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

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Here’s a mini chopper I’m finishing up as a gift for my brother. I made this one out of 1075 carbon steel, and as you can see, I still have some room for improvement on paracord wrapped handles. I plan on giving it to him this evening, so I’ll probably redo it when I get home from work.
 
Here are The last few I finished recently....
First filet Knife for a friend of mine. AEB-L, Kirinite, and Black G10
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This one is a 6” Chef for the same friend. AEB-L, Acrylic Maple Burl Hybrid and Oak Saya
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And lastly is a 6” Chef for myself with my first go at a hamon. This one is 1095 and Maple Burl

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TheEdge01 said:
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Here’s a mini chopper I’m finishing up as a gift for my brother. I made this one out of 1075 carbon steel, and as you can see, I still have some room for improvement on paracord wrapped handles. I plan on giving it to him this evening, so I’ll probably redo it when I get home from work.
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That's some serious Rambo IV you've got going on there
 
Just finished up this skinner to take on my elk hunting trip in three weeks. This is only my fourth knife to complete and first forged knife. I think it turned out ok. I’m always disappointed when I get done, because they aren’t perfect. I’m always comparing mine to the professionals on this site, and I always fall short.

Anyway, this one is forged out of a bar of 80crv2. The scales are rams horn with green liners and mosaic pins. It’s got a flat grind and a 15° per side edge. Everything is machine finished to 600 grit on the belt grinder. I left the forging marks on the flats seeing that it’s my first forged knife and I think it turned out really cool. It definitely has its flaws, but it’s better than the last one I did. As long as my trajectory is to keep getting better, I’m happy. Let me know what y’all think.

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Blackdirt cowboy said:
Just finished up this skinner to take on my elk hunting trip in three weeks. This is only my fourth knife to complete and first forged knife. I think it turned out ok. I’m always disappointed when I get done, because they aren’t perfect. I’m always comparing mine to the professionals on this site, and I always fall short.
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Lots of good stuff on that skinner Blackdirt Cowboy. I like the bolster design! Go bag your elk .... that knife will take care of it :-)

Just a couple observations, fwiw if you arent already thinking about it. Yeah - the grindlines are different in either side. I am NOT saying mine are .... but they are getting better .... trick seems to be to take the grind something like 80% of the way there with your coarse grit (say, 36 or 60), then shift to finer grits (say, 120) and slowly sneak the grindline up to where you want it to be. slow and patient seems to be the guidance (my last skinner the grindline was even on both sides, but had different curvatures towards the tip. I think with a little more patience I could have gotten them closer, but gave up for "good enough"....)

did you solder the bolster in place?? if so, looks like you have some extra solder peeking out the front of the bolster. I am told that if you make yourself a little tool from a brass rod formed into a "chisel tip" at the front, you can dig that excess solder out without scratching the steel......
 
Thanks for the tips, Cushing. That’s not solder. I actually finished the front of the bolsters before jb welding them to the knife. After getting everything ground down, I didn’t like the profile of them. My only option was to reprofile them on the blade. The belt grinder couldn’t get all the way flush up to the blade and a little “flange” of brass was left on them. I used a dremel with an engraving bit to remove the brass and it scratched and shined up the metal. I’m going to dab some vinegar on it to etch it and make it not so noticeable. The uneven grind lines are the major mistake I’m not happy with. There are several minor issues that bother me that need to be corrected. But they are things that I attempted for the first time, and now know how to avoid them.
 
