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

After months of messing around forging lawn-mower blades and grinding mild steel for practice, I finally jumped in and started a knife out of actual hardenable steel. Forged a santoku inspired blade out of 1084 flat stock. Here it is after rough grinding, before heat treating:
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Here it is post-quench:
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Last night I did the finish grinding. Went to 600 grit belt finish, taking it slow and dipping the blade between passes. I missed some coarse scratches near the spine, but overall, I'm really happy with how it is turning out. Got the edge pretty thin, comparable or better to the production kitchen knives in our kitchen.
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Now it needs an edge and a handle!
 
Run of 4 paring knives I'm going to try and sell or give as gifts for Christmas. First knives I've been able to do a touchmark on. These are number 9 through 12 for me. Plunge lines could be more crisp and consistent, but overall was pretty happy with the final finish. Red ones are stabilized pomelle sapele. and the black liners ones are stabilized eucalyptus. Steel is 80CRV2. Stock was from 1/8", kept it fairly heavy which may have been a mistake for a paring knife as it feels hearty. 3/32 for top spine thickness finished.
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nothing exciting happening in the shop for me at the moment, but I'm sitting in front of the computer taking advantage of some black friday knife making supplies deals. Not often you get discounts off steel and handle materials, so get while the gettin's good!
 
Lorien said:
nothing exciting happening in the shop for me at the moment, but I'm sitting in front of the computer taking advantage of some black friday knife making supplies deals. Not often you get discounts off steel and handle materials, so get while the gettin's good!
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Where? Please!
 
Owen K. said:
Where? Please!
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the three main suppliers in Canada have 10-15 percent discounts, I'm sure it's probably the same elsewhere. Just go to your favourite supplier and see what's what.
 
Lehbauer said:
Run of 4 paring knives I'm going to try and sell or give as gifts for Christmas. First knives I've been able to do a touchmark on. These are number 9 through 12 for me. Plunge lines could be more crisp and consistent, but overall was pretty happy with the final finish. Red ones are stabilized pomelle sapele. and the black liners ones are stabilized eucalyptus. Steel is 80CRV2. Stock was from 1/8", kept it fairly heavy which may have been a mistake for a paring knife as it feels hearty. 3/32 for top spine thickness finished.
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Well, that went fast. Sold in about an hour after I put them up. Plus then got orders for 3 chef's knives.....
Guess I know what I'm doing this weekend.
Happy Thanksgiving and holiday weekend to all of you down south of the 49th.
 
steelhog said:
Hoping to finish up these small hunters today made from scrap steel of other projects. I have to say I really do not enjoy working with micarta - may have to stick with wood.

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Where did you get your micarta? Because some micarta‘s can be an absolute pain to work with and other can be wonderful to work with!
 
Bunker Hill Blades said:
Where did you get your micarta? Because some micarta‘s can be an absolute pain to work with and other can be wonderful to work with!
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Yes I stay clear off the artisan small shop made mycarta/ecarta/gcarta. Voids, tear outs, doesn't polish, poor colorqualities. There may be exceptions, but I try to stick with Norplex/Ultrex and the like.
 
Bunker Hill Blades said:
Where did you get your micarta? Because some micarta‘s can be an absolute pain to work with and other can be wonderful to work with!
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I got it from pops. The blue and bone white were absolutely awful to work with for some reason. I have some brown and black that have been ok to work. No idea what the difference would be. It's all from the same place.
 
Canvas and linen work a bit differently. Vintage stuff may also work differently, too.
 
I agree canvas works easier, too! Even with variable speed, linen can be a pain! I found coarser, open coat belts work better and wet sanding on the belt sander helps a lot, too. I make my own fabric laminate handles and they are so much more difficult to work with than even regular linen micarta!!
 
Scaniaman said:
Yes I stay clear off the artisan small shop made mycarta/ecarta/gcarta. Voids, tear outs, doesn't polish, poor colorqualities. There may be exceptions, but I try to stick with Norplex/Ultrex and the like.
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That sums up my opinion pretty good.

Ultrex linen micarta is actually on of my favorite handle materials to work with! With sharp AO belts and a little hand sanding it’s so nice (in every way) I also really like how when your doing a full tang just how easy it is to get the steel and the micarta perfectly flush so you can’t feel the difference between the two.

Steelhog Steelhog try the Norplex/Ultrex micarta before you give up on it.
 
Bunker Hill Blades said:
That sums up my opinion pretty good.

Ultrex linen micarta is actually on of my favorite handle materials to work with! With sharp AO belts and a little hand sanding it’s so nice (in every way) I also really like how when your doing a full tang just how easy it is to get the steel and the micarta perfectly flush so you can’t feel the difference between the two.

Steelhog Steelhog try the Norplex/Ultrex micarta before you give up on it.
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Do u have any experience with the ultrex burlap micarta? I was thinking about buying some but it's pretty expensive.
 
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