Started My First Knife at Indian George's

KB1SYV

KB1SYV

Joined
Mar 4, 2010
Messages
170
Hey Guy's,

So there I was...I went to IG's this weekend. I was his tool for the whole time. Amongst the nut busting tasks I did while there, one of them was starting the profile on my first knife. I'm posting a few pic's from my visit below:

IG Doing what IG Does???

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Me Profiling my blade on the grinder



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Picture of me profiling

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This is the profile so far. I need to improve the flow at the top of the blade where the dip starts coming up again and meets the spine.

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I'm glad to see you got your first one going, even a little time on the grinder could save you a lot of filing.
That looks like a fascinating shop to dither around in, stuff piled up to the ceiling! I have been fooling around with making knives on and off for 17 or 18 years now and have never had the chance to visit another maker's shop. Had to build my own just to see what it's like to work in one:( Not that I'm complaining.
It was very good of IG to have you over, presuming you didn't have to do too much schlep work, that is:D
 
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indian george said:
Jeff, post some pic's of the stuff you left here with.;)
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I'm sorry George, I know deep down underneath all that manly armor your feelings were hurt. I wanted to post those yesterday, but my camera battery went dead. I had to wait until today to get another battery, so here they are!!!

This picture is of a hardened steel cylinder that I buffed to a nice polish until George got a hold of it and decided to play drums with the stick weld!!! It is a good alternative to the rail track I was going to use. Bob Loveless used a short piece of rail track as a hard base to peen on and stuff.

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Another shot:

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This is a small knife vise that I helped IG make for me...What a guy that George is!!!

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George was an awesome host and I hope to make it back there for the April 23 Hammer-In, if I can find a way up there.

Thanks George!!!

Jeff
 
It looks like you are getting set up! That vise will come in handy, but please be careful about leaving blades clamped in it with the tip out. It is frighteningly easy to turn away for a moment, forget it is there, or misjudge precisely where, and turn back and impale yourself on it.
I have managed to aquire a habit of taking blades out of the vise or swiveling it so the tip is over the middle of the bench even if I am only stepping away for a moment, but it has taken me years and a good bit of blood on the floor to get there. If you can start the habit from the beginning your carpet will be cleaner for it.
 
whoa .... hey man, you gota warn people before you post pics of IG!:eek:
Mace
 
I apologize everyone, my updates will be slow to start because I have nothing to mount the vise on and I'm putting it between my legs to file it. I don't know if it's dedication or foolishness, but either way, that vise stabbing me every which way is leaving a mark...Ouch:mad::mad::mad:. Please leave input, positive and negative.

Thanks Everyone,

Jeff
 
Hey Jeff,
I'm in Guilford CT. Your welcome to stop by here one day if you like.
Also I am teaching a knifemaking workshop at the Guilford Art Center this comming weekend....there is still one spot left open.:thumbup:
Mace:D
 
Mace said:
Hey Jeff,
I'm in Guilford CT. Your welcome to stop by here one day if you like.
Also I am teaching a knifemaking workshop at the Guilford Art Center this comming weekend....there is still one spot left open.:thumbup:
Mace:D
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Hi Mace, I pm'd you.
Hey Justin, all I need for the short term is a workbench, and a drill press.

So I keep plugging away low tech like:D

Jeff
 
So, this is where I'm at. I' mounted the IG knife Vice to my window sill temporarily. It is much more comfortable than my lap!!! I'm posting a pic of my current situation. I am requesting some advice as to how I can blend in that curve to the spine. I think I hosed up, but I'm optimistic that it is correctable. Any help in this matter is welcome and appreciated. Thanks

Jeff

Pic of knife. File guard is at point where spine is straight and then begins a gradual descent to curve.

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I think you might want to get your design down on paper and figure out your profile before you go much further. With a hooked clip point like that you usually want it to have some angle of departure from the spine. I think you might end up wanting to move the point down toward the edge side a bit, unless you are going for a trailing point style blade. If this latter is the case I would make the spine a smooth, progressive sweep that is fairly straight near the grip/guard and more curved toward the point.
At any rate the tip looks a bit overly acute to me as it is.
 
I gotta say, IG looks like my idea of a self reliant smithy. I just toured his shop online and learned how to make a forge the IG way. And to see his homemade tools in this thread too... well, just makes me smile. I'm guessing he rarely visits a tool store. ;)

Way to go, IG. My hat's off to you.

- Greg
 
Mr. Bad Example said:
I'm really trying to figure out where you're heading with this--do you have a sketch of the concept?
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I had a sketch, but it's at the bottom of IG's trash. I have begun to fix the issue, but I don't want to waste peoples time on step by step stuff. It's just not close enough to being complete for anyone to take seriously yet. I'll get there I guess. Thanks for your time anyway.
 
KB1SYV said:
I had a sketch, but it's at the bottom of IG's trash. I have begun to fix the issue, but I don't want to waste peoples time on step by step stuff. It's just not close enough to being complete for anyone to take seriously yet. I'll get there I guess. Thanks for your time anyway.
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That's certainly up to you, but I learned an immense amount from my WIP thread. I spent about three months on my little knife and got lots of great advice. If people aren't interested in your project, they will just skip over the thread.

I would really like to see a new sketch, even though the final shape may be somewhat different (I know mine was).
 
Mr. Bad Example said:
That's certainly up to you, but I learned an immense amount from my WIP thread. I spent about three months on my little knife and got lots of great advice. If people aren't interested in your project, they will just skip over the thread.

I would really like to see a new sketch, even though the final shape may be somewhat different (I know mine was).
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My issue is now I have no way to efficiently cut a new shape. When Ileft George's, the work was all filing. I fixed my original hose job, then I just hosed it again, and this is just the profile!!! I just don't want to be asking for advice at every step and as it stands now, I have to figure out what I'm going to do with the metal I have left. I have no way to post up a sketch by the way.
 
Alright here is what I came up with in your earlier pic. Good news is looks like you can still turn it more into a drop point with what you have there. The black line could get you more of a drop point look. (Assuming you can draw it in better than my horrific MS paint skills). The other was going to be my suggestion if you wanted to stick with the hooked clip point design
 

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