Starting the year off with a blunder.....

Drew Riley · Jan 9, 2023

Curious how many of you guys have made this little snafu?

I've got this neck knife design that like to make, and last year I profiled and heat treated about 36 blanks of the aforementioned design out of 1095. As I get the time or the inclination, I grab a blank or two, go through the rest of the knife finishing process, and Bob's your uncle. In the mean time, the remaining blanks are hanging in various stages of completion on a couple of nails above my belt grinder.

Well, I get a message a while back from an individual who really likes the design, but they were hoping that instead of 1095, I could make one out of CPM 3V.
3V you say? No problem... I'll make a few out of 3V... Let's say about 10 for now. Same deal... I'll finish one, send it to the customer, then get the rest when I can.

So I get the steel, I profile the blanks as per usual, scratch "3V" on all the tangs, get them heat treated, and then hang them up on a nail next to the other 1095 blanks above my grinder. Some of you may see where this is going...

Well, one day I go out to the shop, grab one of the ten 3V's off the "3V" nail, and start cleaning the little bit of scale from heat treat off of the flats. I even wrote 3V back on the tank with a sharpie when I was done, since I had to put off grinding the rest of the knife until another day.

A few days later I'm back in the shop, and I'm really wanting to get this knife finished up, so I get back to finishing all the grinding, I etch my name and the steel type (CPM 3V) onto the ricasso, glue and pin on some handle scales, and by the next day I've finished the knife, made a sheath, boxed it up, and sent it off the the customer.

Fast forward to today... I walk by the grinder and something catches my eye. "3V" written in sharpie on a blade blank. But wait... I only wrote 3V in sharpie one ONE of the 3V blanks. I must have finished a different 3V blank... right?

NOPE. 10 blanks still hanging on the 3V nail. I had accidentally grabbed one of the 1095 blanks and thought it was a 3V. Well, what the customer doesn't know won't hurt him right?
Just kidding. I immediately messaged the customer and told him I'll be finishing and shipping out another knife ASAP. I guess the first time was a practice run.

DanF · Jan 9, 2023

Don’t yuh hate it when it happens!
I have two on the bench right now with a new sharpie marking on them, big question marks because I’m not sure of the steel and tempering. Make enough and it is going to happen.
You gave me a chuckle, seems I’m not the only one.
Best wishes for 2023

Joshua Fisher · Jan 9, 2023

I had an order once for a W2 knife with a hamon and nice vintage handle material, got it completely done and really happy with it only to double check the order notes to find the client wanted a lanyard tube and I had forgotten about it entirely. Guess the only thing better than making one knife is making two

nmbarta · Jan 9, 2023

I've got two finished knives that I don't know if they are 80crv2 or 1084. I made them about a year ago and at the time I was playing with 80crv2 a little bit (not anymore) I simply forgot wich was which....so there they sit. I wonder if there is a way to tell them apart now? "We do it nice, cause we do it twice" ... my brother used to say that about screw ups we had to rebuild on the job.

Drew Riley · Jan 9, 2023

nmbarta said:
"We do it nice, cause we do it twice" ... my brother used to say that about screw ups we had to rebuild on the job.

When I used to work construction we'd always say "why do once what you can do twice?". I've unfortunately had to carry that saying into every job since... hahaha

Drew Riley · Jan 9, 2023

Joshua Fisher said:
I had an order once for a W2 knife with a hamon and nice vintage handle material, got it completely done and really happy with it only to double check the order notes to find the client wanted a lanyard tube and I had forgotten about it entirely. Guess the only thing better than making one knife is making two

I've had to add a lanyard tube on a finished knife at least once or twice. There's always the question of whether or not to just start over, but I've found that if I spend 4 hours carefully positioning and fixturing it into my milling machine vise, and I clench my butt cheeks together hard enough and hold my mouth just right, I can just about get by with a brand new carbide endmill.
Sure, my blood pressure sky rockets, and my ears start ringing, but it's all in a day's work, right?

JV Knives · Jan 9, 2023

I go back and forth with CPM3V & AEBL a fair amount. I am forever marking and re-marking the steel info on the handle with my Sharpie. I have not mixed them yet! But it's been close...and I feel your pain! I've considered electro-etching blade material on the unfinished handle sections....just to keep my straight.

Seedy Lot · Jan 9, 2023

I recently had 10 blanks sitting on the bench in 5 different steels. Had not worked in knife shop for a few months and complety forgot what blank was what and since I tapered tangs on all of them at same time I ground of my markings indicating steel not even thinking.

Well with some thought I was able to get all but 3 figured out and since one was Magnacut and the other two Cruwear I ended up using a salt water spray on the tangs to determine the Magnacut blank.