Thoughts on my first couple knives

G

Grayzer86

Joined
Jan 15, 2012
Messages
1,209
Hey guys i finally got brave enough, or stupid enough to post a few pictures of my first few knives and wondered what you guys thought about them. I know I have work to do top get on par with many makers here but these were all done with stock removal on 1084. So here goes nothing, or everything :eek:

This first one is the first knife i ever made, i believe i was in grade 10 so about 10 years ago, and before my 8 year break from making. This one is actually 1095, with peened brass guard and diamondwood handle.

IMG-20120206-00035.jpg.html


The second knife here is a small skinner i designed on what what left of a cutoff piece of 1084 2x1/8 that i had laying around, it actually fits really well in the hand and seems to be a great little skinner. It has done two moose now, and the fronts of the scales have been rounded more. This is from a cellphone camera so sorry about the quality. This is also before the final buff on the scales which are black and red dyed box elder burl.

IMG-20120304-00079.jpg.html


This final one is one that is special to me. I wanted to do something that looked very old and rustic. The blade is gun blue and bleach treated 1084 that was etched after HT and everything by coating the bevels with nail polish :cool:. The pommel and guard are made from walnut and red and white fibre spacers, and the handle is what makes it special. Shortly after my grandfather, an avid hunter passed away, and just after i got started making knives again, I went to put some flowers on his grave. When I got there there was a small whitetail deer shed laying just at the foot of the grave, and had no snow on it from the storm the night before. I picked it up and decided that it would be perfect for the handle of the rustic old time style knife I was wanting to make. Thats kind of where this whole plan came together, I also noticed that this is before the handle pin was drilled in. Tang was drawn back to allow it to be drilled. The guard also appears to not be at its final smoothed shape here. I really need to take more pics of my process.

IMG-20120313-00087.jpg.html



Well that's where i am at right now guys, i have a few more pictures that i may post later, but for now i guess i will see what you guys think. Criticism is the only way we learn so.....
 
Grayzer86 said:
BAHH i thought i did that right but i still see no pictures. how did i mess this up?
Click to expand...

The links are a bit different.


http://i1320.photobucket.com/albums/u528/Grayzer86/IMG-20120206-00035.jpg
IMG-20120206-00035.jpg


http://i1320.photobucket.com/albums/u528/Grayzer86/IMG-20120304-00079.jpg
IMG-20120304-00079.jpg


http://i1320.photobucket.com/albums/u528/Grayzer86/IMG-20120313-00087.jpg
IMG-20120313-00087.jpg




Great progress

Two is a great user design

Three is very pretty, I might have done some shaping on the guard, but I'm not sure how.
 
I'll give some constructive criticism. They are nicely done, but have some design issues:

1) This knife is what happens when knife parts are left alone in the shop and mate at will. There are many different styles going on and they don't go together. There are angles at different directions, different pin placement, color shifts, etc. A simple handle and blade with a normal guard would be better.

2) Much better. All the curves work together, the handle is simple and elegant....no whistles and bells. the only place to watch out is the sharp point. A slight round end to the edge may be a bit safer.

3) Nice curves. Guard looks wooden?, that isn't very durable. It could also use some shape. The stacked spacers and butt cap look nice, ....is there a pin holding the assembly together, or are they stacked and glued only? Blade has a bit too wide a ricasso notch. Perhaps a bit of a round-over from vertical to horizontal would look better.

Are these pre-made blades?
 
Thanks Stacy. The first one was a design I slapped together that seemed cool when I was 16 so I totally agree their is no design flow to iit at all. The second one like you said has now been modified on the second one of that patern at the sharp point to be more rounded as it seemed to snag a bit while skinning. The third knife is pinned through the handle. But was not at the time of the picture. The butt cap on that one is pinned with 4 1/16 inch brass pins into the horn. The guard is wood but this was never designed to actually cut anything, more of just a shelf piece. The shape of the handle was determined by the antler as I did not want to have to shape the horn at all and lose texture. None of these are pre made blades or blanks, they are all done by stock removal from 1095 and 1084 from knifemaker dot ca. All work is done with files and sand paper as well as the barely even useful 1x30 belt grinder I have. Althought it can barely be called a grinder. Thanks for the honest evaluation it is a huge help in learning.
 
The work is well done, and you have already seen the gain from having continuity and flow. Just remember that curves beat angles every day of the week. If there is a choice, try the curve first.
 
Thank you. it has gotten great feedback from several hunters i have had do a pass-around. The only negative i have heard is the point at the back of the edge that Stacy mentioned. nobody felt was a hazard but they said that when rolling the knife in a side grip it snagged a couple times, so this has been reshaped for future use of this pattern. The only other thing I had an issue with was one guy who panicked and stopped using it when the 1084 blade started to take a patina from all the blood, he said he was worried that he was wrecking it and apologized a ton when he gave it back to me.
 
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