What's going on in your shop? Show us whats going on, and talk a bit about your work!

Reuben Kruger said:
Does anybody have tips about handle shaping? I want to learn how to contour a really comfortable handle. Will post pics when done.
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First hold on to something like a stick or so and look at hout hand. Where is space, where does the hand touch the handle.
You want your handle to fill the hand, have material where your hand doesn't touch the stick.
I first mark the spine side where I want the handle to be thickest, then the belly side.
Draw a line on either side from the top to the bottom mark.
You'll see that the top line is slightly forewards compared to the bottom line.
You now have marked where your handle will be thickest.
Now remove material from those lines to the front, back, upside and bottom of the handle.
Remove material so you are left with concave surfaces, don't remove so you have flats or straight lines.

I hope this makes sence
 
I roughed in the bevels on a Hunter/Utility knife today. It will have a stainless bolster and walnut handle when finished. Made from 4mm 14C28N.

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I also finished this on Friday. A rather unusual order. Champagne Saber, 450mm OAL. Brass bolster and African Teak handle. 2.5mm 14C28N. Champagne Sabers actually are not sharp, so the 'edge' on this one is 1mm thick.
Does anybody have tip to hide the pins in the bolsters? The pins fit in really tight, but still a black ring around them.

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Reuben
 
Reuben Kruger said:
I also finished this on Friday. A rather unusual order. Champagne Saber, 450mm OAL. Brass bolster and African Teak handle. 2.5mm 14C28N. Champagne Sabers actually are not sharp, so the 'edge' on this one is 1mm thick.
Does anybody have tip to hide the pins in the bolsters? The pins fit in really tight, but still a black ring around them.
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really pretty! (what is the wood?) Re. the pins - Horsewright will likely chime in here - but he earlier said that after years of trying to make brass pins in brass bolsters "dissappear" - he gave up. went the the purposeful contrast of mosaic pins in brass bolsters. Look at his posted examples - really nice! (so far I have followed his lead)
 
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee!

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This weekend i got to work on these guys! I got 43 blanks cut out via water jet & HT'ed through Peters. I've been scattered on what to work on, but couldn't resist messing around with these. There were tons of hiccups & the bevels really took me for a whirl here ( i only wanted them to be around .6" high, but ended up chasing my tail ). Couldn't get the plunges right, and even these aren't correct, but i have some techniques that i will try with the others coming down the chain. These all will also have a swedge, but since i ground these bevels so high, i'm going to not include one on these. I should have my buffer supplies by the end of the week (which means i get to find a place for that in the shop), then i need to set up my disk & wire in a foot pedal (which is bound to be much larger of a project than i want it to be), but i have some fun ahead of me. I felt like i had multiple breakthroughs this weekend. This guy is .165", with a .105 taper over the 4 inch handle, hollowed out core, and the bevels are brought up to 220. I'm going to try to flatten everything up and then work on hand sanding (something i'm still trying to figure out), but i'm excited. I documented all the steps on my IG, and it was cool to see so many comments come in, added depth to the process. Surface grinder launched this guy into the steel wall & chipped the tip (i didn't have the stop on the surface grinder because it gets ground down, but i realized i can make those in like 3 seconds, and have the scrap steel to do it, so i was just being an idiot. I'm not used to being able to make solutions to the problems i run into, but that's also been a fun part of this process, making tools, stands, belt holds, etc all while trying to learn.

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I heat treated two .08 and three .100 AEB-L blade this weekend, after reading a lot about it, a lot of frustration for a couple of guys on this site, I'm calling my first attempt a success. I did the prequench, 20 minute soak at 1750 and 8 minutes at 1950. I clamped them to angle iron and put in denatured alcohol and dry ice. Straight so far, in the oven for tempering now.
 
Reuben Kruger said:
I roughed in the bevels on a Hunter/Utility knife today. It will have a stainless bolster and walnut handle when finished. Made from 4mm 14C28N.

49609678348_72b6caf372_b.jpg


Reuben
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I like the shape of this knife ,but you almost cut it in half ??? Why you drill that size hole for bolster pins ?? 3mm pins are more then enough . You do same in that Champagne Saber ? And why you don t drill them in middle of bolster but almost on end... ?
 
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I drilled these holes a while back. I have since realised it was a very stupid mistake. And also I only have 6mm pins left. But yeah... I did it. Noob mistake number ∞. :rolleyes:
 
Reuben Kruger said:
I drilled these holes a while back. I have since realised it was a very stupid mistake. And also I only have 6mm pins left. But yeah... I did it. Noob mistake number ∞. :rolleyes:
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That happens, just put it aside and start a new knife.
Pick this one up after a few weeks and have a fresh look at it. You'll be amazed how different things may seem
 
I will try that. Actually have exactly the same design cut out for bday gift for my dad, so could start with that...
What are you busy with at the moment?
 
mr kruger, use 3/32" pins. the thinner pin will be more likely to spread and fill the hole. also make sure the outside of the pin is nice and shiny, as well as the inside of the hole. natural surface patina on the brass or nickel will show as a ring after its peened.
 
DustinY said:
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee!

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I like them.............:)
But , grinding more material from tang close to balance point don t add to much on balance ;)
Next one grind this way ,remove more steel on butt side , knife should have much better balance , don t forget that you will add scale , pins , glue on tang .All that will change balance point :thumbsup:
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Natlek said:
I like them.............:)
But , grinding more material from tang close to balance point don t add to much on balance ;)
Next one grind this way ,remove more steel on butt side , knife should have much better balance , don t forget that you will add scale , pins , glue on tang .All that will change balance point :thumbsup:
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Good catch! And while I reference the balance point, I think the real shocking thing that it does for it, is makes the .165" knife INSANELY LIGHT. This thing weighs NOTHING. I can do a blank vs what this is at currently - it's almost shocking in terms of raw numbers I guarantee it. Scales, pins, epoxy, etc will all add weight, but the weight will not match the cutting strength, which is an illusion I like ;)
 
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