Some random action shots (just 'cuz)

Hey John :) The pics never came through email for some reason and finally Henry sent printed copies via USPS.

If you can wait a few days I'll take some shots of this one I made and a description. I think there might be a few kinks to get out to make it better yet... but it is awfully slick! (the only reason I say give me a few days is I'd like to see if I can figure those kinks out before I pass along something that might not be quite right). :)

Thanks again guys... I didn't think this thread was going to do what it did. Heck, I was going to post the first 6 or so pics and call that good.... See what happens when you make fun of me? I take that attention and run with it! LMAO ;)
 
cleaning up choil cut out with BOSS oribital sander and 400X drum.
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Making sure spine is square to centerline and flat.
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At this point the blade has been feathered down to a really thin edge and I'm putting the initial edge on with a Norton Fine India.
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Refining it with a FINE DMT Diamond plate
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I thought the pics of it shaving hair off my arm and leg were kind of gross, so I'm leaving those out! lol

This was the only "action" shot that came even close to coming out clear. The rest were all blurry, but I didn't realize it until I was done. This knife is thin and fast... more of a slicing tool than a chopping one, but I managed to whack through a couple 2X4's with a temporary handle. I couldn't find any edge damage at all, so I was happy.
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Since the edge held up I went back to the disc sander and took it up to 600X paper. Here I'm starting the hand sanding with a surface ground piece of steel and cut offs from the disc sander. :)
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Awesome pictorial Nick:thumbup:. That knife would be about right for me ;).

Since I haven't gotten a reply from you so far, I suspect my last e-mail never made it trough to you. I'll just send it out to you again when I come home tonight.

Can't wait to see how this one turns out, but judging from the pics so far it should be pretty much amazing :).

Would love to get my hands on the pictures and description of the integral jig once you made them. I came up with a similar jig for my KMG but now I don't have to work out all those annoying details myself ;).

Best regards

Marcus
 
Dang. I'm just blown away. I make toys compared to this stuff.

Thanks for the thread Nick.
 
Nice shop Nick, very slick. WOW this thread has thought me a lot. This week I will make waterfall platen. There is still so much to learn.
 
...I can't believe I'm being forced to wait this long for a finished product from you, Nick... btw, you still haven't requested my address so you can send the knife to me when it's done.;):D:D


Awesome thread! You might end up being my new hero! (Sorry, Fitzgerald, but ya gotta admit - the kid's got it!;))
 
Nick, I just wanted to say how much I appreciate you doing this thread. I've learned quite a few new and useful things from it. Unfortunatly you've also increased my shop wishlist by a good 4 or 5 grand ;)

Can't wait to see how the finished product looks :)

~Nate
 
Matt, don't say anything about that wait to the VERY PATIENT collectors that have been waiting on me for about 3 years :eek: ;)

Marcus, I wrote you a couple times... maybe you didn't get my last one or I didn't get your last one??? Promise I wasn't dogging you!

Guys... on the platen, I just want to make sure everybody knows it was Steve Culver's idea and not mine. http://www.culverart.com

And yes, I'm an idiot and put in the wrong name before. Sorry, I'm under pressure! lol :o

Dave... thanks buddy... I can't wait to meet up with you sometime and talk shop! :D
 
I just came up with a great idea! :thumbup: :D

Since lots of people have said thank you, I decided... what better way to really thank me than to chip in together and have that Adam guy (er...uh... Michael Kanter ;) ) send me a MAP arm for my KMG!!!


ROTFLMFAO!!! :D




For any short bus riders (especially the window licker type) I AM just kidding. I didn't do this thread for anything but some fun and to "talk shop" in ShopTalk. I initially started taking the pics to have on my new lap-top at shows for when people come up and ask,


"How do you get those funny lines in the blade???"

"How long does it take to make one of these?"

"$1500!?!?! Holy $hit, I should be a knifemaker so I can get rich!!!"

"Is this thing like tempered and stuff?"

"Is that made out of real metal?"

"You make knives?!?! Scarey!"

Okay, that last one wasn't so much a question as the reaction I get from all the people I went to high school with that didn't know I started doing this stuff when I was 14 and somehow don't appreciate bladesmithing as a creative outlet yet rather some weird, dark, demonic process that must be REALLY EASY yet really scarey as well.

I have to quit drinking too much coffee and posting. :o ;)
 
I've been pretty darn quite on this thread. Which would amaze my wife, but that doesn't mean that I'm not watching it and learning from it, as well as appreciating it.

I'm really looking forward to visiting your shop. I really want to get up there bad now.

I'm not jealous of your shop, your shop pixie or your talent. I'm just glad that you're willing to share your knowledge with the rest of us. Your sharing is going to increase the quality of many of the knifemakers efforts here on bladeforums. Including my own efforts. Good on ya!

Thanks Nick!!!!!!!!!
 
Nick, you should put together a coffee table book featuring your bladesmithing in your spare time. Maybe with the proceeds you could buy more shop equipment. :thumbup:
 
NickWheeler said:
I just came up with a great idea! :thumbup: :D

Since lots of people have said thank you, I decided... what better way to really thank me than to chip in together and have that Adam guy (er...uh... Michael Kanter ;) ) send me a MAP arm for my KMG!!!


ROTFLMFAO!!! :D
Click to expand...

Sounds good, I'll start it off by kicking in $5.:D

Thanks for doing this , Nick. Ive been checking this thread every couple of hours for more pics. What the hell is taking you so long?
Is this going to be one of those $150 bowie knives that you make?:D
 
I'm not jealous of your shop, your shop pixie or your talent.

I am, I want it all ( well maybe not the shop pixie, my wife would kill me). Shoot a knife will make itself if you have all those tools, then I could spend more time fishin and just let my pet monkey turn the machines on. :D:D:D

Get back to work you slacker, if you'd stay off that damn puter with all this nonsense you could show us some finished pitures.

Bill
 
Muych talent going on here! I thought about how much money knife makers do make and from what I gather, Unless you are very well known and truly get top dollar for your knives it must be tough to get "rich" especially since it seems to take many hours to make a top quality custom knife. This is just my thinking, I still have yet to make my first knife but I used to own a carpet cleaning company and I would make roughly 125.00 an hour cleaning carpets! If I made a knife that took me 2 hours I doubt it woulf be worth 250 bucks! Basically I would asume that you can make decent money but to get rich would be tough. Is that about right?

The nice thing is that you enjoy what you do. I made okay money selling insurance but I hated every minute of it
 
close up of hand sanding
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looking for scratches.... optivisor and 150Watt flood bulb
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grinding clip
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Rather than rotating everything in my body to try to sand the clip which is at an odd angle, I built this rig for sanding them. It rotates so that you get the clip grind parallel to the floor. See Mom and Dad... I really did go to college! ;)
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Here's a $50 tip. How do you make sure you're flat and true on that little bitty bevel so that it makes the grind line sharp and clean???

Well, if you're only sanding off the marker, then you're in good shape.
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Like this.
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Whewe... a lot of the crud work is done... the clip has been trued up by hand, and the blade has been taken to 600X. Ack...
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If you could make a knife in two hours you would forever be my hero!

I don't think it's possible to make even decent money with knives. At least not if you're into it the way I am. I'll redo something 10 times if I end up with a better knife at the end. I don't care about crunching numbers... I care about making the best knife that I can. That's the reputation I want.

It's also why I don't do it full-time anymore.

By the time you figure out the amount of time I have into this... even if it sells for what most would consider a very high price... the hourly rate will be nowhere near what I make at work nor will it include medical insurance, retirement/401K.

If you want to make money... don't make knives!!! :)
 
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