Side projects- what else have you made with your knifemaking tools/skills?

[andrewh2011]

Ah, but you'd be amazed how a first knife is so similar to a first distillation. You think it's great until you've done it for a few years. Then, you look back and it's garbage compared to what you're making now. And, much like most shows about knifemaking, after you become proficient you realize that moonshiners is talking total nonsense most of the time. You're friends all think everything you make is the greatest ever and you realize how much better the knife/drink you've made is than most anything you can buy in the store. Proper heat treat and good steel are synonymous with good cuts and produce a vastly superior product simply by using a different, non-factory method.

lol it really does sound similar when you put it that way. yeah i put moonshiners and hobbyist distillers in different categories the moonshiners for large batches for most profit and hobbyist for the best they can make. I always wondered where some of the better brands made there cuts and how much better you could get with really strict cuts. Man your making me want to go read on the distilling forums i used to go on again.
But on a side note i really do hope the laws change to something more like brewing your own beer. Guess we could just move to New Zealand lol.

I thought I was the only grown man who loves Harry Potter.

no definitely not it really is a good series even if it was written for kids.
i really like the pendant thats clean.

I love it too, thought about making wands myself.

Me too lol it would be really cool if someone here with a background in woodworking made some of the wands in the books down to the core im not sure what feather you would use for pheonix feather, horse hair could work for unicorn hair idk about the dragon heart string lol

 

[pwheeler]

no definitely not it really is a good series even if it was written for kids.
i really like the pendant thats clean.


Me too lol it would be really cool if someone here with a background in woodworking made some of the wands in the books down to the core im not sure what feather you would use for pheonix feather, horse hair could work for unicorn hair idk about the dragon heart string lol

My first sword will definitely be the sword of griffindor, if it ever happens. I probably would have taken a crack at it already, except it has engraving and a silver handle encrusted with rubies, so it requires learning some new skills.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I carved this cameo last week. I make knife related jewelry for the ladies.

The material is queen helmet shell from Africa, which is what quality cameos are carved from. I cut my own pieces from whole shells. There is only a small part of the shell that is usable or cameos. The best pieces of the shell are two-tone with a lustrous white inner layer and a tan to pink outer layer. I had this piece that was predominantly white and used it for carving a Loveless style drop point hunter with a damascus blade and stag handle. The rivet is gold. Frame is sterling with a vine pattern.
Cameo is 40X30mm and knife is 35mm OAL.

 

[JMJones]

I made some of these dogs head hammers from 1045 to sell in the Exchange last year, they were a fun side project.

 

[elementfe]

For me it's more like, "what cool things do you do with your blacksmithing/metalworking skills?"
I still remember the day I watched a demo and said to myself, Oh...this highly mysterious and arcane knifesmithing stuff is just blacksmithing- not that hard of a forging at all, for someone who's familiar with hot steel.

 

[JCaswell]

Well here's something I was making in 1995, around the time I switched to knives full time---wheellock pistols!

Also, here's a Box I did for my wife's watch(s) a couple years ago.
It's from a solid block of titanium with an engraved and enameled script on the copper heart. There's an embossed leather floor to the box, so her watches don't clank around in there.
I made this for next to the sink in the bathroom, so it has to stand up to moisture, hence the titanium.

 

[NeilJBorja]

Not exactly high art but I crank these bottle openers out pretty quickly for my buddies at my University's FSAE (racecar) club. I made the stamp a while ago out of some scrap 52100 lying around. Using letter punches to stamp the recipient names on the back feels like it takes more work than making the bottle openers themselves! I think next year I want to CNC machine some out of a billet of mild steel/nickel damascus for some mentors of mine.

 

[The Gopher]

I make selfbows and custom Slingshots, I'm hoping my skills in these areas will transfer to knife making!

 

[mattd]

She actually wares it

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

mattd - bad attachment, try again.

 

[JCaswell]

Not exactly high art but I crank these bottle openers out pretty quickly for my buddies at my University's FSAE (racecar) club. I made the stamp a while ago out of some scrap 52100 lying around. Using letter punches to stamp the recipient names on the back feels like it takes more work than making the bottle openers themselves! I think next year I want to CNC machine some out of a billet of mild steel/nickel damascus for some mentors of mine.

Love it! The rough-forging and the look of the markings remind me of old silver bars pulled from some Spanish wreck.
Very cool!

 

[phorizt]

I've got 2 littles boys and several nephews so I've been thinking about doing some custom slingshots for them. Those are some really cool ones you've done Gopher.

 

[NeilJBorja]

Thanks JCaswell, the best part about blacksmithing is that to the untrained eye, almost everything looks cool, so while my burned rough parts make me cringe in embarrassment, it just makes it that much cooler to my friends

 

[Armin Drumm]

Some forged corkscrews....

 

[JCaswell]

Some forged corkscrews....

Those are cool too!
Talk about improvised weapons....I mean very useful bottle-opening tools.

 

[Greenberg Woods]

I also make a fair number of jewelers hammers. I just take the 3/4 3140 stock i use for forging hand tools, i define 4 flats at right angles to each other, drill a hole down the middle and fit it with a half in thick ash dowel. They are super helpful for knife making and several jewelers in my area have bought different sizes weights and hardnesses