Second knife

[Jack142]

Well guys I just finished my second knife from a knife kit that I bought. I had a little trouble on the pins. They didnt come out round. They are kinda mashed round with a little extra on the pin. I sanded my fool head off and they still look like they peen "ugly"
Any ideas what I could of done wrong.
My guess is that I hammered too much and flatten them too much. I followed the " Goddard " way and champered the holes slightly.
But hey any advice is always welcomed.
The micarta handle turn out real good. I did a lot of hand sanding on it too. up to 1500 grit. and then buffed it with my dremel tool. Its got a nice shine on it.
I tried tapering the tang. It's ok but I didnt take it down as far as I should have. I was scared of screwing it up too much.
I did regrind the blade and tang took off the gut hook on the blade and the sharp points and rounded the corners on the tang.
Then I sanded off most of the grind lines that I put on the knife.
There are a couple of spots that just dont seem to want to come smooth. Kinda like one line here and there.
Thanks for listening
Jack

 

[ddavelarsen]

Lot of work, isn't it? From your description I think you should just file the pins down some more until the surface is flush with the scales, or until you take enough off of both to get to "good" material. It's possible you did peen too much - many makers don't peen much at all, depending on the handle material. Micarta can take some though. Be careful with wood, it'll split.

The grinding marks that remain are what it takes so long to learn to do. "Patience" is the single most necessary skill to be a knifemaker. You'd freak if you knew how many hours the most revered makers spend on their beautiful works. It takes inhuman amounts of time and patience. Just keep sanding until all the marks are gone; sounds easy, doesn't it? Well, there is no easy way but doing it the long way is worthwhile.

You deserve credit for tapering the tang on your second knife; so did I, and I've done it on every appropriate knife since. I did the same thing you describe, too. I haven't made all that many knives but I'm just now beginning to let myself get it thin enough at the end. You're on the right track, keep it up! Give yourself a big pat on the back, man.

I hope you can start posting some pics too. You can find someplace to host images for you and link to them from your thread, or (this is my suggested method) subscribe as a KnifeMaker or other Member and host them on BF's server. That's much easier and you support the good folks who support this fantastic forum.