Knife #5

DonL

Well-Known Member
I posted this in another forum (gun forum), but wanted feedback from the folks on this forum as well.

This is my 5th knife. I'm working on two others as well. They should be done in the next few days.

The steel is 1/8th 1095 that was HT in my new paint can forge. The scales are mesquite and they turned out good. I used a red liner. The pins at the front and back are actually 1/8th copper tubes with a 3/32 brass pin epoxied in. I thought the copper tube would show up better, but it didn't. :sad: I took the finish up to 400 with a Gator belt then used a Scotchbrite pad. I finished it off with a coating of Ren wax.

I had fewer errors on this knife, but still had quite a few. If you look at the picture with the knife in my hand, it looks like one pin is missing. It's actually a short pin. I grabbed a pin meant for another knife while I was epoxying the scales on (I hate 5 minute epoxy - was out of my 30 minute stuff). I didn't notice it until I was sanding the scales. Once I realized how far in the head was, I tried to epoxy another short section of pin on top, but it came off on the grinder when I was sanding the scales. May try super glueing one on again.

Also, on the bottom of the finger groove, I have no idea how those voids in the scales got there. When I started sanding, I thought they were just blobs of epoxy, but I could push a piece of pin in them quite a ways. Go figure!

My file work got a little better, but I still need lots of practice! I saw this pattern on a Paki blade on ebay, it looked simple enough, but as you can see, not simple enough for me to get it right!! :34:

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Comments, suggestions and critiques are appreciated. Hope to have knives #3 and #6 done this week!
 
Looks like you cut into a void in the wood on that handle. With the short pin you might find a nail or get a punch that is just slightly smaller than the pin and drive it out of the hole and replace it. You also might want to consider driving out all of the pins and replacing the scales. Once you have the pins out of the scales you may be able to pop them off by striking them on the edge of the tang with a mallet. You could also stick the knife into an oven at 200* long enough to heat all the way through to soften the epoxy to make disassembly easier. That's a nice looking blade and it deserves a better handle.

Doug
 
instead of beating yourself up take pride in your work. You are doing what millions wish they could. Great job!
 
Thanks everyone for your kind comments. I wasn't going to mess with the pin since I plan on using this knife myself. But after your suggestions and my Wife's, plus sitting here a good bit of last night just handling it, I've decided to either replace the pin or the handles, whichever I destroy first! Currently I'm out of 3/32 brass rod so it'll have to wait until I can make it to Ace again.

I should have knives #3 and #6 up this evening.
 
Maybe mix some of the sawdust in the void with super glue to fill it,if that doesn't look good,replace slabs. The other guys are right looks to nice to not fix.
 
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