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

Scaniaman said:
Hooked up this little one armed shop helper, for non-metal dust-collection. Dust Commander cyclone and Loc-line parts.
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Your shop is always so clean! What are those purple belts? I see them now and there on YT, especially Eastern Europe makers use them. Zirconium? What do you use them for?
 
FredyCro said:
Your shop is always so clean! What are those purple belts? I see them now and there on YT, especially Eastern Europe makers use them. Zirconium? What do you use them for?
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I came for the purple color, but stayed for the performance :)

They are Deerfos Bora7 ceramic belts. They are the best I have tried, a lot of value. You can get 40 grit for 4 euro a pop. Highly recomended.

My shop is only clean because I make too few knives :thumbsdown:. Too much day job work, too many kids :rolleyes:
 
Scaniaman said:
I came for the purple color, but stayed for the performance :)

They are Deerfos Bora7 ceramic belts. They are the best I have tried, a lot of value. You can get 40 grit for 4 euro a pop. Highly recomended.

My shop is only clean because I make too few knives :thumbsdown:. Too much day job work, too many kids :rolleyes:
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Link for the belt or it didn't happen. I got you on the day job thing... still no kids, but I don't know how I would be able to pull any knifes with a day job AND kids.
 
Making an edc knife for myself. I started this little knife making endeavor a year ago. Mainly just to make knives for me and my boys and kitchen knives for my wife. Well, people like them and have been asking for them and I still never made one for myself, so this ones for me.

It’s 1084 steel, copper bolsters, and mosaic pins. Scales are desert ironwood burl. Blade length is 2 1/2” and OAL is 6 3/4”. It was my first attempt at a hamon, but it obviously failed. I liked the look of the etch so I left it that way. I still need to do a little clean up and then sharpen it and build a sheath. Anyway, here’s where I am with it right now.

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Nice one Blackdirt. Here's my latest custom 10" Kephart in NitroV going out tomorrow. The fine BF fellow selected these terotuf scales. I hadn't worked with it before but after reading here we decided on a 400 grit finish for extra grippiness when wet. Fairly easy to shape but getting rid of the fuzzy whitish fibers was a chore.21-18 2.jpg 21-18 3.jpg 21-18 4.jpg
 
Hengelo_77 said:
I like that knife, Blackdirt, but why such a wide ricasso?
On a small knife you want as much edge as you can get
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I usually put my mark on the ricasso and it needed to be wide enough for that, but it didn’t quite fit, so I have a knife with a wider ricasso than is necessary. Oh, well. You live and learn.
 
FredyCro said:
Link for the belt or it didn't happen. I got you on the day job thing... still no kids, but I don't know how I would be able to pull any knifes with a day job AND kids.
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Freddy - I first learned about knife making back in 1977 when in college. Took a failed first stab at trying to make a knife in about 2005. Did not get a chance to actually make knives until 2019.

guess why... :-(

work on it while you can! :)
 
Blackdirt cowboy said:
Making an edc knife for myself. I started this little knife making endeavor a year ago. Mainly just to make knives for me and my boys and kitchen knives for my wife. Well, people like them and have been asking for them and I still never made one for myself, so this ones for me.

It’s 1084 steel, copper bolsters, and mosaic pins. Scales are desert ironwood burl. Blade length is 2 1/2” and OAL is 6 3/4”. It was my first attempt at a hamon, but it obviously failed. I liked the look of the etch so I left it that way. I still need to do a little clean up and then sharpen it and build a sheath. Anyway, here’s where I am with it right now.

qC55dNf.jpg


cOEGiuU.jpg


7YRVmvA.jpg
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Nice!
 
Cushing H. said:
Freddy - I first learned about knife making back in 1977 when in college. Took a failed first stab at trying to make a knife in about 2005. Did not get a chance to actually make knives until 2019.

guess why... :-(

work on it while you can! :)
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It's tough. I just turned 30 and I am seriously questioning my day job and vocation. I don't want to work 50-60 hours weeks in an office, and not have quality free time for family, friends and doing stuff I like. I don't want to question my choices 20 or 30 years down the line and ask myself where my life went. I am seriously considering settling for less materialy and trying to do something else but on my own terms. At the moment I am lucky to have no debts and no (family) obligations to make this choices, but I am still indecisive.

There, I let it out now. Sorry for the OT. Here are the pics that I posted the other day in the Niolox HT thread. My first stainless HT. The old oven works like a charm.

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FredyCro said:
It's tough. I just turned 30 and I am seriously questioning my day job and vocation. I don't want to work 50-60 hours weeks in an office, and not have quality free time for family, friends and doing stuff I like. I don't want to question my choices 20 or 30 years down the line and ask myself where my life went. I am seriously considering settling for less materialy and trying to do something else but on my own terms. At the moment I am lucky to have no debts and no (family) obligations to make this choices, but I am still indecisive.
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I am no one to give any knife making advice, but life advice, I can offer. I'm close to 50, and have been very fortunate that I truly enjoy my profession. I did give up something that was very lucrative for me within my profession, to do exactly what you describe, ten years ago. And it worked out very well so far.
I don't want to live a life of regret. That being said, yes you are in a position to make a positive change, but there has to be a long term goal in mind as well. If you want it to, family will come, and that comes with little free time and pressure to provide for quite some time. I have 3 kids, 11, 14 and 17, and although I spend a good bit of time with them, I now have a lot more free time to pursue new hobbies and give time to some older ones, then when they were younger. And they tend to join me in my hobbies, which is great.

If you feel that a change is needed, but you can reconcile this, go for it. It is VERY scary to do this. Been there done that. But now would be the time. Mostly because you are young enough, that if for some reason it doesn't work out the way you expected, you have plenty of time to bounce back. Best of luck and nice knives!!
 
FredyCro said:
Here are the pics that I posted the other day in the Niolox HT thread. My first stainless HT. The old oven works like a charm.
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Fredy - cool vise for your aluminum HT cooling blocks. Can you please share more detail on how that vise is constructed and mounted onto the table???

If you want to hear some of my thoughts re. life choices (and.... of course.... I have them :-) please feel free to send me a PM, and if you cant do that, feel free to reach out to me at email rchamlen@pobox.com

Congrats on the SS heat treat!
 
Once you get to a certain point in life, and a certain income level, time is what matters.
Time with family, time in the shop.

So, right now I am working on my first nakiri. It's tall. 177 mm cutting edge. 59-56 mm height. From 2.5 mm stock, a very slight taper.
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Ron Raducanu Ron Raducanu Thanks for the words of wisdom, I need to think more on this, just didn't have time yet :)

C Cushing H. It's the standard job with a quick release wood vice and precision ground aluminium plates 40x10x2.5 cm (both from Amazon). The plates are each tapped for 2 m6 screws. I just cut a wood block of appropriate size to elevate the vice for the needed height and side clarence. The block is screwed from bottom to the table and the vice is screwed on with 2 strong screws and washers. Since the jaws of the vice are not parallel, you should put a piece of rubber in between the plates and vice (you can see my failed attempt to do that with floor mat). JT and others wrote on this type of quench vice, Simple little life on YT has a video on it as well.

Thanks for the offer, I will shoot you an email once I had time to think on all of this :)
 
Scaniaman said:
Once you get to a certain point in life, and a certain income level, time is what matters.
Time with family, time in the shop.

So, right now I am working on my first nakiri. It's tall. 177 mm cutting edge. 59-56 mm height. From 2.5 mm stock, a very slight taper.
qw9JwIH.jpg
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Is there any belly on the blade or is it perfectly straight? The picture looks very (too?) straight to me.
 
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