First Knife. Please Critique!

K

kbog

Active Member
Well, I finally finished a blade. This is my first one, but I have been making numerous knives concurrently to practice each step. Of course, grinding the bevels is where I spent some time....

This knife is 7" OAL and made from 1/8" 1084 steel from Aldo. I heat treated and tempered the knife with Ernie Balch at his shop. It is full flat ground with a convex edge. The handle in black canvas micarta with red liners hand finished to 1200 grit. I think I am going to sand a couple spots a touch more.

The knife is meant to be an EDC and I am calling it the pinch. The gentleman who wanted it, wanted me make a design where the first finger and thumb felt very close to each other for control almost like your pinching the blade. The name stuck with me...

Special thanks to Darrin Sanders and Ernie Balch. Both of these people inspired me to try this hobby and lent me a tremendous amount of time to help me learn. I am grateful for their support!

Please forgive the iPhone pictures. That's all I had on hand...

Keith
 

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Great job Keith, for a first knife you should be proud. It looks better than my 10th. It's yours to do with as you please but you're gonna regret selling it or giving it away in years to come. My first knife looks like crap but I wouldn't take $5000.00 for it. I suggest you keep it and make the guy another one.
As far as being slow, after you finish 20 you will be surprised at how much faster things go just because you don't hace to stop and think about what to do next. You mentioned in your email about knowing when to start finishing the handles by hand. I grind the handle down to the tang, cut/file the pins/bolts off, and finish them to 220. After that everything else is done by hand. I start the hand finishing with 80x 1" shop roll and "shoe shine" it all the way up to the desired finish. The only other thing I do with the grinder is contours and I just grind them in and get them lined up and flat across the handle then everything else is done by hand. I can take a handle up to 600x in approx. 15-20 minutes. The hand sanding gives me more control and lets me keep everything nice and even. If I try to do a lot on the grinder I find it takes just as much time and things don't turn out nice and even like they do when done by hand. I'm sure there are other ways to do it but this is what works best for me.
Anyway, it looks really really good. Congradulations, and welcome to the addiction.
 
Darrin Sanders said:
Great job Keith, for a first knife you should be proud. It looks better than my 10th. It's yours to do with as you please but you're gonna regret selling it or giving it away in years to come. My first knife looks like crap but I wouldn't take $5000.00 for it. I suggest you keep it and make the guy another one.
As far as being slow, after you finish 20 you will be surprised at how much faster things go just because you don't hace to stop and think about what to do next. You mentioned in your email about knowing when to start finishing the handles by hand. I grind the handle down to the tang, cut/file the pins/bolts off, and finish them to 220. After that everything else is done by hand. I start the hand finishing with 80x 1" shop roll and "shoe shine" it all the way up to the desired finish. The only other thing I do with the grinder is contours and I just grind them in and get them lined up and flat across the handle then everything else is done by hand. I can take a handle up to 600x in approx. 15-20 minutes. The hand sanding gives me more control and lets me keep everything nice and even. If I try to do a lot on the grinder I find it takes just as much time and things don't turn out nice and even like they do when done by hand. I'm sure there are other ways to do it but this is what works best for me.
Anyway, it looks really really good. Congradulations, and welcome to the addiction.
Click to expand...

I'll give you $5000 for your first....:9:

It's funny because what I learned today was exactly what you posted. Up until finishing the handle, I really got used to thinking power tools are faster and better. After messing around with the finish on the micarta with the power tools, it just never came out right. Switching to hand sanding made all the difference. I have a bit more to touch up by hand and then I might just do a quick buff with a power tool, and then done.

In truth, I already threatened to my buyer that I might have a hard time parting with it...he's a reasonable and patient man....maybe I should test his patience...:nothing:

Always a pleasure.

Keith
 
Congratulations, and a great looking first knife. I keep all my firsts. First forged, first handle, first hidden tang, etc. I guess I have 10 or 12 first in that collection with more to come.

Remember this is fun not work, so continue having fun.
 
Update with sheath. I took the sanding down a bit, back to 400 grit. I think I like that better. Sheath fits like a glove with snap in retention. Unfortunately I'm getting the typical micro scratches. Next time two layers of tape to provide more room, and I think that one or two or my rivets are too close to the bend around the spine. This is cause slight digging inside the sheath and leaving some grit to get caught on the blade. Next time...
 

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Nikov knives said:
Great knife and excellent first try. Looks very profesional. I would round the scales edges little more.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the feedback. Ill try that on the next one and see how she feels.

I appreciate all of the feedback folks, thanks!

Keith
 
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