About to embark on my first knife(knives)

so i got all my profiles done on the bench grinder...been working on getting them squared up and smoothed out with the hand file...


today i wanted to hand file the bevel on my knife. half an hour yielded poor results ahaha. slow but sure, i'm in no rush
 

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filework

did some filework on my knife to see how hard some different patterns would be and approx. how long it would take. this is an older picture, it needed touched up in some of the spots but i forgot to take a new picture.
 

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few updates. got hand sanding done on the profiles, have to do filework on top/ drill holes and grind the bevels and we'll be ready for heat treat. i'm moving along pretty well i think.


also another pic of started filework on another knife
 

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Last edited:
went this weekend and picked up a different motor for the grinder. we got this grinder from my grandpa, it was your typical 4 projects to get something that you want for your initial project. we had to shovel about a truck bed of snow to get the doors open, move a bunch of sh!t around to get the motor out.

anyways this one is a 2 hp. we had a 1 1/2 hp but the shaft was spinning the wrong way and there was no diagram to show how to make it spin the other way. regardless, have to toss that bad puppy on, wire it and then get some belts ordered up. I got my checkering file, mosaic and other pins / tubing in today when i went home for lunch so until the grinder is ready i think i'm going to make a mock up handle out of pine, just to start feeling out a shape / balance.

also, i'm still kind of up in the air about using the checkering file next to the decorative filework. i'm not actually checkering, just making straight lines for grip (on top for your thumb). i dont know if it looks too busy or not? any suggestions?
 
Be careful about marking your pin and thong holes so close to the edge. If you run down into the pins when shaping/rounding the handles it looks stupid. Don't ask me how I know... Anyway I agree the profiles are nice, a good straightforward working knife.
 
got that grinder up and running, ordering some more belts today so I can get to grinding some more bevels. I have 3 done on the grinder...

What is a good progression of belts to run before hand sanding?
 
Depends on how shiny you want it ;)

I like to start with at least a 60 grit, move up to 120, and then maybe 220. That will give you a decent "satin" finish. Sometimes I won't even take it past 120.

If I'm mirror polishing it, I'll use a Norax belt (engineered abrasive) and go from my regular 120 (or 220) to a 65x, then 45x, 16x, and finally 5x. I forget what the "equivalent" grits for the Norax belts are, but it gets pretty darn fine.

After that, I might follow it up on the buffer.
 
got some serious work done tonight

typical example of how much easier things are with proper tools lol. i got some of my stuff in, namely a norzon blue belt for grinding bevels. busted out the ruff cuts in all of them, and got them all to proper thickness. i'm going to go back this next week and hand file them to finish.

how good do i need to sand before heat treat since this is O1? will i have lots of stuff to sand off after HT? or should I get it pretty much to perfect finish before. just wondering so i'm not wasting my time.

lastly, i ripped a couple 2x4 blank scales so i could sand out some mock ups and see if my pins were too close to the edge. worked out fine so i'm going to go ahead and drill all the rest of the blanks. may have to move the thong hole forward a bit, but we'll see.

here are some pics (i didnt sand the scale, just hand filed it to a roundabout shape)
 

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You're looking better and better!! Can't wait to see the finished, polished product!

As far as the "pre-heat treat finish" is concerned, I will typically take my blades to at least a 120 grit finish, and try to remove any of the "factory finish" off of the blade stock. You also want to make sure not to take your edge bevel down too thin. Where the final edge is going to go, you want to leave somewhere around the thickness of a dime or so, if that makes sense. Otherwise you risk warping, twisting, or cracking your edge.

I'm really digging that overall knife shape... looks very functional and comfortable, but also very attractive.
 
progress 2-19

here is my knife with a semi - done handle. not final clear coat or buffed etc, but a general idea of what it will look like. this is leopardwood that i had left from that bow i posted earlier. I wanted to make it match the bow. also, a pic of the filework for the best man's knife. i wanted to make his stand out a little bit more. i think it looks pretty good for my first attempt at something other than alternating chainsaw files.
 

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wdtorque said:
Nice work there, coming right along. File work looks might good too IMHO.
Dozier
Click to expand...

Thanks, much appreciated!

I got all of the knives taken down to their finished bevels, edges to .30" and have the tips all shaped to where I'm happy. Just hit them with 120 last night to get them ready for heat treat. I have like 10 left to get all of the knicks out of. No pictures as there isn't really anything exciting going on at the moment...

After I get these back from HT and cryo, what do you guys usually take the final blade thickness to for an edge? Or do you work an edge off of .30" (just looks a little bit thick IMHO...but what do I know!? hahaha)
 
I dropped my knives off for HT at Peters Heat Treat in Meadville, PA. Living about an hour out, I decided to drop them off instead of ship them, as Brad showed me around the shop and I got to check out various processes performed daily. Let me just say, that if I had any doubts as to whether sending them in for HT was "worth it" before, I do not now! The equipment and quality control they have put me at ease. And not to mention, Brad was one cool cat!

Thanks again to the forum as well for pointing me in that direction. That is the beauty of a forum and people using word of mouth to pass along good and bad reviews of companies, tools and techniques.
 
just got them back in today from HT...they all stayed straight and look good. can't wait to jump back in, I've been needing something to do!!

these were new at project start :)
2011-03-06_18-18-39_245.jpg


some filework

2011-03-24_11-27-34_318.jpg


wrap job

2011-03-24_11-25-34_409.jpg
 
That file work looks great. You sure these are your first knives? ;)

Lookin' forward to see them finished...
 
After some serious slacking, I am finally getting back to the handles on these.

Ordered some spacers today, I have one handle that is ready to be glued but am just waiting on deciding what color spacer material I want to use. I'll start to get stuff updated!

Sorry for the long delay
 
They look great! awesome filework.... like somebody said... these are your first, amazing!!!! Looking forward to seeing your work down the road.
 
Here is the leopardwood with some maple spacers. it looks like the spacers aren't even, but after i file back a bit they will be.

2011-05-19_22-51-24_10.jpg


2011-05-03_20-31-25_521.jpg


2011-05-03_20-03-26_317.jpg
 
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