WIP: Time for a batch!

wolffbite

wolffbite

Joined
May 7, 2010
Messages
1,066
You all told me I shouldn't. You all warned me. I didn't listen. I did it anyways. And now I'm hooked on making knives...:rolleyes:

So to break in my new credit card I put in a big order at Jantz for 6 feet of O-1 steel in a couple thicknesses and widths, a personalizer (for my fancy new stencils from ernie :D), g-10 in many colors and a bunch of stainless/brass pin and tubing.

While waiting for that set of steak knives to come back from heat-treating... I have been whipping up some designs I want to try out. I will have plenty of steel to work with by next week, so I figured a batch of 4 different knives to start out on would let me know what will work and what will not!

Basically gonna post em up for any critiques/changes you guys can recommend!

This first one is a chopper.

Specs: 3/16th" thick O-1, 8" blade length and 4.25" handle.

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This is a wharncliffe necker

Specs: 1/8th" thick O-1, 2.25" blade length and 3" handle.

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Drop point necker

Specs: 1/8th" thick O-1, 2.75" blade length and 3" handle.

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Drop point bushcrafter

Specs: (some in 3/32" maybe) 1/8" thick O-1, 3.25" blade length and 4.25" handle.

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This last one is almost identical in size to my original knife that I made for myself. The blade is the same, but the handle has been totally revamped. No more finger grooves, and no more hook at the end. They really just created more pressure points than necessary. All these knives will feature a lanyard hole closer to the edge/end of the handle instead of in place of a pin like on my previous knives.

Let me know what you guys think! I'm excited to start grinding again... and with a week of rainy weather approaching again I may have more shop time than I bargained for!

Let me know what you guys thinks. All comments/critiques/whatever are welcome!

Thanks ;)
 
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I like your designs, just a few observations. There isn't much ricasso in designs 3 and 4. The plunge line seems awfully close to the handle material.

I've never done this before so I'm curious as to how are you going to make the "dimpling"(??) on the handle material of knives 1-3?

Go nuts!

- Paul Meske
 
Hmmm good thoughts paul. I think I'll move that plunge forward about 3/32nds-1/8th of an inch on each...

Haha ignore the "dimpling". That is supposed to be holes in the tangs for weight reduction (sorry about that ;)).... I'm toying with the idea of tapering the tang on the chopper instead of just filling the handle full of holes but I'm kinda of scared to do it wrong... if only I had a tw-90 with that surface grinder :D
 
Nice!! I'm very happy for ya buddy! very excited to see your stuff come to life.

Keep the pics coming!
 
Appreciate it tons jonny :D

How many of you guys use Fred Rowe's Bubble jig? I've watched all the videos on his site and it looks like it could really help improve the quality of my grinds. I'm at least 2 weeks from starting any bevel grinding, so I'd like to get some input before I put in an order for the full kit
 
wolffbite said:
Appreciate it tons jonny :D

How many of you guys use Fred Rowe's Bubble jig? I've watched all the videos on his site and it looks like it could really help improve the quality of my grinds. I'm at least 2 weeks from starting any bevel grinding, so I'd like to get some input before I put in an order for the full kit
Click to expand...


I don't understand how it helps, but some people like it.

I say, just build the angle into your toolrest or adjust the platen angle on the grinder.
 
Bubble jig or not depend on if you are going to free hand grind. If you'#re happy just using a tool rest you don't need the bubble jig.
 
lonepine said:
There isn't much ricasso in designs 3 and 4. The plunge line seems awfully close to the handle material.
Click to expand...

Good! I design all my knives with as little ricasso as possible, so you have sharp edge right close to your hand. I find it helpful when peeling apples, whittling and whatnot. I have always viewed large ricassos, on small or large knives, as mostly a waste of space. They do look cool on ABS-style bowies, though.

Wolff, I commend you on using stock thickness that matches each knife. I just have to scratch my head when guys grind a 3" blade out of 1/4" stock... :confused:
 
Thanks james,

While I agree on having minimal ricasso, I think paul made a good call on my designs. I have since increased the size on both knives slightly. With my first knife, it was a mistake to have my handle material sit flush to the plunge, leaving 0 ricasso. It interfered with sharpening, as the handle material got in the way when using stones.

I think 3/16 is probably about the thickest I would ever go.... 1/4 can get heavy, and I think proper balance/weight distribution is far more important than just a thick beefy stock.

I'm sitting here twiddling my thumbs on this rainy day off work though... no steel to grind on and all the time in the world to do it :mad:
 
Wahoo! Always great to come home from work to a big box of goodies sitting on my bed!

UPS Came through on my Jantz order (boo on you Canada post!) so I have just a few little things to play with this weekend :D

My personalizer, all my steel (18inch lengths of O-1 for a total of 6 pieces), various 1/4" and 1/8" G-10, and a mess of tubing/pins in stainless and brass.

