time to put more of my efforts into speed. I actually have access to a sweet KMG grinder but every time I start using it I feel that I'm not really understanding what I'm doing because it all happens so fast, especially my mistakes! So now I'm filing in certain areas and grinding others. I don't feel pressure because it's not my livelihood but as I get this whole process burned into my head I'll surely be spending more time at the grinder.
Can't wait to see the finished piece.
Great job,
Mike
 
Welcome to the dark side.. Ha Ha :p

If nothing else for now, that belt grinder will work great for sharpening your knives. You could justify that if you can't bring yourself to using it for making a knife. :)
 
hehe...:)
Thanks guys.

Ian, as always we're on the same wavelength, I enjoyed reading your post.
Mike, what can I say. You're story rings so true to my brain it's almost scary.
Stu, :D! I was wondrin' how I'd get an edge on this knife after it's hardened, maybe I'll use the grinder for that. Or maybe I won't. To be perfectly honest, this tool scares me a little:o
 
finished to 180 grit.

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I'm working on 220 grit right now...
 
220 done, next stop, 320...

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320 grit now complete;

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Next stop is 400, which is where I'm thinking I will quit. We'll see though.
 
Hey, I can Almost see myself in the reflection!! :D (..mirror mirror on the wall.) :D
Lorien, can you show a full shot including tang? I want to see what that ricasso is looking like. How are you signing it?
Mucho gracias,
David
 
yeah man, I want to see the whole thing too. You ought to let one of my students make a sheath for you. Seriously, that would be fun.
Mike
 
once I'm done sanding the blade, I'm going to cover it and expose the ricasso for finishing and do some fine tuning of the tang's shape. So, I'm afraid that no one will see the complete picture until it's back from Bos' facility.

Mike, that's a great offer! I'll think on it.

Sign it? Don't know if I'll bother. I know I made it, and unless I give it to someone, it will stay with me:)
 
Ok, go ahead and be a tease! ;). I think you should make the sheath too Lorien. How far away is Stuart? He really puts the icing on the cake with his stuff.
David
 
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