UPDATED - Just finished my first TWO knives (PICS, post #19)

Pete84

Pete84

Joined
Apr 14, 2011
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168
Well, guys, after lurking, reading, more reading, testing, and asking questions... my first blade is just out of HT. Made from Aldo's 1084 via stock removal -- 8" total length, 3 1/4" blade. Thought I would post a few pictures to see what you all think, thus far.

Right off the bat I can say I definitely should have sanded higher before HT.... 120 wasn't enough. Probably should have taken it to 400, at least. You can also see some issues I had getting my holes drilled... there are two that failed and destroyed bits before I got them through. Handle material will be a spalted walnut burl, 3/16" stainless pins.

Any other thoughts or critiques thus far? I learned a TON just on this little guy.

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Pete84 said:
Well, guys, after lurking, reading, more reading, testing, and asking questions... my first blade is just out of HT. Made from Aldo's 1084 via stock removal -- 8" total length, 3 1/4" blade. Thought I would post a few pictures to see what you all think, thus far.

Right off the bat I can say I definitely should have sanded higher before HT.... 120 wasn't enough. Probably should have taken it to 400, at least. You can also see some issues I had getting my holes drilled... there are two that failed and destroyed bits before I got them through. Handle material will be a spalted walnut burl, 3/16" stainless pins.

Any other thoughts or critiques thus far? I learned a TON just on this little guy.

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What tools are you using ? The bevels look like they are a flat angle the whole way to the spine . Giving you a really thin blade that might snap very easily. at the ricasso . It's pre-sanded correct ? Taking the sand higher prior to heat treat is going to save you lots of time after HT. My first attempts are in the junk bin. Keep learning and practicing and your only going to get better. HSS ti N drill bits will help with the hole drilling.
 
I like a thin full-flat grind, they cut very well and are easy to re-sharpen even after the blade has worn down some. A small blade like that should be a slicer, not a splitting wedge or prybar.

Unfortunately you've run your grind over the spine, which is very easy to do and a pain to "fix". The only cure is to re-flatten the tang till that's no longer an issue. Personally I would finish that one and see how you like the edge geometry, then concentrate an not running your bevel over the spine on the next one.
 
duffy99 said:
What tools are you using ?
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Using a Craftsman 2x42 with some minor modding (haven't done the platen yet) and some good ceramic & gator belts. Did some cleanup with hand files.

I was going for a FFG, but this is definitely thinner than I originally intended. Am holding off on putting an edge on it until I get handles on and shaped.

And you're totally right about the pre-HT sanding... I'm dealing with that right now. Lessons for the next one, I guess. :) My understanding from doing some further reading is that 400 is the proper pre-HT benchmark... is that about right? I've seen your first few and the finish one the blade looks WAY better than the finish on mine will.

Drills bits were Ti coated, but it didn't seem to matter. I also got some that were carbide tipped to try... not much better. I'm thinking that I need two things to fix that problem... slower speed on the drill press and a better drill bit.
 
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james terrio said:
I like a thin full-flat grind, they cut very well and are easy to re-sharpen even after the blade has worn down some. A small blade like that should be a slicer, not a splitting wedge or prybar.

Unfortunately you've run your grind over the spine, which is very easy to do and a pain to "fix". The only cure is to re-flatten the tang till that's no longer an issue. Personally I would finish that one and see how you like the edge geometry, then concentrate an not running your bevel over the spine on the next one.
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I was going for a nice, thin, FFG blade for slicing.... nothing heavy duty. This one, however, was thinner than I intended, largely due to cleaning up various mistakes made... first time grinding, so I was a little sloppy (putting it mildly). And yeah, I did go over the spine... but I'm a rookie. That wound up happening when I was cleaning up the plunge lines with a file and not paying close enough attention to how deep I was going. I'm already working on my second knife and am being much more attentive to the issues you guys have brought up.

I'm going to finish this one this week and start testing it to see how well it performs... probably will make another one similar to this, but with mistakes from this one corrected.
 
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Looks like a great slicer. As long as you keep it cool grinding you should be able to get a bunch of the scratch marks out with a sharp belt, but it will definitely be a pain in the rear to hand-sand to anything more than a satin finish.