Working on two new slippies. Had a night of EPIC mistakes last night including a 1am tired application of a nail nick to the WRONG side of a blade that resulted in a demonstration of my swear word vocabulary. Like most knifemaking mistakes, I ground that badboy out and i'm working with the thinner blade :) Havent made a mistake like that in a while but grinding em upside down didnt help.
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What!!! :eek: You ruined a perfectly good left-handed knife by re-grinding the blades.:D

I think we have all done something similar. I certainly have .... more than once.
I had an 18" long billet of suminagashi-warikomi and somehow picked it up upside down and had already ground the curvature to the tip of an O-kissaki wakizashi when I realized the edge was on the wrong side (softer spine metal). After many bad words, I ended up making that end the nakago (tang) and grinding the edge and profile correctly on the other end of the billet. Only lost about an inch of length once it was done.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
What!!! :eek: You ruined a perfectly good left-handed knife by re-grinding the blades.:D

I think we have all done something similar. I certainly have .... more than once.
I had an 18" long billet of suminagashi-warikomi and somehow picked it up upside down and had already ground the curvature to the tip of an O-kissaki wakizashi when I realized the edge was on the wrong side (softer spine metal). After many bad words, I ended up making that end the nakago (tang) and grinding the edge and profile correctly on the other end of the billet. Only lost about an inch of length once it was done.
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HA on the lefty knife. I can guarantee you I considered that. The remaining blade is kinda wonky but my rage required a sacrifice.
 
I finished up my 4th knife. A paring knife for my wife. She got to pick out the block of box elder for the front of the scales so she was pretty excited for this one. This project was riddled with mistakes but I am glad I stuck it out. Rather than scraping it at a couple of the bigger blunders I decided I may as well try and fix them. I was able to (mostly) correct the issues and learned a couple techniques on my grinder that I would have never tried without the mess ups. Lets just say if knife making exposes oneself to highs and lows I certainly felt both ends of the spectrum on this one!

0.07" 1084 ground to about 0.008" before sharpening. Box elder/walnut/corby fastener scales.

Feedback is appreciated. I'll spare people from stating the obvious one. The sharpening choil was not intended but I burned the heel during post HT grinding (you can still see some discoloration). The steel was so thin in the area that I could flex it with my finger nail. So I grabbed a ceramic rod and ground in the choil until the steel was thick enough to be stable.

-Colby and Scout

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Just a couple esthetic thoughts (meaning others may not agree).. the two different angles of the plunge versus front of bolster play kind of weirdly with each other. Maybe either make them the same angle, or make the front of the bolster curved or swept back to break up that conflict.

second, the two woods of the handle are beautiful,but where they contact the two textures are really different. Maybe break that up with a spacer of some sort?

either way I am sure your wife will love it!
 
Blackdirt cowboy said:
Just finished up this skinner to take on my elk hunting trip in three weeks. This is only my fourth knife to complete and first forged knife. I think it turned out ok. I’m always disappointed when I get done, because they aren’t perfect. I’m always comparing mine to the professionals on this site, and I always fall short.

Anyway, this one is forged out of a bar of 80crv2. The scales are rams horn with green liners and mosaic pins. It’s got a flat grind and a 15° per side edge. Everything is machine finished to 600 grit on the belt grinder. I left the forging marks on the flats seeing that it’s my first forged knife and I think it turned out really cool. It definitely has its flaws, but it’s better than the last one I did. As long as my trajectory is to keep getting better, I’m happy. Let me know what y’all think.

JEOG1nV.jpg


YXj4YFo.jpg


iAVkxhO.jpg
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I think it looks rad man. Its a cool feeling of accomplishment butchering an animal with a knife you made.

Out of curiosity as a kiwi hunter to an American hunter, do you carry both a skinning and separate boning knife into the field? I often hear the word "skinner" used, but common practice here is usually a single knife to do both.
 
Here's a new Black River Hunter with a premium sheath almost ready to ship out. A fine fellow bought it's twin and wanted another for his son. 80CRV2 and Zebrawood that still need final handle polishing and sheath edges burnished, then sharpened. I hope he likes it.wip.jpg
 
I just finished the largest knife I’ve ever made. It’s a 260mm Sujihiki, 42mm tall at the heel, ground from 0.084” (2.1mm) thick AEB-L at 63 HRC. The handle is stabilized redwood with an African Blackwood ferrule. It is by far my favorite handle I’ve yet made. In the right light it has an iridescent quality, almost seeming to glow from the lighter parts of the wood.

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