Work in progress...groomsmen knives

[silver_pilate]

I appreciate that, Nathan. It's been a fun thread to do. The oven works really well and holds temp like a champ. It's really well sealed with no air circulating in it, so I feel confident giving longer soaks at temp without excessive decarb, at least at these temps. I'm considering adding an Argon flow to really keep things looking pretty. This is the first time I've had the oven on for more than say 45 minutes (mostly heat treat one knife at a time), and after having it on for near 3 hours, the legs get a bit warm. I went ahead and put some thick mild steel bars under the legs to diffuse the heat a bit more.

I had to go to sleep last night, so the blades are back in the oven this morning for a second temper at 400 for 2 hours.

--nathan

 

[catsmasher]

I am doing a lot of research and thinking about starting knifemaking as a hobby. I must say that your thread is great. I love the pictures and the explanations. Please finish the thread soon, the suspense is killing me! I really want to see how you do the handles.

 

[jll346]

Awesome job. Can't wait to see the final products.....:thumbup:

 

[silver_pilate]

I'm glad you are finding this thread helpful. That is one of the main reasons I wanted to do this: to help newer makers as I've been helped in the past. Seeing it all in pictures really helps bring the concepts together. Please be patient as I've got a bit more hand sanding to do and then handles and sheaths. Im actually on my way to Missouri right now and am typing this on my cell. I will be back on Tuesday and will get straight to the shop to work. Please forgive any spelling errors as typing this on a cell phone touch screen is a real pita!

--nathan

 

[PIndelicato]

This is a great thread, Nathan. Thanks from a newbie!

 

[silver_pilate]

Did a little work today....

First the newest addition to the shop. A Harbor Freight cheapie variable speed portaband. It's firmly clamped to a cheapie HF clamp bench (the rope is just a little something to add a bit more stability). The whole setup cost me $89 smackers + tax:

I've still got some work to do on the final sanding for the blades, but before I get further in the sanding work, I go ahead and rough out (really rough) the handle scales. I trace the shape with a sharpie and roughly cut to it.

Next is to drill the pin/tube holes. These knives will be set up with a single 1/4" mosaic pin and a 1/4" lanyard tube. These scales are in real rough form to allow me to position the blade and drill the holes with plenty of room for error around the edge. I start by drilling the first hole by clamping the blade on the scale and using it as a template:

Next, I clean up the hole a bit with a chainsaw file and slip the pin through the holes in the handle and tang. This keeps everything lined up as I drill the tube hole:

From the previous step on, I always have a pin or tube in the drilled holes and through the tang to keep everything in line. Flip over the freshly drilled scale and knive, and place on top of the second scale. Line in all up and drill through the holes into the scale:

Finally, place the tube in to keep it all lined up, and turn the scales/blade around to finish with drilling the pin hole in the second scale:

After the holes are drilled, I take the knife over to the grinder and clean up the handle profiles to near the tang. I leave a little overhang and do all my final clean up of the handle profile after the epoxy is set up.

Keep in mind, these handle scales are not finished. The ricasso end of the handle will be cut down and shaped prior to epoxy, and I still have some sanding to do before I get ready to epoxy the scales on. Also, I will cut out some spacers to go between the tang and scales. Anyway, keep looking forward to more updates and thanks for looking!

--nathan

 

[jimmyseymour]

awesome job. Next time I'm in wolfforth I'll have to look you up. Take care.

 

[silver_pilate]

Thanks Jimmy. Just drop me an email if you're going to be in town. I'm just a hop and skip from Wolfforth.

--nathan

 

[sulsaMatt]

What a great thread Nathan, excellent clear photos concise descriptions, great product. This thread needs to be tagged for sure. The cleanliness of your shop (although atypical) really lets us see the equipment and processes without distractions. Dare I say maybe even motivated me to clean up my place which right now looks like an armory for some guerrilla force

 

[Sam Salvati]

Nathan, that is frikkin awesome, what a great idea, and thanks a ton for showing us your process, I like that handsanding/drawfiling with the screws and leather.

 

[silver_pilate]

Ok, another small update.

