RickA
Well-Known Member
Hey Everyone
Compliments of the season to you and your families, I hope it is a blessed and peaceful one for everyone.
I'm not sure if this thread should be here or in Custom Knives thread, while I am still a relative newbie I have been doing it for about three or four years now. (Admins feel free to move it if needed)
A week after making that last hunter for my friend's birthday I attended a meeting of the Cape Knifemakers Guild (South Africa) with a couple of knives (the hunter and my competition Bowie from last year) for evaluation, and was very proud to be accepted into the guild (my next goal is to work on getting to the standard required to be accepted into the parent body - the Knifemakers Guild of South Africa). At the time of the meeting the Cape Guild was finalizing planning for their annual guild show in November and asked if I would like to take a table. I didn't have any knives made but decided that I would give it a go, so after the guild meeting that weekend I cut and profile ground 10 blanks, which I took in for hardening on the Monday morning, I got them back on Tuesday. (I grind everything after hardening these days)
Unfortunately the rest of October and the first week in November was really hectic at work, I spent most of those three weeks away from home on business travel and at my company conference). I got back home from my last business trip exactly one week before the show. Knowing that I would need the time, I had booked leave for that week, determined to finish some knives. It was a long week and I finished after 1am every night with a couple of nights going on to 3am. (Trying to grind knife blades at that time of the morning (when your body would normally be sleeping) can be quite hazardous - I lost skin / half of a fingernail and got lots of scrapes and scuffs and also managed to totally mess up a couple of the blades.)
However the strange thing was, the pressure of having limited time and a bunch of knives to do seemed to result in an improvement in my grinding, and i managed to achieve some nice grind lines / plunge lines and match them up pretty evenly on both sides. Another knifemaker commented that's how it goes - "no diamonds without pressure"
I started 10 knives hoping to finish them all, eventually completing five, with three completed up to grinding and polishing stage - but no handles fitted. I finished the last of the five at 3am on the friday morning of the show. Unfortunately I didn't have time to get the sheaths done (I currently have them - 2x Kydex and 2x leather sitting on my bench waiting to be finished.), I didn't have a chance to take any photo's of the knives before the show either, and the day job has been just as hectic since then, however now that the year is coming to a close I spent some time on Thursday night putting together a basic lightbox to take some photos, which I did last night.
I hope to finish the other three during the holiday as well as getting the three forged blades I did this year (2 hunters and a Puukko) and a new Bowie project finished, and I have to balance this with some family time, as well as a reorganisation of my garage workshop. I am planning on building a new Knife shop in the back yard, but the budget for that project will take some time to get together so in the interim I am making some mods & layout changes to my current garage based workshop.
Here are the knives for the show
Fighter - 0.2" N690blade (59Rc), flat ground, Olive Green G10 Scales, 10" OAL, 4.7" blade length
Drop Point Hunter - 0.125" N690 blade (59Rc), Hollow Ground, Composite wood handle - African Blackwood "Bolster" with Arizona Desert Ironwood scales, yellow G10 spacer and Copper mosaic pin, 7.8" OAL, 3.55" blade length
Drop Point Hunter-Skinner - 0.125" N690 Blade (59Rc), Hollow Ground, Composite wood handle - African Blackwood "bolster" with LaLaPalm scales, yellow G10 spacer and Copper mosaic pin, 8.5" OAL, 4.1" blade length
Two small neck knives - 0.125" N690 (59Rc), hollow ground, Black and Grey G10 scales (these were the "offcuts" from the side of the bar when cutting out the two hunters above)
I wasn't able to take any proper pictures of the small "blueish" neck knife above as it was sold at the show. It looks blueish due to the lighting when I took the pic on my cell phone (although it is the same black and grey G10 as the other neck knife)
Let me know what you think?
Rick
Compliments of the season to you and your families, I hope it is a blessed and peaceful one for everyone.
I'm not sure if this thread should be here or in Custom Knives thread, while I am still a relative newbie I have been doing it for about three or four years now. (Admins feel free to move it if needed)
A week after making that last hunter for my friend's birthday I attended a meeting of the Cape Knifemakers Guild (South Africa) with a couple of knives (the hunter and my competition Bowie from last year) for evaluation, and was very proud to be accepted into the guild (my next goal is to work on getting to the standard required to be accepted into the parent body - the Knifemakers Guild of South Africa). At the time of the meeting the Cape Guild was finalizing planning for their annual guild show in November and asked if I would like to take a table. I didn't have any knives made but decided that I would give it a go, so after the guild meeting that weekend I cut and profile ground 10 blanks, which I took in for hardening on the Monday morning, I got them back on Tuesday. (I grind everything after hardening these days)
Unfortunately the rest of October and the first week in November was really hectic at work, I spent most of those three weeks away from home on business travel and at my company conference). I got back home from my last business trip exactly one week before the show. Knowing that I would need the time, I had booked leave for that week, determined to finish some knives. It was a long week and I finished after 1am every night with a couple of nights going on to 3am. (Trying to grind knife blades at that time of the morning (when your body would normally be sleeping) can be quite hazardous - I lost skin / half of a fingernail and got lots of scrapes and scuffs and also managed to totally mess up a couple of the blades.)
However the strange thing was, the pressure of having limited time and a bunch of knives to do seemed to result in an improvement in my grinding, and i managed to achieve some nice grind lines / plunge lines and match them up pretty evenly on both sides. Another knifemaker commented that's how it goes - "no diamonds without pressure"
I started 10 knives hoping to finish them all, eventually completing five, with three completed up to grinding and polishing stage - but no handles fitted. I finished the last of the five at 3am on the friday morning of the show. Unfortunately I didn't have time to get the sheaths done (I currently have them - 2x Kydex and 2x leather sitting on my bench waiting to be finished.), I didn't have a chance to take any photo's of the knives before the show either, and the day job has been just as hectic since then, however now that the year is coming to a close I spent some time on Thursday night putting together a basic lightbox to take some photos, which I did last night.
I hope to finish the other three during the holiday as well as getting the three forged blades I did this year (2 hunters and a Puukko) and a new Bowie project finished, and I have to balance this with some family time, as well as a reorganisation of my garage workshop. I am planning on building a new Knife shop in the back yard, but the budget for that project will take some time to get together so in the interim I am making some mods & layout changes to my current garage based workshop.
Here are the knives for the show
Fighter - 0.2" N690blade (59Rc), flat ground, Olive Green G10 Scales, 10" OAL, 4.7" blade length
Drop Point Hunter - 0.125" N690 blade (59Rc), Hollow Ground, Composite wood handle - African Blackwood "Bolster" with Arizona Desert Ironwood scales, yellow G10 spacer and Copper mosaic pin, 7.8" OAL, 3.55" blade length
Drop Point Hunter-Skinner - 0.125" N690 Blade (59Rc), Hollow Ground, Composite wood handle - African Blackwood "bolster" with LaLaPalm scales, yellow G10 spacer and Copper mosaic pin, 8.5" OAL, 4.1" blade length
Two small neck knives - 0.125" N690 (59Rc), hollow ground, Black and Grey G10 scales (these were the "offcuts" from the side of the bar when cutting out the two hunters above)
I wasn't able to take any proper pictures of the small "blueish" neck knife above as it was sold at the show. It looks blueish due to the lighting when I took the pic on my cell phone (although it is the same black and grey G10 as the other neck knife)
Let me know what you think?
Rick
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