Steven Long
Well-Known Member
Decided to try and make a few knives for myself and a friend of mine. We both spend a lot of time outdoors and these are designed for that purpose. Also, I felt that if I made two than the mistakes made on the first one can be corrected on the second one . I have always been a "jack of all trades" (fixing whatever breaks, building a few furniture pieces, etc) but this is more creative and intimate. I have really been enjoying this new obsession to make things with my hands out of raw material. Anyway, on to the knives...
Knife One:
-1/8" O1 steel
-OAL= 9"
-Blade Length= 4 1/4"
-Handle will be front and rear bolsters made out of 304 with Arizona Ironwood Burl.
-Mosaic pins
Almost ready for heat treat. I have a crappy Skil drill press and I got a little wobble when putting the lanyard hole in. For some reason this flaw annoys me even though you won't be able to see it when the handle is on. Still need to sand it a bit more in this picture.
I found the hacksaw to be the best tool for rough cutting the shape out and was surprised at how well the Craftsman belt sander worked. It made pretty quick work when profiling the blade. I used files to put the edge on and a few blisters to prove it. It actually wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be.
After seeing some of the tools a lot of you use, I have been drooling over belt grinders. Maybe someday in the near future.
Knife Two:
-1/8" O1 steel
-OAL= 8 7/8"
-Blade Length= 4 5/8"
-Handle will be Arizona Ironwood Burl
Cut it out and profiled it last night and have been staring at it ever since wondering if there is anything I want to change. Going to stop being indecisive and will finish profiling, drill the holes and put the edge on it tomorrow. I would have liked the handle to be a tad longer but I ran out of steel.
And here they are together for comparison...
This project has turned out to be very fun and rewarding. After making a few antler handled firesteels, I felt that I could possibly make a knife or two and see where it goes from there. This forum has helped me tremendously and I am thankful for that. They will hopefully be sent to heat treat on Friday so I can start finishing them next week.
Here are the antler handled firesteels if anyone was wondering what I was talking about...
Had to fancy them up a little bit...
Thanks for looking and check back soon for the progress.
Knife One:
-1/8" O1 steel
-OAL= 9"
-Blade Length= 4 1/4"
-Handle will be front and rear bolsters made out of 304 with Arizona Ironwood Burl.
-Mosaic pins
Almost ready for heat treat. I have a crappy Skil drill press and I got a little wobble when putting the lanyard hole in. For some reason this flaw annoys me even though you won't be able to see it when the handle is on. Still need to sand it a bit more in this picture.
I found the hacksaw to be the best tool for rough cutting the shape out and was surprised at how well the Craftsman belt sander worked. It made pretty quick work when profiling the blade. I used files to put the edge on and a few blisters to prove it. It actually wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be.
After seeing some of the tools a lot of you use, I have been drooling over belt grinders. Maybe someday in the near future.
Knife Two:
-1/8" O1 steel
-OAL= 8 7/8"
-Blade Length= 4 5/8"
-Handle will be Arizona Ironwood Burl
Cut it out and profiled it last night and have been staring at it ever since wondering if there is anything I want to change. Going to stop being indecisive and will finish profiling, drill the holes and put the edge on it tomorrow. I would have liked the handle to be a tad longer but I ran out of steel.
And here they are together for comparison...
This project has turned out to be very fun and rewarding. After making a few antler handled firesteels, I felt that I could possibly make a knife or two and see where it goes from there. This forum has helped me tremendously and I am thankful for that. They will hopefully be sent to heat treat on Friday so I can start finishing them next week.
Here are the antler handled firesteels if anyone was wondering what I was talking about...
Had to fancy them up a little bit...
Thanks for looking and check back soon for the progress.