First knife post

A

Amish Mike

Member
Hello everyone,
This is my first post. I wanted to share my first machete. I have previously made two smaller knives, but nothing this big. The machete is made from .140 thick 1084 steel. I did my best to give it a hammered/ natural finish. However, I do not have the proper tools for that yet (hammer and anvil). The handle is made from Sapele, which is similar to Mahogany. I would value your feedback, good or bad. Thanks for looking!

MikeMachete 1.jpgMachete 2.jpg
 
I'm new to this myself but I can tell you it's actually quite impressive. The blade shape is really good for a machete although you may want to push the grind slightly higher. Also a swell at the butt of the handle is good on a machete that you will be swinging around a lot. Other than that its a very good knife. Some people like low grinds like that as well. It's a lot better than my first to say the least.
 
Mike,
Very nice work! Everything about it looks nicely done, the ONLY thing I see that gives me any
type of doubt or question is that the handle ``LOOKS`` like it might be too round. A round
handle on a chopping blade with drive you NUTS! Have you done any testing with it yet? If so did you
notice the handle having a tendency to spin in your hand? If you haven`t done any testing, get to cutting on some stuff! Of course you will want to BLAZE a trail through the woods chopping everything smaller than a 50year old Oak tree! But do test it on some for finer type cuts as well, the more you know about the things your knife is capable of the better offer it will serve you, I guess I mean know the limitations that it may have. Knowing these things will not only help you take care of this knife, but also TEACH you some of the things that are important to you on your NEXT knife! One more HUGE piece of advice, KEEP THIS KNIFE! You will make many knives,
but you`ll never make another first knife! Pulling it out in 6months to a year will blow your mind! You can't see the progress you'll make a knife at a time, but several knives later, when you do compare your 1st to your last, is an incredible eye opener.Its this best feedback you will ever get, because you will listen to you! Great job, NOW, make another one! Rex
 
I agree about adding a swell on the handle. I have a condor village parang that has a large swell at the end of the handle. I use that for my grip most of the time, especially when cutting vines where you really need some snap to your cut.

Mike
 
Thanks for the advice. I did some heavy testing today and the handle did tend to spin a little in my hand. I will work on a fix for that.

Mike
 
Mike,
The best way to look at it is by thinking of a rounded rectangle. You will still need it rounded, it would be incredibly uncomfortable if it had square edges. I usually start off with rectangle handle slabs or blocks, the sides are flat then, so all I have to do is round out the edges to take away potential hot spots that can kill the usefulness of a hard use knife! Well, any knife that will be held and gripped hard for long periods of time. I have spent a lot of time studying the human hand, the ligaments as well as the muscles that run through it, I would suggest everyone that makes knives and wants to make the best they can, do the same. I came up with a handle design, NOT one that I take credit for. There is so little that we can be original with in knife or handle design, so I found one that looked like it would work the best, I just tweaked it a bit, works well, for large and small blades, I still have some more tweaks I need to make to it still, It will still be my interpretation of that design, not what I could ever call mine!
Rex
 
Rex- it's funny that you mention thats it's hard to be original when designing knives. Because, as I was typing the description for my first knife post I debated whether or not I should put that it was my original design. I decided not to put that because I honestly do not know if this design is something that I came up with, or if I just sketched it from something that someone else did that I liked. I look at so many awesome designs on this site and others and I sketch so many designs that its difficult to remember what I came up with and what was designed or influenced by others. I suppose that as I make more knives I will begin to find my own style.

Mike
 
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