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

Cameron Lang said:
Here's my first ever knife, finished today.

1075 steel done without a belt grinder and heat treated in a charcoal fire in the back yard. I've still got a lot to learn but really enjoyed it.

I'd be glad to hear any tips or pointers
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Your first knife is leaps and bounds better than my first knife. Great job!!!!!
 
Cameron Lang said:
Here's my first ever knife, finished today.

1075 steel done without a belt grinder and heat treated in a charcoal fire in the back yard. I've still got a lot to learn but really enjoyed it.

I'd be glad to hear any tips or pointers
Vj4ZuhJ.jpg
z9MplMR.jpg
Click to expand...
Fantastic first knife! Much much better than my first one.
You asked for some feedback so here goes and they are in details since your execution is first rate. Keep in mind these are opinions only (mine) others may differ. You may want to consider chamfering the inside of the lanyard tube. The ricasso and scale area could benefit from a little more finish. In addition the front of the scales could taper more to ease life transition to sheath.
These are nits as the overall compliment of the knife is quite nice.
 
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Not the best pics, but you get the idea.
Steel is 440b at 2.5mm, HT by Schanz to 59-60.
About 20cm blade and 12cm handle. Convex grind, hand rubbed finish at 400g.

Handle is home stabilized oak with some spaghetti and green mycarta spacer. Finished at 400g with daenish oil and hand polished with white rouge.

No distal taper and I tried to preserve some lines on the handle from grinder. I am starting to feel a bit more comfortable with grinder and figuring which belts work with which materials (one speed only).
 
The wrought iron and 1095 and antique French burnt oak knife, about 240x46
Wrought iron and 1095 from Ray Rybar's personal materials
Ray is an ABS MS in Camp Verde AZ
Billet made in his shop, final forging and HT in my shop
Antique French Oak that was cut between 1700 & 1800
a truly one of a kind knife

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Making some progress on our buddy @Cvrobinson 's retirement knife...coming up on the home stretch. One of the guys in the group graciously "smuggled" some New Zealand swamp Kauri over to me for the scales...possibly up to 50,000 years old:eek: Blade is 20CV heat treated by Peter's to 61 hrc, handle design borrowed from the excellent @Nathan the Machinist / @Lorien EDC (Thanks again guys:D).

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I've spent a large part of my week preparing this blade - without realizing that order of operations exist for a reason. I should have roughed it - and then moved to fitting the handle. Getting the blade finished has made it tricky to do the handle with a finished blade. I had to take the edge back to profile the heel a little after - and afraid of etching the blade with tape, I left it exposed, and scratched both sides a ton (1500 grit is pretty delicate..). Also had to square the shoulders and remove decarb from HT'ing - so the file jig left a nice blemish. Sigh.

I spent all Sunday working on a brass ferrule (or guard?, I guess it would be a guard?) - that I scrapped because I overfiled it (I have no idea how, I was going so slow I felt, 8 hours...)

I decided to scrap the idea and make a 3 piece frame handle. G10 frame, and Mexican blanket micarta. It's a blade for a friend so I don't think he's going to kill me for the scratches. He'll give good feedback too on my 3rd knife. The frame handle is going to fit snug as a bug, really happy with the results at the moment. I'll get to shape it and final fit it this weekend.

Any advice for protecting the blade? I wrapped it in paper towels and tape, but it wasn't secure enough. Is the tape thing remedied with a simple solution?

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gjb1x8D.jpg
 
DustinY said:
I've spent a large part of my week preparing this blade - without realizing that order of operations exist for a reason. I should have roughed it - and then moved to fitting the handle. Getting the blade finished has made it tricky to do the handle with a finished blade. I had to take the edge back to profile the heel a little after - and afraid of etching the blade with tape, I left it exposed, and scratched both sides a ton (1500 grit is pretty delicate..). Also had to square the shoulders and remove decarb from HT'ing - so the file jig left a nice blemish. Sigh.

I spent all Sunday working on a brass ferrule (or guard?, I guess it would be a guard?) - that I scrapped because I overfiled it (I have no idea how, I was going so slow I felt, 8 hours...)

I decided to scrap the idea and make a 3 piece frame handle. G10 frame, and Mexican blanket micarta. It's a blade for a friend so I don't think he's going to kill me for the scratches. He'll give good feedback too on my 3rd knife. The frame handle is going to fit snug as a bug, really happy with the results at the moment. I'll get to shape it and final fit it this weekend.

Any advice for protecting the blade? I wrapped it in paper towels and tape, but it wasn't secure enough. Is the tape thing remedied with a simple solution?

DsRsQcG.jpg


vU2C4uA.jpg


gjb1x8D.jpg
Click to expand...

That's gonna be a sweet blade, handle material looks cool.. I hope your friend polishes that hamon every day :)
 
FredyCro said:
That's gonna be a sweet blade, handle material looks cool.. I hope your friend polishes that hamon every day :)
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Hearing this - maybe I should send it to you! My mom was telling me I was ruining it as I polished out the Hamon, all of it was completely lost on her. Same with a good knife buddy! He said it looked better before and it’s mind blowing to me.
 
DustinY said:
Hearing this - maybe I should send it to you! My mom was telling me I was ruining it as I polished out the Hamon, all of it was completely lost on her. Same with a good knife buddy! He said it looked better before and it’s mind blowing to me.
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I send a little sample of the polishing compound I used with each blade. A little baggie or pill bottle with the abrasive in it is a nice touch.
 
DustinY said:
I've spent a large part of my week preparing this blade - without realizing that order of operations exist for a reason. I should have roughed it - and then moved to fitting the handle. Getting the blade finished has made it tricky to do the handle with a finished blade. I had to take the edge back to profile the heel a little after - and afraid of etching the blade with tape, I left it exposed, and scratched both sides a ton (1500 grit is pretty delicate..). Also had to square the shoulders and remove decarb from HT'ing - so the file jig left a nice blemish. Sigh.

I spent all Sunday working on a brass ferrule (or guard?, I guess it would be a guard?) - that I scrapped because I overfiled it (I have no idea how, I was going so slow I felt, 8 hours...)

I decided to scrap the idea and make a 3 piece frame handle. G10 frame, and Mexican blanket micarta. It's a blade for a friend so I don't think he's going to kill me for the scratches. He'll give good feedback too on my 3rd knife. The frame handle is going to fit snug as a bug, really happy with the results at the moment. I'll get to shape it and final fit it this weekend.

Any advice for protecting the blade? I wrapped it in paper towels and tape, but it wasn't secure enough. Is the tape thing remedied with a simple solution?

DsRsQcG.jpg


vU2C4uA.jpg


gjb1x8D.jpg
Click to expand...


I see you are hooked! Welcome to the addiction.
 
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