Any pics yet???:p

I enjoyed reading this thread. I certainly appreciate the effort to try to fabricate a knife by hand. Did this develop farther?

Cake, I hear this knife didn't turn out exactly as you planned. I hope you haven't quit. I worked on several in the beginning that didn't quite make it to knifehood. My avatar pic is one such. I'm told that's fairly common.

You should:

A. Post pics of how this knife turned out.

B. Keep making knives.;)

P.S. Any grinder is better than none, BUT!! You should spend the money and get a good one if you plan to make knives.

Been really busy
 

Still working on the knife. Knives actually.

I need to get 2 more roughed out to send off for heat treating. A bit expensive to just send one or two blades. I plan to send 4.

I will do my best to get updated pictures posted.

Cake

quick update
 

2 blades back from HT. Look pretty good. I need to do more work on cleaning the blade up, some very fine scratches still visible after polishing.
Handles cut to a very rough shape, I plan on attaching them tonight. I promise some pictures.

I need to get the handle shaped, sanded, polished and oiled then final polish and buff of the blade, then sharpen on the EdgePro.

You should correspond with Barbarian, IMO. He made me a stellar knife at a fairly reasonable price, and might save you some trial and error. :cool:

Be careful on the buffing wheel. They tend to grab and throw things, if you haven't discovered that, yet.

Buffing..
 

I do not have a buffing wheel. I use my dremmel, low speed, and a mix of different polishing compounds.

I really wish I could carve out more time in my day to work on this. I started it a long time ago and I need to get it finished.

Finally! A few pictures.
 

First off, thanks for your patience. Been busy standing up a new course and lots to do there.

Second, this has been a lot of fun, and I have learned a lot. It is not perfect. the grind has flaws and I am not anywhere near being done yet.

Things I still need to do is shape the handle. I just epoxied the wood to the steel and need to file/sand it down about 50% or so. I tried cutting the wood i half, but I suck and could not get it anywhere near evenly cut. I decided to use the full width of the scale I bought and just file down to what will be the final handle.

Perfection requires experience. More experience than I currently have. No hand-made knife will be "perfect," with reguards symmetry, etc. until you've been making knives for a long, long time.

Grind lines also improve with experience, and from what I can see in the pics, yours look very good for a 1st knife. You'll learn more, and get better with each knife you make.

Until you get a high-end precision bandsaw and a lot of hands-on time with it, it'll be more practical to just grind/file away excess handle material as you said.

Looking good. Keep it up!:lifter

Edited to Add:
I'm not an expert, and I hope this post doesn't come across sounding like advice from someone who thinks themself to be one. This advice was given to me from masters of the craft, who were kind enough to share it with me. I'm just passing it on, hoping it will help.

Barbarian,

Please do not ever hesitate to give me feedback. I worked with the fighter-jet community for over 15 years and developed very tough skin. Anything you say will be taken as positive critique and as insight to make me better.

My personal belief is that if somebody will take the time to give me feedback I will take the time to listen, learn, and put into practice the advice I have been given. When people stop providing feedback, they stop caring. Usually because their feedback is not being listened to.

The best thing about people who make knives is their willingness to share tips, tricks, and information rather than keep everything secret.

Thanks for taking the time to look at my first attempt at a knife and tell me how I can get better.


Cake