1st hand forged knife

[ChrisW2374]

Here is my 1st hand forged knife. Learned a lot. It is 1084 with copper corby bolts for the pins and bourbon barrel staves for the handle.
1. I need to start with thicker steel (started with 1/8")
2. Need to find a better way to flatten the staves when i use them.
3. Work on my grinding skills to get a nice flat blade and handle scales.

Any critiques are welcome. The handle was longer but I had to shorten it to get rid the gap between the tang and wood.

 

[Doug Lester]

Try steaming the scales after cutting the blank from the stave then clamping it in a vice. I would recommend that you make the spine of the blade straight and then to a flat grind all the way to it. That looks more like a spear point with a sabre grind which could be good with some knives but get the basics down and get fancy later. All those inclusions near the point suggest to me that you are either hitting the blade too hard or you don't have the anvil height right and you're bringing the the face of the hammer down at an angle leaving you with dents that are too deep to grind/file out. One eight inch steel is a little too thin to start forging with. Starting out I would go with 1/4" stock. It will leave you with more steel that you can grind away to get rid of those dints.

Doug

 

[ChrisW2374]

Try steaming the scales after cutting the blank from the stave then clamping it in a vice. I would recommend that you make the spine of the blade straight and then to a flat grind all the way to it. That looks more like a spear point with a sabre grind which could be good with some knives but get the basics down and get fancy later. All those inclusions near the point suggest to me that you are either hitting the blade too hard or you don't have the anvil height right and you're bringing the the face of the hammer down at an angle leaving you with dents that are too deep to grind/file out. One eight inch steel is a little too thin to start forging with. Starting out I would go with 1/4" stock. It will leave you with more steel that you can grind away to get rid of those dints.

Doug

Thank you for the feedback I really appreciate it.