My First Knife Coaching Session

JMB1989

New Member
Hello,

Today I am hoping to being my journey of making my first knife ever. I have drawn and scanned my knife blueprint and currently I am pretty happy with the result. I have attached a copy of the image and would really appreciate the feedback from anyone on design changes or things to be careful of. The metal I have chosen is 1084 (1.5'W x 11.0'L) as it is the cheapest option and from what I have gathered one of the better starting metals to work with.

Today's Plan

1)Trace my blueprint to the metal.
2)Dimple an outline of the blueprint on the metal.
3)Drill out the dimple holes that have been struck.
4)Plan my cheese holes for my tang.

This is all I plan to do today as I want to go slow with the process and tread carefully. I would truly appreciate any and all advice anyone has old or new to knife making. I am also not experienced with forums so I have tried my best to attach a picture of the knife blueprint to this post but have also included an imgur link as well. Thank you for your time.

FirstHunterFS.jpg
http://imgur.com/faXwrfR
 
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That looks like a good plan. Do you have the length of the blade and handle? You chose a good steel to start. 1084 is forgiving during heat treat.
 
It's your knife, and never let anyone deter you from making the knife you want. I only have a couple of suggestions that you might consider since this is your first attempt. Again, this is only to help the process and if you don't like the advice you certainly won't hurt my feelings.

1. The lanyard hole. You have it designed where the handle scales have to be relieved around the lanyard holes. That is doable, but it is going to add a lot of work. You're going to have to drill that hole along with the pin holes before you trim your scales to fit the tang. Then trim the scales, chamfer the remaining half-round hole left on the butt of the scales for your lanyard hole- and sand, fit, sand, fit to make it even on both sides and have the lanyard hold centered in the half-round. Depending on your ability / tools available to drill accurately located holes this may or may not go as planned. It's not a monumental task, don't get me wrong. But there's a much easier way.

suggestion: If you move the lanyard hole into the butt of the knife it works just like another pin hole, except you use 1/4 tubing for the pin. When you sand your handle to shape you automatically have a lanyard hole.


2. The guard. Guards look really cool. No doubt about it. But they are a lot to take on for a first knife.


Your design is great. These are only suggestions to help you be successful on your first knife, and usually it helps a ton to keep things simpler the first time rather than trying to build your dream knife on the first go round. It is only natural to envision the final look of the knife's design. But something to think about is the quality of your knife has a lot more to do with fit and finish than fancy design elements. A simple knife done well will blow the doors off a cool design that looks rough and uneven.
 
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