TM Hunt Pen Pal Apprenticeship. A Knife WIP!

iwouldhurtafly said:
I wont be able to be at Ethans, but hopefully this steel will be making it back to Todd soon. On drinking, not sure if I am doing it properly, just doing it. LOL!
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Sorry man, I misread this as a Dex thread. I like that you're taking on this project, especially via email/pm/telephone. It's really a cool process! You're blade looks pretty good and I look forward to seeing it come in the shop.
 
TMHunt said:
Wow, what a cool tread. I really cant think of anything else to add to it. Zach (iwouldhurtafly) pretty much hit it n the head. I saw the knife he constructed a few months ago and his enthusiasm about it reminded me of what I experienced when I very first started making knives back when I had no clue or tools. I figured if I could reach out to him and offer some guidance and materials, maybe we could both benefit from it. Man was I right. As you all can see, he has worked his ass off and hasnt let me down. Good job Zach, cant wait to check it out when you sent it back for heat treat.

I will add to this thread as to keep up with the progress with this project, but let it be known that this is indeed Zachs project and his canvas so to speak. There is a lot of work in the pics he has posted. Well done buddy! Who knows, this may start a common thing. The Pin Pal Apprenticeship WILL continute as long as its as pleasurable as it is with working with Zach. Anybody got any ideas, send me a PM.
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Thank you very much Todd. This has absolutely been a blast (as I have probably said a billion times now) LOL and I am really looking forward to all the work yet to come. I am still working on refining the lines so to speak and getting things how I want them, but very soon this will be coming back to you!
 
This thread is so bad-ass. I'm really jealous, because I have wanted to do something like this since well........a long damn time. Unfortunately, my life is making me put some things on the back-burner and this has to be one of them. One day I suppose I will be able to do something like this. Very nice work Iwould! Very Nice!
 
Tdhurl1103 said:
This thread is so bad-ass. I'm really jealous, because I have wanted to do something like this since well........a long damn time. Unfortunately, my life is making me put some things on the back-burner and this has to be one of them. One day I suppose I will be able to do something like this. Very nice work Iwould! Very Nice!
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Thank you very much TD. This has been a lot of fun (I cant stop saying that LOL). I know I havent been back in a minute or two but things are still chugging along. I completely understand about life and situations making you put things on the back burner, this is something I have made a very firm commitment too. Either way, one thing I have learned from all of this is that I want to do it some more! LOL I am excited to see where this project ends up, but I am certain that it is taking me in a direction of wanting to make more blades. Dont know if thats a good or a bad thing ;)

Hopefully I should have some more updates for you soon, things are pretty much coming to a close on my end but as previously discussed stuffs been crazy... But I am super excited to see the next phase of this!
 
WOOOOWEEEEE! 3 months and 3 days perfect timing if you ask me. Well, this thread has been sitting for a bit but the progress on this blade has been chuggin along full steam! This weekend I received the blade back from Todd and stunned is an understatement. I took a couple quick teaser shots for yall to enjoy! Since the last post on this thread the knife was sent off to Todd, cleaned up, heat treated, and sanded a bit among other things. The handle on this blade is fairly large as you can tell from some of my in hand pics. The idea behind that is creating a space that is comfortable in multiple grips, and allowing the user to extend the blade reach by holding on to the end of the handle. This of course causes some balance bias toward the handle and Todd helped me out by relieving some steel out of the handle plus drilling some divots to give the epoxy some more to hold on to. The effort put in by Todd on this is way more than I could ask for.

Plenty of room here!


Full on


Close to 2 inch wide blade by 4 with some fairly aggressive distal taper. If all works out in the finishing of this blade I think it will be a very nice slicer for 3/16" thick!


Now although I didnt get shots of the handle material I decided (after a lot of thought and anguish) to go for a natural canvas micarta close to 1/2" thick on each side. This should allow me to give the handles plenty of curves and contours. Todd happened to have some material he called phenolic that just fit the bill. Apparently it is some really tough nearly indestructible material that essentially has the looks of a canvas micarta. I wanted a material that would/could take on its own character/patina with use just like the O1 tool steel will. Something that will age gracefully, but will outlive me and whoever uses it after I am gone. I was inspired by some of the other natural canvas handles I had seen plus a trailing point knife Todd built for Guyon (absolutely awesome looking blade the "Pear Knife"). The handles will be attached with 3/16" brass rods.

Well folks thats all there is for the night. I will make sure to take pics as I go through some finishing and attaching the scales. The amount of things I learned just from receiving this knife back post heat treat from Todd and the information exchanged behind the scenes is something that I will never forget! It all is indispensable as I progress not just through this blade but for the many hopeful to come. Mind that I still have a TON of information to learn, but learning is a lot of the purpose of this build.

Stay tuned and thank you for your time!
 