Today I cut out the final handle scales and drilled them (desert ironwood), and I cut out the colored spacers to go between the scales and the blade. I've done it with scissors, but the vulcanized spacer material is pretty tough, so it goes faster on the bandsaw. Again, I use a sharpie to outline:

After they're all cut out, I take them to the drill press and, using the blade as a template, drill the holes for the pins. You'll likely have to clean up the holes and edges a bit with a quick pass on the belt grinder, and I use a razor when needed to remove the ridge that sometimes forms around the hole when you drill it. Didn't take pictures of this part as it is pretty straight forward, kind of similar to drilling the handle scales.

Also, I finished my hand rubbing to 600 grit and shaped the front of the handle scales. Basically, I pin the handle scales and liners all togther in the orientation they will be on the knife (sans blade), and take them to the grinder with an 80 grit belt and shape the ricasso facing portion of the scale. You need to do this now so as to not scratch up your ricasso later on. I also smooth everything out to 220 or 400 grit after I profile them.

After all of that is done, it's time to glue it all up. I took all the blade/scales to the house. I rough up the scales with low grit paper first, and then I clean everything well with acetone:

Next, I mix up whatever epoxy I'm using. Today is 30 minute setup epoxy with 2500 lb/in hold. I used a longer setup to allow me to get multiple handles done before remixing a new batch. Make sure it's mixed well. This is a great time to use alll of those glossy junk mail pieces or magazines you get:

--to be continued.

 

[silver_pilate]

Now it's time to glue it all up. *NOTE* I should be using some nitrile gloves during this process, but I forgot that I had taken them to the shop, so I just washed my hands often. I use the same toothpick I used to mix the epoxy to spread it on the parts. First coat one handle scale with a thin even coat, holes included, and place the pins in the scale.

Next, place the appropriate liner on the scale/pins, and coat the other side with epoxy.

I then transfer a good bit of epoxy into the holes I've drilled in the tang for balance to make little epoxy "rivets." Coat the second liner, and place it on the blade/pins, and finally, coat the second scale, holes included, and place it on the liner.

MAKER SURE the mosaic pin is oriented how you want it, and clamp everything together. It doesn't have to be super tight, just firm pressure. I use the $2 spring clamps for Lowe's or wally world.

Finally, after letting the blade sit with spring clamps for a few minutes to let the epoxy have time to seep out from under the scales, I use some acetone and an old t-shirt to clean the front of the handle scales.

So that's it for tonight, folks. Here they all are setting up over night and ready to have their handles shaped this week!

Have a good night!

--nathan

 

[Keith_H]

Very nice! These are going to turn out great.

 

[Munky88]

If you need an extra groomsmen or two gimi a call.

 

[michdad]

WOW! Not sure what else to say!

Awsome pics, and thanks lots for sharing. I got stuck trying to learn (still a newbe), and gave it a rest for a while. What you have shared made a few light bulbe come on! I am very anxious to try some of your teachings.

Again, thanks.

Matt

 

[silver_pilate]

Another update. I have the handles pretty well shaped up now. Here's how I got there.

Starting out, the handles look pretty sloppy, like this:

The first thing I do is square up the work rest and using a 36 grit eek belt, I carefully remove the bulk of extra material. Before I get to steel, I switch to a fresh 150 grit to remove the final overhangs.

And I end up with something that looks like this:

Next, I thin the front of the scale by carefully grinding it at near a 45 degree angle (give or take) to the thickness I want it at the ricasso keeping both sides symetrical.

Next I take the edges off at near 45 degress and thin them down close to where I want them for the finished knife.

Do this all the way around, keeping things symetrical side-to-side and I end up with something like this:

This one still needs to be thinned down a bit.

--to be continued....

 

[silver_pilate]

Next I take down the height in the center of the scale using both the platen and a slack belt.

They end up looking faceted like this:

Now the fun part for me. Smoothing it all out. I start at 80 grit and blend everything together by holding the knife parallel to the floor and twisting it back and forth against the slack belt. This just takes time and a bit of ability to see what's happening to the handle in your mind. I like to think it's a bit of an art to get 'em right.

