- Joined
- Aug 27, 2004
- Messages
- 2,525
A few months ago a new maker and fellow forum member asked if I could give him a few pointers on grinding blades. He made the trip from Georgia and brought with him a couple of blanks that he had designed and had profiled.
My first thoughts were that the simple drop point design was not bad for his first. I thought the material was a bit thick (somewhere around 3/16”
for such a short knife. To me, the blade height was a tad tall, and the handle just didn’t feel quite right in my hand. Overall, it was not a bad design, but it just wasn’t my “cuppa tea”.
We spent the day grinding and at the end of the day, he gifted me the blade that I had ground. Later, I heat treated it, sharpened it, and cut all kinds of stuff with it. I was fairly impressed with the edge retention. I still didn’t put handles on it ‘cause it just wasn’t my style blade.
Fast forward to being hyped up and inspired after the Blade Show. I ground the drop point into something a little different, changed the handle profile slightly, ground the mill scale off of the ricasso area, repositioned the handle holes by cutting a rectangular window in the handle, and tapered the tang. I did all this while the blade was still razor sharp. (Yea, I know, that wasn’t the brightest idea).
Here is the result. I must say, it feels quite nice in my hand.
S-35VN Steel
Full distal taper on the blade with tapered tang
Linen Micarta scales with black liners
Hammer domed nickel silver pins
OAL – 7”
Blade Tip-to-Handle – 3 ¼”
My first thoughts were that the simple drop point design was not bad for his first. I thought the material was a bit thick (somewhere around 3/16”
for such a short knife. To me, the blade height was a tad tall, and the handle just didn’t feel quite right in my hand. Overall, it was not a bad design, but it just wasn’t my “cuppa tea”.We spent the day grinding and at the end of the day, he gifted me the blade that I had ground. Later, I heat treated it, sharpened it, and cut all kinds of stuff with it. I was fairly impressed with the edge retention. I still didn’t put handles on it ‘cause it just wasn’t my style blade.
Fast forward to being hyped up and inspired after the Blade Show. I ground the drop point into something a little different, changed the handle profile slightly, ground the mill scale off of the ricasso area, repositioned the handle holes by cutting a rectangular window in the handle, and tapered the tang. I did all this while the blade was still razor sharp. (Yea, I know, that wasn’t the brightest idea).
Here is the result. I must say, it feels quite nice in my hand.
S-35VN Steel
Full distal taper on the blade with tapered tang
Linen Micarta scales with black liners
Hammer domed nickel silver pins
OAL – 7”
Blade Tip-to-Handle – 3 ¼”
