So it's about damn time. (first real knife in the works)

Justin.Mercier

Justin.Mercier

Joined
Oct 21, 2006
Messages
1,652
So, between making a lot of railroad spike letter openers to practice forging blade shapes, practicing grinding a bit for the last few weeks (destroying a few feet of mild steel in the process) I'd still never made a knife.

Using the new forge which got finished 2 weekends ago down at IGs and some 1084 which I got from David Schott last fall (Aldo Bruno's 1" x 1/4") I forged this blade to shape and rough ground it. It's quite obvious I need a lot more practice, because several hammer blows were deep enough that once I ground the scale all off and got the bevels to the right spots they were still visible. I also need a lot more grinding practice, because the plunge lines ended up not lining up exactly on the two sides, one is back about half a milimeter from the other.

I've got it at 60 grit right now, should i take it to 120 before heat treat? or is 60 ok?

It's ugly, but, baring any failures with heat treating, it should 'work'

knife.jpg


knife2.jpg
 
That looks real nice Justin! Nothing ugly about it IMO! I take mine to 220 grit before the HT, but that's just me. I'm sure opinions will vary ;). -Matt-
 
It looks like the practice is paying off :thumbup: The next phase is cutting everything in sight :)
 
Hey Justin,
It looks like you tapered the tang! Tapering the tang on your first knife is definitely not the work of your average beginner. Nice job bubba!!

Scott (Ickie) Ickes
 
Great job Justin, can't wait to see it at IG's. I'm really going to try to be there this weekend but, I gotta see what the wife has planned :jerkit: :confused:

Do you plan on HT at IG's?
 
Havent thought about the HT yet >_< I dont even have any oil yet (though I was going to check a restraunt suply place otw home from work and see what they charge for a 5 gallon pail of peanut oil) Working in mild steel almost exclusivly, I've never used anything but water to quench before... and I dont feel like cracking my first knife by quenching it wrong.

Hopefully all I've read about 1084 being easy to heat treat is right, and I dont screw this one up... I'd certainly like to not be the only person at IG's hammerin on the 28th who's still never made an actual knife.. I mean it's been what? 6 months since I decided I really wanted to make knives? =P

Yes, the tang is tapered, I drew out the tang and tapered it to the length I wanted and so that the knife would balance right at the finger notch. I've found that blade that balance right where your index finger is 'feel' a whole lot lighter in the hand than if the balance is in a different spot. I dont know where other people like it, but since I'm making the knife for myself, I put it where I like it.
 
LOOOOKING GOOOD!! Justin, if you want to HT and temper down here on Saturday we could do that. I haven't tried my new oil from Darren yet.:D So you could be the guinea pig. HEHEHEHEHE!!!;)
 
I just hope I didnt grind the edge too thin at the tip so that it warps >_< In my newb grinding, the tip is a little thinner than the rest of the edge, about a tiny hair under dime thickness, where I left the rest of the edge around penny thickness.

Either way, there will be a lot of finger crossing and hoping that things turn out OK in the end =P
 
Looks good to me. Good useable shape. And hey, I like the hammer marks.
 
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