"My very first knife" - post up!

It has been a year or so since anyone posted in this thread. I just found it and went through every page. Very, very interesting to view and read. I will post my first knife and sheath and resurrect this thread for some of the new makers out there. Definitely worth the time to go through this information.

DeMo

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I forgot to add the after shot. Here is my latest knife. It is knife No. 56. I think I have gotten a little bit better.

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Very nice!!

It seems a bit unfair. When I started making knives there were no forums around and very little help around to make sure your first knife actually looked like a knife!! LOL

Keep up the good work...
 
Thanks guys for "breathing new life" into this thread. It really is inspiring to see our first attempts and then later to see how far we've come in this craft.
Don't be shy, remember there is no criticizing here.
 
stefand said:
Very nice!!

It seems a bit unfair. When I started making knives there were no forums around and very little help around to make sure your first knife actually looked like a knife!! LOL

Keep up the good work...
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Stefand, I know exactly what you mean. I started before the internet was around. Nobody in town made knives here except me. They still give me that "look" when I tell them my job title "Knifemaker" :)
 
I'd post my first if I had a photo and if I remembered it. Probably made from an industrial HSS hack saw blade. Around 1954 or so. :s12138:
 
I made 2 little knives out of files for my boys in the '70sabout 4" long just grinder and pined wood handles no heat treat. Then in the '80s I made my own grinder with a wooden wheel (pretty bumpy) used D2 I think and sent out for heat treat, it was a boning knife made for a butch. , then gave up until around "08 and made this one
Forged 1084 and filed. sheath was made later. Inspired by Scagel.

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The first knife I finished. I made it with found carbon steel and used a mapp torch to bring the edge to non magnetic then queched in motor oil. That was my heat treatment. It has held up surprisingly well. I took it to sea with me for a year or so and used it to cut det cord in December. It literally cost me nothing to make but time.

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I'm new. Here's my first knife. I made it from a Nicholson file and make the scales from some poplar.
I'm working on my second knife now. I had a ton of fun building the first one. I'm gonna keep at it.
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I did this with my files, my rotary tool, and sandpaper.
 
Welcome, I see some real potential in these first knives. They just get better from here. Thanks much for posting them.
 
Marvin, You've come a long long way. I still kinda like that gut hook skinner though. Pretty bold for a 2nd knife. I've only made 3 gut hook knives.
 
I just recently completed my fourth knife and it was less than 10 months ago that I completed my first knife. So I am definitely very green at knife making, and just happy with trying to make each knife better. As well as learning from my mistakes from the prior knives made. So far the most recent thing I have realized.

Do all the proper steps in sanding to remove deep scratches BEFORE HEAT TREATING THE BLADE! ...Now on to my first knife.

I decided to make a friction folder from a very old Nicholson file and broken hickory handle that I received from my dad's late uncle that passed away a few years back. He meant a lot to me and those were the only things I got from him. I spent a few months trying to complete the knife during my free time. I used my oven to draw the hardness out of the blade to be able to grind it and did a LOT of hand sanding of the wood. I learned why they use hickory as a hammer handle, hard stuff. I ground the blade on a 1" harbor freight style grinder at a shared workspace location. They only had a couple of very used belts that I had to choose from. The method was grind dip in water, grind the other side, dip in water. I never let the blade get hot enough to bother my bare hands. This only took a total of 3 hours, heh. :biggrin: This first knife though very far from perfect, means more to me than any other knife I have owned in my life. The materials have meaning and the feeling of accomplishment is hard to describe to others. I will never willingly give up this knife.






My fourth and most current knife completed is the the one below. CPM 154 with stabalized Honduran Rosewood scales and my first attempt at using a CA finish. This I ground on my KMG grinder. Heat treated myself in my new Paragon Heat treat furnace, quenched between two 1" aluminum plates with compressed air. Then tempered twice in oven. Very happy with the brass pins being flush and smooth. But I need a lot of work on the CA finish where the scales meet the metal.



 
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Nice to see this tread back at the top again, it's one of my favorites any where as it shows our Newbieness and improvements with nobody criticizing. We all started somewhere didn't we?
 
Bruce Bump said:
Nice to see this tread back at the top again, it's one of my favorites any where as it shows our Newbieness and improvements with nobody criticizing. We all started somewhere didn't we?
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Bruce - Mine too! I would love to see some more first knife pictures.

Nothing to be ashamed of folks. Bruce said it best, "We all started somewhere didn't we?"

DeMo
 
Don't know if this picture will work but this is made from a Nicholson file with a very square g10 handle. I've been into knife making for three years now but very limited time to work on knives but this knife can be everyone base line. Because some of these firsts are very nice
 

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This was my second a skinner with what I thought was a huge improvement on the handle but everyone said the handle was to big. I still use these for deer hunting both are very usable just not pretty but that's what knives are for right!
 
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