Phase 1 - "practice" - COMPLETE

schmittie

schmittie

Joined
Nov 28, 2009
Messages
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I finished it up this morning. I have never made a knife from start to finish so this is my first one. I have steel on order from Aldo (who is awesome btw) and while waiting for it to get here I dug out a piece of junk steel that I annealed a while back. Since this was not quality steel, I chalked this whole process up to a learning experience. I should have taken notes! This was good practice. Although the metal was thicker than I like, my plunge line is off, I burned up 3 drill bits so there is no lanyard hole, and I have limited tools, this was really fun!! I did everything in my garage with what I had on hand so I don't expect this knife to be much of a user on account of my "heat treating" (please don't ask). For sure, I'm not doing the HT myself when the 1084 gets here. I'll be trying for better results on future projects.
For those of you that feel you can't do much without the professional knifemakers tools, don't limit yourself. All I had at my disposal was a 1x30 Delta belt sander, bandsaw, angle grinder, lots of files and assorted hand tools, of course. I attempted a scandi grind which actually turned out better than I thought it would. I will definitely have to spend more time on the next one to get all the scratches out of the blade. The handle wood I am told is teak.

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I can't say thanks enough to everyone here. I appreciate everyone's readiness to offer suggestions and help to my questions so far. I'm very glad I had this piece to practice on. Since it was very cheap I feel like I wasn't afraid to ruin it and the mistakes I would make don't bother me as much as if this was going to be a real user.
 
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Good job! Welcome to the addiction.
Remember to visit KMA (Knife Makers Anonymous )
 
Well Hoss,

That ain't too shabby. Regardless of the heat treat, thickness of steel, or whatever else you see wrong.......... Hang on to it. Don't let it get away.

Someday, someone will appreciate your first knife. "Hang on to it".

Now, go out there and make another. It only gets better from here.

Robert
 
Robert Dark said:
Well Hoss,

That ain't too shabby. Regardless of the heat treat, thickness of steel, or whatever else you see wrong.......... Hang on to it. Don't let it get away.

Someday, someone will appreciate your first knife. "Hang on to it".

Now, go out there and make another. It only gets better from here.

Robert
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Thanks Rob. I'm very excited to get my hands on the four feet of 1084 headed my way. Its only 1/8" so there will be less to grind and more to mess around with. I am going to have to take my time and do a WIP thread for the next one. Working with steel like this is so much better than staring at a TV.
 
Looks like you are off to a great start! I like that knife, classic design in my opinion. Hold on to that one, you have to keep the first.

Better than TV! That explains why I'm a knifemaker, no TV here, lol.
 
schmittie said:
Thanks Rob. I'm very excited to get my hands on the four feet of 1084 headed my way. Its only 1/8" so there will be less to grind and more to mess around with. I am going to have to take my time and do a WIP thread for the next one. Working with steel like this is so much better than staring at a TV.
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Yessir :) You have a great attitude and you're off to a good start. 1/8" 1084 is an excellent choice, it's fine steel and as you say that size will be easy to grind. If/when you do decide to start doing your own HT, 1084 is pretty forgiving and you can get results with a very simple set-up.

Unless you're really hung up on the scandi style, don't be afraid to try a full-flat grind, even on thin stock like that. The blade will cut much better with basically no loss in strength.
 
All things considered, it's a real nice knife!

The handle is nicely sculpted, and the grind is nice and straight (at least on the side we can see ;-)

What do you have in mind for your second "real steel" knife?

- Paul Meske, Wisconsin
 
lonepine said:
What do you have in mind for your second "real steel" knife?

- Paul Meske, Wisconsin
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I was limited with the size of the file I had so that's why I went with more of the bushcrafter style. The 1084 I ordered will be 1 1/2" wide. With that I'm planning on something with a little more belly, a drop point hunter style that would be more of a do-all knife. I probably will follow the advice of James Terrio from above and not do the scandi grind. It ended up a little more of a convex scandi after all. I'd like to try more of a saber convex grind. I'm excited!
 
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