First knife WIP

Ok, small, pic-less update...
Got the bevel filed in on one side, sanded all the big scratches out using the file for a sanding block. (Made sense to me, what the heck)
Of course I forgot to snap a pic before I flipped it over and clamped it down, but I'll get a couple once I get the other side cut in.
By the way, filing in bevels that go nearly an inch up a blade that's 7" long on .210 stock, it takes a while!! Lol
 
Well, I THOUGHT I finished filing the bevels in today... Upon inspection and a pass with the calipers I found that I got overly cautious filing on the tip area, and left myself thick by almost .040. On initial inspection I think its mostly on the first side I filed, but its hard to tell for sure, and I lost my lines at the tip because I filed in the swedge first, and hadn't marked my bevels...
Oh, well, it's fixable, and its all a learning process.
I'll try and get a pic or 2 snapped and posted tomorrow.
 
Ok, pics as promised... I did get my thickness cleaned up to where my edge is within about .010 trom thickest to thinnest. Still need to clean up the plunges and do a bunch of hand sanding before ht, but I think I'm done filing the bevels themselves.



 
Worked some on pre-ht sanding today. Running into a little bit of an issue in the 'shoulders' of my plunges. I have some pretty deep file scratches right in the corner of the plunge. I took a small piece of round rod (maybe like 5/32 or 3/16) I had laying around, and wrapped some 180 grit around it, and went after it, trying to put pressure into the face of the plunge, and not so much on the bevel. It worked pretty well on one side, but the other side is being stubborn, and I'm startin to get a blow-out up into the flat, and I still have a pretty good file mark that's still there. I'm hoping that I can sand it out by going back to like an 80g and working the bevels and flats a little more.
Anyone have any tips/tricks to share?

Next time I'm going to try and file in the plunges first with a round file, and take a little more off the edge/corner of the files I use for the bevels... hopefully avoid these bid scratches.
I also need to remake my jig, now that I have a drill press, and I'll be able to get my holes a little straighter, and that should help as well.
 
That's actually pretty good for a first and done with files no less. Definitely a good workout for the arms and shoulders. My only concern is the material. Unknown steel is just that. What HT method are you thinking? I'm (wild) guessing it's a HC steel of some kind but even then, it's a huge guess. If nothing else, you've learned a lot already and you've gotten a lot of practice on a blade that size.
 
Justice - Yeah, it's somewhat of a risk, looking back I wouldn't do it again, but I did test - harden a scrap piece, so that's at least a good sign.

In other news... feeling a bit frustrated with it lately. As I progress in hand sanding everything I'm starting to see issues that I can possibly fix, but I could also just make things worse as well...
The different in edge thickness is a little more apparent, at least visually. The thick spots are in the middle of the strait section of the blade, and about the last 1/2" or so of edge at the tip. Thi is complicated (in my mind anyway) by the thinnest area being right between the two, in the area where the edge curves up to the tip area... And I'm also seeing a slight dip in the line where the bevel meets the swedge on both sides. That actually somewhat lines up with the sightly thick area in the blade, so it may correct as I try to adjust the edge.
In reality, they're not major issues, but frustrating, as I finally had the file marks sanded out, and now I think I gotta get em back out...
I've also learned that I really went for way more than I should have on a first blade.
Ok, vent over a little....
 
Well, looks like this project is going to have to wait a bit to get finished.
I found while test - hardening a scrap piece that my forge needs some tweaking to generate the heat needed to heat an entire blade. Being as I work outside on that, and it's January here in PA, that tends to be a bit colder than I really like...
Combine that with having a couple things that I need to get wrapped up, and that I'm looking to get my other hip replaced (yes, I'm 39, already have 1 Ti hip, need the other) in February, it doesn't look like I'll be able to really get back to this till spring when I've healed back up.
At least I can still hang out, learn and get inspired by what all the test of you post here.
 
Hi

I just joined the forum in January 2016, so I'm behind on your progress. I really like the file jig and will almost certainly and shamefully copy it at some point. It looks like more work, but better control than a belt sander. If you would have shaped your handle and drilled the holes first, you could have used the pin holes to re-center when going from one side to the other.

Good job.

Later
 
1961MJS said:
Hi

I just joined the forum in January 2016, so I'm behind on your progress. I really like the file jig and will almost certainly and shamefully copy it at some point. It looks like more work, but better control than a belt sander. If you would have shaped your handle and drilled the holes first, you could have used the pin holes to re-center when going from one side to the other.

Good job.

Later
Click to expand...
Well, the file jig is a simple copy of Aaron Gough's design (look him up on YouTube, you'll find the file jig vid). So don't give me any credit for an idea that's not mine!
Not sure I follow you on how to index positioning on the jig from the pin holes though. I did have a sort of method I used, but I honestly don't entirely remember what I did right now, and if it followed how I usually do things, it was over complicated, and inefficient. .. lol
 
With my first few knives, I annealed the steels (2 prybars and 3 files by putting them in a large bed of coals in my shop woodburner stove. I also surrounded the steel with charcoal briquettes. Then I left them to 'cook' and cool for a day or more. I was surprised when only slight pressure in the vise jaws flattened the teeth of the first file. -definitely soft. I also saw that decarbonization had burned away much of the file teeth on another. I went to heating the steel past magnetic in the forge and soaking in vermiculite. - more controlled process with less scale/decarb. I got vermiculite from the local Earl May garden center. I have since transitioned to using more known steels but if I need to anneal in the future, the vermiculite seems to be the way I'll go. But if you don't have a forge or hot enough torch, the bed of coals will get it done as long as you can get it past magnetiç and make it cool slowly.
 
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