I work my way up through the grits. Black linen gets 80, 150, 220, 400, and 600, while tan canvas gets 80, 150, 220. The ironwood took more time as I had to be careful not to burn it, and I took it up to 600 with the grinder. About 3.5 hours of work later (all the time wearing a respirator...you should have seen my face afterwards... ), I went from this:

to this:

on all 5 knives. Now I've got a good bit of hand sanding the handles to do as well as some clean up to the blades (touched a couple of blades to the belt on accident...dope!). You'll have to wait and see how they turn out! By the way, the ironwood looks GREAT! This is the first I've used ironwood, but it won't be the last. (yeah, I know...I'm a tease )

Thanks for looking.

--nathan

 

[galadduin]

:thumbup::thumbup: Great thread. Thanks for the share.
Pics are great too. Happy knife making...
Emre

 

[silver_pilate]

Well, since I made sheaths today, I thought, why not include a tutorial in this WIP?!

I haven't sharpened the knives or done final finishing on the handles or blades. I tape the blades with one layer of painter's tape for protection. I'm making one-side-molded sheaths, in other words, one side is molded to the blade/handle and the other is mostly flat. This makes it easier to attach belt loops and such, but makes fitting a bit more difficult. I use a homemade press I built using two pieces of particle board, some cut and stacked layers of blue foam roll up camping bed, all held together with spray adhesive and some hinges. I use my bench vise to apply the pressure for molding.

First thing I do is heat set the toaster oven to 350. After it's warm, place the cut-to-size kydex in the oven.

It will only take a couple of minutes to get to temp, so watch it closely. You'll know it's about right when the edges start to come up lilke this:

Don't leave it in the oven too long after this is noticed or it will start to shrivel a bit. Take the now limp kydex out wearing some cotton gloves so you can handle it, and drape it over the knife. Once positioned right (I use some lines drawn on the towel to help position the kydex, close the press and clamp it in the vise. I also use a vise-grip on top to help get even pressure.

After a few minutes, you should get something like this:

Now I work on fitting the knife so that it will be able to slip in and out of the sheath, but still lock in securely. The best way I've found for this type of sheath is to use a dremel and a sanding drum. I grind a little, and check, grind a little, and check. It's trial and error, keeping in mind I'm not using a back for the sheath yet.

Now I mark the holes. This sheath will be set up with 2" hole spacing.

Center punch for positive location while drilling.

I find that a quick push of the drill press through the kydex works best as going more slowly down with the bit will melt it. A quick press while firmly holding the kydex "pops" the drill through and makes a clean hole.

To be continued....

 

[silver_pilate]

Once you have all the holes drilled, cut out the back to the sheath and drill holes for it, using the top you just finished as a template. Basically, I hold both pieces together and drill one hole, then temporarily place a kydex rivet in the holes to hold the position, drill a second hole, place a rivet, etc.

Once it's drilled a matched up, I test fit the knives and make any further clearnancing to allow the blade to slip in and out.

Once it all fits well, I again temporarily place rivets in the holes to hold the sheath together in alignment, and then using the bandsaw, I rough out the shape. Then it's off to the grinder to finish up the edges with a 150 grit belt. Use quick motions and very brief touches to the belt to avoid melting the plastic. If it does melt, once it cools (a few seconds), you can just pop off the ground away melted plastic with your finger. After it's all pretty and shaped where you want it, take it apart and clean it really well. I also use some 400 grit sandpaper to smooth the opening of the sheath and remove any burrs.

Next, I permanently rivet the sheaths together using this press and dies I got from KnifeKits.

Now you can perform final fitting using a heat gun. I heat the top back of the sheath and press it in to fit around the handle. You'll have to heat up (just enough to get it maliable...too much and you will loose your press-fit) and press the material in where you want it until it cools. Keep in mind, heating tends to undo any changes you've made to the kydex, so heat just a little bit and for brief periods.

After it's all said and done, you get something that looks like this:

These will be set up with a spring steel belt loop that can be worn in verticle or horizontal carry.

--nathan