What should I change in the future?

A

Alaska_Guy

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Mar 14, 2014
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I have been working on this knife for quite some time... It's a flat grind, stone washed and will be a fishing knife. I like the way it feels in my hand.... Just looking for suggestions. The blade was sharpened at a 17 degree angle.

This is a gift for a family member.

I am not trying to promote my work or break any rules, just looking for honest feedback to improve my work. This was done with files for most of the work.

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Thanks again as always!
 
Oh, and a big thanks to Aaron Gough for his jig! Couldn't have made this without his knowledge.
 
I will preface my opinion with the full disclosure that I am a newbie and am still working to complete my first knife. With that said, I really find the overall shape and design pleasing and attractive. Looks like it will be good for its intended purpose.

A few areas that appear a little off and probably noticed due to my own struggles. The pin placement is a little off, rear looks well balanced but front most pin a bit too far back. The handle "looks" a little blocky, and I like Volvos and Glocks. Front of the scales and the top and bottom edges specifically. Lastly, and an error that I am guilty of on 4 of my first ground blades, the spine is intruded upon by the bevel. In other words the plunge line goes too far up and affects the appearance of the spine from above. I actually planned that on my first one and then figured it out from other critiques and am trying not to do so on future ones.

Things that I really like are the overall shape and proportions in relation to one another. Your pins look to be "clock-worked". The wood you used looks cool too. Especially like the way the grain carries through near the butt when viewed from the top. That brings me to a few questions; What are the specs? What kind of wood? What kind of steel? As a fellow new guy, what was harder than you thought it would be and conversely what turned out to be easier?

I weighed more heavily on the negatives because I believe that is what you were asking for. However the good far outweighs the bad. It's a cool knife, great job.
 
it looks very good to me. I like the stone wash finish. The only thing I'm seeing that I would change is that the handle looks a little blocky, but its still not as bad as some other knife handles I've seen. Some people basically slap scales on and to shape it at all :p. That being said I haven't even finished my first knife yet so take what I say with a grain of salt. Over all this looks very nice.
 
I like the finish and the handle wood! I also like some of the suggestions posted. It looks very fishy.
 
Let's see a photo of the knife, no artistic props and such.

Full flat on profile with nothing in the way. tip not stuck into anything


Other than that I'd say good job, more handle contouring

See Stacy's article on Blocky Handle syndrome in my std reply
 
Thanks for the feedback. I actually wanted the handles kind of blocky. I took some of my inspiration from this knife below.

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I can see how some people wouldn't like the pin placement as its out of the norm. I debated on putting a larger pin in the center and putting the forward most pin more towards the front but obviously decided against it.

Wood is Zebrawood
Steel is 440C
Stonewashed of course

Its 7 1/4" over all length with a blade length of 3 3/4"

Can you please explain more about the top down view looking at the spine. The thickness is even through out if looking top down at the spine. There isn't "indents" if that's what you are referring to.

Thanks again.
 
And why would you want a blocky handle like that? It's hard to hold and serves no purpose except to be blocky. Round out the edges some and it becomes something that is very hunting useable. Frank
 
"Breaking the spine" I believe is the phrase for when one's plunge cut/line goes from edge to spine. Geometry dictates that it will affect the width of the spine at that point.
 
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I will take it into consideration for my future knives. This is my 3rd knife and I have lots to learn still.
 
I would like to put in my 2 cents. I think the knife is very functional and the wood is beautiful. For your third knife I think the results are just fine. My third or fourth knife was a stainless blade from Jantz knife supply catalog. I didn't think I could make a blade. I used a piece of "rosewood burgundy "diamondwood" ($3.50) and traced the front with a plastic bottlecap from a pill bottle to give a rounded front of the scales and after putting in 2 pins of brass began sanding the profile with a sanding drum and then moving the knife very quickly rounded the thing out with the belt sander. I had no clue what I was supposed to do and had never watched a video so I sanded the the rest by hand and wondered why the wood was so dull. I finished the wood with tru oil and never used the type of wood for months while I cut up any hardwood I could find. If only I had asked someone how to do this I would have found out that if I bought a cheap buffer I could shine this material up. I discovered this months later when I made my first bolsters and accidentally buffed the bolster and ran over onto the wood. Yes, I was (am) that stupid. You are light years ahead of where I was and you will no doubt make some great knives . I don't use diamond wood anymore because I like exotic hardwoods and I have long since learned to draw and grind my own blades but now I ask everyone's opinion about methods and techniques and I read Blade Forums and learn about new equipment and methods . I would like to see your next knife. Larry
 
Alaska_Guy said:
Oh, and a big thanks to Aaron Gough for his jig! Couldn't have made this without his knowledge.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the shout out mate! Glad the jig was helpful!

The knife looks good overall! I agree with the other comment about avoiding 'breaking the spine' with the plunge line, but apart from that it's looking good!

Handle styling is really a matter of taste. There are many different ways to do it right. I would make sure you test out your handle style of choice though. Make a knife suitable for wood carving, use your handle style on it and then spend a few hours at a time carving a spoon or the like. If your hands are ok afterwards then you're golden. If the handle shape is unsuitable you'll work out pretty quick what the hot spots are.
 
Nothing wrong here, the handle makes it a good user providing a positive grip which is a good, and a bigger handle is better in cold weather conditions. In a future project add a guard to the handle.
 
Another question.... The handle has been curing for 3 days now and the tru oil still is a little tacky. Any ideas how long it takes to cure completely? It seemed like the first coat was rock hard after 24 hours.
 
So I wanted to thank everyone here for all the advice. I decided to strip the finish off the handle. I then rounded all the corners on the knife handle and all the contours of the handle per everyone's suggestions. I applied the first finish coat and I'm going to wait 24 hours to dry before I do anything else.
 
I kinda liked it the way it was, I really don't see anything wrong with a slightly blocky handle, take a look at Jay Fishers knives, he is probably one of the best knife makers in the world, everything he does is blocky

http://www.jayfisher.com/
 
Nice link!

Yeah I showed the wife the knife and she was not very happy. Her response was "I'm not a master knife maker but It looked great before. Now it just looks like every other knife and disproportionate to the blade".

I totally agree with her. I guess I should trust my styling in the future. I will attach pics tomorrow of the knife.
 
Yeah trust your instincts, I swear people are hanging in the rafters ready to swoop down and use the "blocky Handle" phrase when ever they can ;0)

Its like the BF equivalent to a super hero catch phrase LOL
 
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