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I'M READY TO GRIND SOME STEEL BABY!
 
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Ahh, I remember the good old days when I though 6 feet of steel was a "Big Order".
Aldo would think I was making a joke if I ordered only six feet now.

Just yankin' your chain,,,,,,,Go to it Wolffie!........make some knives.
 
It's all good Stacy, maybe some day I'll be able to make actual "big" orders :D

So I got 4-5 hours in the shop today...

After struggling with some cheapy hacksaw blades (that's what I get for trying to save a few bucks...) I got the pieces all cut out and sharpied/scribed for grinding.

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I tell you... buying barstock that is very close in size the profile of your designs helps IMMENSELY. Saving belts, preventing a lot of heat-buildup from hogging... damn I wish I had done this with my first ones lol

And here we are... ground, drilled, countersunk and all surfaces wet-sanded to 120 grit =)

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Chopper can use a bit more filing in the front finger choil to make it a bit deeper/wider but I will probably tackle that tomorrow.

I had a scrap of CPM-154 so I decided to try out my new etcher and stencils!

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Not TOO terrible for my first try... I think I perhaps used a bit too much electrolyte. The "etched" portion seems to have bled out under the stencil, so its kind of shadowy. And I didn't mark for long enough it seems, as most of the darkened metal just wiped away. Trial and error I suppose, I will keep trying on my scraps so that I am good at it by the time I am ready to mark my actual knives =)

Of COURSE KMStools was closed today when I got there... I WOULD forget it's Canada day lol. Will be going tomorrow to pick up a mess of 120 grit belts to start grinding bevels.
 
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good deal, looks like your off to a good start:thumbup:

I really like the chopper, what are the dimensions on that badboy???

maybe someday I can be as fortunate as you and be able to get back into making just "one knife"...:mad:

everything just sits around and taunts me..

Nice etching btw, and love the logo....
 
Jonathan,
Things are shaping up nicely!!(no pun intended :) )
Love the blade shapes, especially the small wharnie, and your first shot at etching looks pretty good. I like the design you settled on. That was a good thread where you asked for opinions on your mark. Everybody came together and gave some input and I think the end result is really cool. Great logo!

Looking forward to more progress pics.
 
BCK- Dimensions on it are 3/16th thickness, 8 inch blade, 4.25 inch handle. Honestly, 3/16 feels MASSIVE to me... I don't know why. I own an ESEE Junglas, I was trying to make something smaller to that for camping/backpacking (3 pounds of knife was a bit much). Hopefully with bevelling it will lose a bit of girth, if all else fails I can always take a shot at tapering the tang.

Jonny- Thanks man, I was so glad to have everyone's help on it, it turned out better than I could imagine. I figured you would like the wharnie :D I was somewhat inspired by your two-fingered model to try and come up with my own, this one works out as a nice 3 finger, I think it will make an awesome necker!

The etching will probably take a few more goes before I get it right, I think its just figuring out how much electrolyte is too much/too little and zoning in on the right times for how long to etch on DC and AC. I'm using the personalizer from Jantz and it seems to work just great, money well spent at this point :thumbup:

Just an FYI, the two drop-point neckers are 3/32"and 1/8". I wanted to try the two different steel types to see which works better for that model, I'm suspecting I may do some of each at this point, but can't confirm it until they have handles attached. I am also going to be using the remaining section of one of the 1/8" pieces to try my first hidden tang hunter. My uncle had his custom hunter stolen about 5 years ago and I think this may be a great opportunity to get him a new one ;)

Hopefully I will have time to grind bevels on most of them tomorrow. Will keep you guys updated! Thanks!
 
Well, I beveled all the blades yesterday. KMS only had 80 grit belts in :grumpy: but after hoggin' the bevels on the 3/16" chopper I was kind of glad lol

Spent 3 hours today hand sanding the chopper to 120 grit. Paid special attention to the plunges this time around, and forced myself to not rush anything. I also switched directions (went ricasso to tip, spine to edge and again ricasso to tip) and this helped me find a few scratches that were hiding.

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I am VERY happy with the results this time around, I didn't rush, I didn't "ignore" scratches. If I saw anything from any angle, the whole blade got another sweep of sanding.

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I finished by wet-sanding, in one direction from ricasso to tip. This gave a nice uniform scratch pattern,

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I also deepened and widened my finger/sharpening choil, it looks and feels a lot better now.

Working all week again, but I hope to sand ~1 blade an evening so that by the time the weekend rolls around they will all be ready for 220 and 400 grit finishing.
 
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Did you rename or move some folders in your photobucket account?

the photos are all missing from the posts ?
 
The blade looks good but please put a board or something under that blade while your working on it.You don't want to trip or slip and plant that thing in you.
Stan
 
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