Second knife, this time with help!

[daizee]

Hi All,

A few months back I declared my intention to CNC some knives, but needed some prototypes first.
Those drawings finally reached some stability, and with the help of an experienced knife-making friend, I've just finished the first by-hand prototype. (the drawings have since been adjusted some more...). I hope this is just the beginning!

About a year ago I made a first knife out of a file - it was kind of hilarious.
In between finishing this one I made a quick scale model of the BK-2 out of a file for more practice.
Now the real one is done, and this one looks rather more knifey.

I didn't do a super-fine finish - I'm somewhat impatient.
The pins are a bit proud in case I need to pull the scales and re-seat them - I'm not entirely happy with the glue job. The pointy-ish rear tip may get flattened out a bit (retaining the lanyard hole, tho).

Thanks for looking.

-Daizee

Specs:
2.85" blade, tip to handle (handle front about 0.1" longer than planned)
7.5" OAL
~0.65" wide across the scales
4" of scales along the spine
~0.6" tang extension w/ lanyard hole
modified flat Grind height ~0.65"
convex edge (still a little thick, perhaps)

Materials:
1/8"x1.5" 1095 flat stock
1/4" cocobolo slabs
3/16" brass pins
kydex - the thinner variety, I forget the thickness exactly.
tek-lock clip
convex edge

Tools:
bandsaw (friend's)
2x132" belt grinder (friend's)
Paragon heat-treating oven (friend's)
Scary good bevel-grinding skill's (yep, you guess it!)
fresh Goddard Goop (lard, paraffin wax, Mobil-1 transmission fluid)
bench-top drill press
wood bandsaw
Sandpaper, files, clamps, vices, epoxy, toaster-oven, leather scraps, mousepad etc.

 

[Mitchell Knives]

Looks very nice.

Did you run out of eyelets for the sheath?

 

[daizee]

Thanks.

Run out? No - I never had any!
It didn't occur to me to order them when I got the kydex, so the holes are drilled for the cap nuts on the clip (or whatever you call them). Once I get some eyelets I'll probably go back and enlarge the holes to finish 'em properly. Once I got this far there was no stopping me for missing eyelets. They'd really make it look better, tho.

-Daizee

 

[Frank Niro]

Looks knid of good !!! It should encourage you to make more ! Frank

 

[J. Hoffman]

I sure hope my second knife looks that good!:thumbup:

 

[machinistbutler]

That turned out very nice, good job!

 

[tryppyr]

On the whole, nice work. I see what you mean about the glue. I'm curious what type of glue you used. Looks like something a bit too opaque (e.g. Gorilla Glue or the like). You might consider investing in some Brownell's AcraGlas (if you can find it). It comes complete with Release Agent that you can put on areas you don't want to be affected by the glue (such as the areas beyond the edge of the scales).

- Greg

 

[daizee]

Tryppyr, I used clear 2-ton epoxy. There's actually little glue visible on the finished knife, but some dust does show up in the pix along the not-quite-perfect wood/metal joint, which is probably what you're seeing. If I finally smooth the pins over completely the remaining residue will disappear. There are small fillets at the front and back of the scales, which I don't mind, but could probably cut away. The main problem is I didn't clamp quite hard enough, and was a little short on epoxy on one side, and the result is a small gap under one scale. It seems to be holding well enough, but it may get a re-do.

AcraGlas is an interesting idea. Finding it isn't a problem, I've got a couple brownells catalogs around and order from them online once or twice a year. Thanks for the tip.

-Daizee

 

[Daniel Fairly Knives]

Great looking knife. I like the design and you pulled it off nicely.

I found Stacy's sticky about making your knife most helpful when it comes time to glue up. It is important to clean up the epoxy after the gel stage, it is much easier back then.

I'd get the acraglas or some west system epoxy, to me a knife is as strong as its weakest part. Keep up the good work!

Sticky link http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=694673

 

[daizee]

Thanks, Daniel!

Stacy's glue sticky (indeed the entire thing) is very helpful and now it's bookmarked.

-Daizee

 

[daizee]

Another picture in context.
I haven't taken the thing off yet.

-Daizee