Update on knife making progress!

Joined
Sep 17, 2007
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Some of you may know I'm working on my own knives so here's a little update.

Spring break is here and I finally have some time to really grind (and not worry about school), everything before this was mainly prep work with hacksaws and files. Mostly everything has been done with my 1x42 and this is only my 2nd time making knives, so those of you trying to get into knife making don't be discouraged!

Anyway onto to the pictures.

Here are my main two pieces. The top one is a pikal, meant to be held with the tip down/edge towards you. And the bottom one is my utility knife. Originally it did not have a protruding finger guard, but the steel I ordered was too wide so I took it down some and decided to keep the guard, next ones I'm working on will not have it.
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Here are some pictures of what my next batch might look like. I also messed up on the first hole I drilled and still figuring out where to place the next set.
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Pikal.
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Next to Ban's pikal.
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The general utility knife.
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The small one on the bottom was my first attempt at using my grinder and I didn't want to waste steel, so I picked something small with simple lines. After I designed the other 3 knives and cut them out, I had a small section left and thought I'd try something a little different and came up with the top one. I like it a lot, but the handles are just to small so I'm going to make a larger version when I order new steel (just a prototype :grin: ).
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After I started profiling the necker, I realized I would have had a more usable edge if I went with a wharncliffe edge. Next time.
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Group picture.
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Next step is to grind some more, heat treat, and put on the handles. Criticism welcome!
 
Nice work mate, shows what can be done with a little drive, enthusiasm and few tools.

Looking forward to seeing these finished.
 
Looking good! great work so far, keep at it! Third picture, second sketch from the bottom - great looking profile!
 
Third picture, second sketch from the bottom - great looking profile!

Thanks, I'll attempt that someday but with my current equipment the curves can be very difficult to do and they destroy my belts faster then anything else.
 
man.. those look bad a$$ dude...:eek: looking forward to seeing them all finished.. you gonna hook a brotha up with one when your done, or what...:o
 
Excellent stuff! I've got a section of 1095 that should hit the grinder sometime this summer when I'm on vacation. I'm inspired by the work you've done so far. Keep us posted!
 
Looking good. Can't wait to see them when they are completed. Should look pretty good. :thumbup:
 
man.. those look bad a$$ dude...:eek: looking forward to seeing them all finished.. you gonna hook a brotha up with one when your done, or what...:o

Well I gotta pay you back for all the future sheaths somehow. ;)


Excellent stuff! I've got a section of 1095 that should hit the grinder sometime this summer when I'm on vacation. I'm inspired by the work you've done so far. Keep us posted!

I've been inspired by great knife makers here in the W&SS and I'm glad I can pass it on. Can't wait to see what you come up with. :thumbup: It's really fun making your own knife and there's a great feeling of accomplishment when you put on that final polish and then use it.

My first knife.
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Like them all. Looking good with profiling too, now comes the hard part. Good luck.

Haha, yes. The hardest part for me is getting an even, good looking plunge line. I'm going to keep at it.
 
*Small update*

Yesterday I had a couple hours to grind so I started working on my general utility knife. The plunge line and convex grind came out good and I had a real hard time with the tip but it worked out in the end. This is my best job I've done so far and I can see the improvement from my last couple grinds. It's a lot of fun and I'm learning a lot.

I have to share the camera so this is the best quality picture I could get out of my webcam.

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Once it's all done, I think it'll be a good bush knife.
 
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Looks good, really like the plunge line. Everything looks nice and even. What kind of grinder did you use? I'd like to blame your superior skills on it, rather than admit that i just suck at grinding.
 
Thanks! I use a Delta 1x42" (SA180). It just takes practice and a lot of time. I grind a little bit, stop, think if I'm on the right track, grind, stop, think, and so on. After a little while, it kind of just flows. Also this is the 4th plunge I've done so I'm getting the hang of it.
 
Thanks! I use a Delta 1x42" (SA180). It just takes practice and a lot of time. I grind a little bit, stop, think if I'm on the right track, grind, stop, think, and so on. After a little while, it kind of just flows. Also this is the 4th plunge I've done so I'm getting the hang of it.

Yeah thats what i have. Any amazing life changing wisdom?
 
keep posting i want to make my own knife one day as well. Its very intresting to see how you get along and what you learn from doing it.

Sasha
 
looking good man...:thumbup: i'm looking forward to checking it out when it all done... i like the design a lot...
 
im liking the "zombie hunter" patch :D

I love all the zombie stuff so when I saw the patch, I had to pick one up. http://www.milspecmonkey.com/store/

Yeah thats what i have. Any amazing life changing wisdom?

Hahah, not really, but I can tell you what I do. For the main bevel I do not use the flat platen (at all) because I like the "play" of the slack belt, I can twist, turn, and tilt the knife to whatever angle I want to and the slack belt blends it all together nicely. I'm still new at this to, so I tape a piece of metal to the blade where I want the plunge line to begin so that when the belt hits it, I know I'm at the start. I grind with the edge down so I can't physically see what's going on, which is scary for a beginner, so the stopper helps a lot.

This is obvious, but helps me out a lot. While you're grinding, have a mental picture of what you want it to look like in your head and stop frequently to see if what you are doing is leading you to your final product. The more you stop and plan early ahead while you have a lot of stock, the sooner you can catch your mistakes and fix it. But the only way to get better is to just do it.


Thanks everyone. I'll definitely keep updating as I get more work done.
 
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