I am finally back with some more WIP for yall! Just to explain a bit of why this has taken so long first off… I received this blade and materials back from Todd only one day before I started back at school. Not only am I taking more hours than I ever have before but I am working the same, my wife started back at school, and both of my kiddos are now in school! So there has only been a little, small tiny amount of time that I have been able to devote to this project. That being said I have missed it A LOT!
Tonight I had the pleasure of speaking with Todd over the phone and he was able to explain to me my instructions for the next part of this project. Todd was able to explain things to me in such a way coupled with a boatload of inside tricks that made this go by perfectly. That put into context lets actually see some work here! And as a disclaimer my photo skills are fairly terrible this go around it seems so apologies right off the bat. :D

OK! Here is the handle material that has been chosen for this blade. As stated before it is per Todd a very tough phenolic that to me resembles a “natural” canvas micarta. The scales have been roughed out, and the holes have been drilled. Awesome!



So first I needed to establish the line for the front of my scales. I did this by referring back to my original template, marking on the actual knife tang, transferring that back to the scales by placing them on the tang etc etc. From what I learned from Todd this is the basic first step in making sure you have everything square, flush, and even.




Also in between I was double checking everything with my hand as far as the top and bottom line go in relation to my grip. Then I needed to mark around the tang of the knife back onto the inside portion of the scales. Todd so graciously marked which side was which and where they went. In a nutshell marking which side was which is to ensure that everything lines up in relation to the holes that were drilled in the tang/scales. Transferring the tang line onto the insides of the scales will become important here very shortly.


 
Then I pinned the scales together without the knife in-between so that I could begin shaping the front of the scales. As an experiment and to get a feel for the material I went ahead and hit them up quickly with a file. Todd had explained to me that this stuff was hard to work and well I believe him. It’s easier than filing metal mind you but this stuff is going to be perfect for this knife :D And I love the challenge! So I could keep going but I upgraded my files while the knife was off visiting Todd to a 2X42 grinder… So sporting a 50 grit belt I gave it a shot. Mind you I wore a mask, goggles, and gloves too! And just to let you know, grinding this stuff smells like someone is burning superglue in a funeral home. Just let that sink in. LOL But surprisingly the material seemed pretty friendly on the grinder. I’d sand for a bit, then go back and check, sand, check etc.



Close enough for now I think. I always over mark my lines and creep up to them. Something that Todd wrote to me when I first started was, “Creep up on everything in knife making…” That one little tip has saved me a metric ton of heartache.




Next I am going to bring the top of these scales to a nice finish. I essentially worked up through some wet dry paper. 200, 300, 400, 500, 1000, 1200 sounds like a lot, but I was not at each grit for very long but I just wanted make the front semi polished without throwing them on the buffer. A glazed polish if that makes sense.
Without boring you with all of the pictures of each grit progression here is the starting point and the final point. I took pics at each point so that I could reference them later to see what each finish looks like. Used the paper in hand, then used a file wrapped in paper so that I could get clean even pulls.


 
Another of the hundreds of test fits I did tonight.



Do you remember those lines I drew around the tang? Well you can see why they came in handy here. To rough up the inside of the scales I used some sandpaper and a file to get a good epoxy grabbing finish. This is something I learned tonight that I have never heard or seen before. Essentially I just roughed up within the tang area without overlapping the edge of the scales where the tang lies. This will ensure that after everything is glued up I should have a nice seamless finish. Thanks Todd!



Next cleaned up every mating surface including the pins with 91% alcohol to make sure I didn’t have any grease under the scales to inhibit the epoxy. This stuff also will remove the sharpie off everything but it also caused some of the sharpie to bleed although I was able to clean what I needed off with a little extra elbow grease. Going forward I might use a better color than red on this kind of lighter colored material. I fit everything again, and then taped up the blade before glue up. I wanted to get the tape as close to the scales as I could without getting tape UNDER the scales. Then per Todd I coated the front of the scales and the tang with a lubricant to help ensure that cleanup would be easier. His recommended lube of choice for this is good ol vasoline!



OK I will admit I practiced glue up a bunch of times. I set everything up, and practiced (without the glue of course) to make sure there would not be any guess work while everything is covered in epoxy. Basically I am forming a plan of attack including how I will clamp everything. Rehearsals finally completed I set out to glue up this SOB. A protip before you play with epoxy is, have some disposable gloves handy. I like thick nitrile gloves or those non latex type gloves. Then cover your work area with wax paper. This will make clean up a breeze and ensure that you do not glue your hammer or something to your work bench.
Can you find the knife?!?!



It looks like a lot of clamps I know but I was looking for even pressure to ensure that I didn’t end up with any gaps. Preliminary results seem favorable, and I can see that my scales have bolted down evenly. You will also notice that I covered the teeth of my vice in tape... This is because I want to be able to get the knife out of it after everything has dried lol!