Great work so far :thumbup:
 
I think its a great first effort, and if HT is good and you use it as a "knife" durability should be just fine.
 
wolffbite said:
Looks like a great slicer. As long as you keep it cool grinding you should be able to get a bunch of the scratch marks out with a sharp belt, but it will definitely be a pain in the rear to hand-sand to anything more than a satin finish.

Great work so far :thumbup:
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Thanks. It's belt ground to 120 right now and I don't have any higher grit belts at the moment. Was considering hand sanding to a satin finish and then forcing a patina before attaching scales. Good plan, or no?
 
stevomiller said:
I think its a great first effort, and if HT is good and you use it as a "knife" durability should be just fine.
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Thank you. I have no illusions about it being a bush craft or heavy duty chopping blade. It'll be an everyday slicer carried on my belt in kydex. Probably will get some use for a while... At least until I make a better version. Haha
 
Pete84 said:
Using a Craftsman 2x42 with some minor modding (haven't done the platen yet) and some good ceramic & gator belts. Did some cleanup with hand files.

I was going for a FFG, but this is definitely thinner than I originally intended. Am holding off on putting an edge on it until I get handles on and shaped.

And you're totally right about the pre-HT sanding... I'm dealing with that right now. Lessons for the next one, I guess. :) My understanding from doing some further reading is that 400 is the proper pre-HT benchmark... is that about right? I've seen your first few and the finish one the blade looks WAY better than the finish on mine will.

Drills bits were Ti coated, but it didn't seem to matter. I also got some that were carbide tipped to try... not much better. I'm thinking that I need two things to fix that problem... slower speed on the drill press and a better drill bit.
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In my limited experience slow speed and some oil as lubricant and steady even pressure letting the machine do the work will help with the drilling. If you were going for a thin slicer , it's great just grinding the spine thin isn't good to my knowledge. A 2x42 is what I use too, you could probably thin down the tang to match the spine just be careful not to let it get too hot to mess up your temper. Looks good, as I said my first knives are in a scrap bin, and I have only 3 done from start to finish so far. So don't take I'm critique to hard, just my opinion.
 
duffy99 said:
So don't take I'm critique to hard, just my opinion.
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No worries, man. Quite the opposite... I'll take any feedback I can get -- anything to get better.

As far as thinning the tang, I was considering an attempt at tapering it and then putting G10 liners between the tang and burl scales. Gotta be honest though, don't know if I have the skills to taper the tang properly and haven't had much luck finding any tutorials, etc.

This blade will probably have a short life... I'm working on 2 more right now and I suspect this little guy will be subjected to some semi-destructive testing in the foreseeable future.
 
As long as there is a small radius and the deep scratches are removed at your plunge/transition don't worry about the thinner spine (besides aesthetics) . If having the blade thinner than the ricasso/choil/bolster showed then every forged integral kitchen knife is waiting on impending doom.
 
It was partially modeled after a spyderco style blade. Kinda of like a military, para, and stretch all rolled into one. With my own twist, naturally. Thanks for looking! :)
 
UPDATE: Finished the first blade, shown above, and a second. Sorry for the delay in posting. I've been so caught up in my new addiction that I scarcely had time to take pictures. HAHA

First one: Doing the burl handles on the first one was a serious learning experience, but I think I kept them from being too blocky. I think I'll probably do some more small-area cleanup with a Dremel rotary and then hand sand again. Finished off with tung oil.

Second blade is an Americanized Tanto, left handed chisel ground with an epoxy-soaked paracord handle.

Both are sole-authorship from 1084 with my primitive little setup in the yard. I've done some testing on each of them and the HT seems to have done its job well enough to satisfy me. The second one is much thicker.... 3/16" at the spine, so it can handle more abuse. The first one is a very thin slicer, so the testing criteria is a bit different.
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Please forgive the crappy pic... cell phone camera with odd lighting. I'll post something better once my SLR battery is charged up. :)

Comments, critiques, etc welcome! Thanks for looking, guys!
 
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Way to go man! Must feel awesome to have your first ones finished. Loving the handle material on the slicer, and they look nice and round and contoured to me, great job!
 
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