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Okydoky folks well I have awhile to wait before I can pull this thing out of here. Even though I used a quick set epoxy if you read the specs on it (or have used it before) you know it doesn’t reach its full potential until many hours after the quick 5 minute set. I went ahead and cleaned up the front of the scales while it was still in the clamps and everything had oozed out and sorta gelled up. Lubing the front of this knife makes that a very simple process but we will see once I get to pull the tape off. After the glue has set I will be sanding down the excess and then working on contouring the scales which will be a learning process unto itself! Take care now and I will try to post up some pictures post gluing after everything has set.

Thanks for looking!
 
Somebody was up late last night. Great work Zach!
 
TMHunt said:
Somebody was up late last night. Great work Zach!
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Thanks Todd! Everything seemed to go as smoothly as it could. I really spent most of my time practicing and rehearsing. I really like this handle material because of its toughness. It kinda forces you to go slowly which in my case helps a lot to keep me from messing something up. Hopefully I can open up some more time this weekend to get things roughed out.
 
Well I pulled the knife out of the clamps a couple hours ago and it looks like everything took well! So far so good and another hurdle crossed. Up next, time to start grinding on the overhang. Thanks everyone for looking.
 
iwouldhurtafly said:
Well I pulled the knife out of the clamps a couple hours ago and it looks like everything took well! So far so good and another hurdle crossed. Up next, time to start grinding on the overhang. Thanks everyone for looking.
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Excellent! Looking forward to seeing the progression.
 
Howdy howdy! Well as I had said things went really well in glue up. So well that I got pretty excited and forgot to take in progress pics of roughing everything out!!! LOL. I will do my best to try and remember what I did on top of explaining.

After I pulled the knife out of the clamps of course everything (except the ricasso/blade) was covered in epoxy. First thing was to put the knife back into the vice and cut off pin excess. Then I took a 3/16 bit and reamed out the epoxy that had filled the lanyard hole. Going forward on knives I have decided that I will be using much larger holes with brass tubes cause I think it will work out a lot better... live and learn. After all that I just gingerly ground off the excess material on a 50 grit belt. Then transitioned into a smaller triangle/ round file to get into those hard to reach areas. Then using a small detail file wrapped in 200 grit wet and dry I sanded out any remaining belt/file marks and was left with something like this.



You will notice some notches near the finger area. This was from me playing around and checking how hard its going to be to get my desired contour with this tough stuff. Should be fun! I have to say I am really happy with how this material looks, and I am really happy that I ended up with the handles being dead on at the front, plus I didnt have any gaps. These were two issues I was really concerned with since I have about 0 experience doing this LOL.

This stuff looks great even at a lower grit. Depending on how shaping goes I will have to decide how polished I want it to be. I took the front to 1200 or so and it feels both grippy and looks semi satin polished but I dont know if I'll take other part of the handles that far.



Also playing around I went ahead and just marked up some contours onto the handle in pencil just to kind of get an idea of the work ahead of me. I am going for a semi coke bottle shape with good palm swell and taper towards the bottom. Also want some flair at the front and contour neat the lanyard/but end with again a bit of flair. This is another one of those things I have been putting a lot of thought into on top on drawing stuff up. The handle shape is going to make or break this knife design. If it feels good that means itll cut more comfortably for me.




I have kinda divided the work into 3 major areas of attack if that makes sense. Since I will probably be doing this all with hand tools I need a good plan. Todd also has some advice that will help me out immensely.

Blurry pics are blurry...






This should be fun, but probably wont be attempting it until I get to speak with Todd about a good plan of attack. Sorry I didnt get any handle roughing out pics but things went pretty fast. Plus I think it was after 2-3 am before I got started.. so there is that LOL.

Thank yall again for looking. Stay tuned we are so so close to the end! Very bittersweet.
 
Looks good. Still taking notes.

How thick are those scales? Looks lie you have a bit of "screw up room" as I call it.

Keep it up!

Jeremy
 
dresnor said:
Looks good. Still taking notes.

How thick are those scales? Looks lie you have a bit of "screw up room" as I call it.

Keep it up!

Jeremy
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Hey man thanks!

Scales are 3/8-1/2" thick, and yes. First and foremost I wanted thicker slabs because I am shooting for some aggressive contour so I need the thickness. I was honestly thinking about making them thicker with liners but changed my mind for multiple reasons. With the thickness it, like you said, allows me some screw up room. Plus with the toughness of the material will make progress move slowly which is good for me. If I am forced to take my time it will turn out a lot better. This stuff also in my opinion looks fantastic and I am pretty excited all around about it.
 
Sorry its been a day or two since I updated, but made a little more progress...
Well, last night I took a quick break and walked out into the garage and started fiddling around. The knife as it sat was just like the pictures above. I grabbed my 4 way hobby file to just see how hard contouring his puppy was going to be. Well some time later I ended up here...


Still have a little ways to go to get things perfect but I am pretty happy thus far!


Handles were filed down by hand, then wet sanded to see if I had any major gouges or anything. I am in love with this handle material btw. Feels good, looks good, and works good. Hopefully I can make some more progress here and there on this thing cause I am so very close to the end.

thanks for looking!
 
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