Pointers - my first attempt Finished 3/22!!

[imskippy]

Hello all mighty and wise ones. I'd like to start by introducing myself. My name is Jason, my friends call me Skippy hence the ID. I am 31 and a father of 3 beautiful children. I chose to give knife making a try as I have always been fascinated by their beauty. Thanking you all for the useful information and beautiful photos I have found here that inspired me to give it a try.

I started my first knife yesterday. It began with conning my dad into giving up some of his precious old circular saw blades. Old ones no carbide tips.
First I found a knife design I liked and made a template then marked and cut it out.
   

Then I cleaned up the 2 blanks I cut.
   

Next I heated the handles up to soften and drill pilot holes for pins.
   

This is where I left off. Next I will begin to make the bevel and sharpen the blade. Next I will polish the blade. Then I need to find a source for wood and pin material for the handle.
How am I doing so far? Any tips? Wil I need to treat/quench the blade or will it be ok since it's hardened already? Thanks in advance for the helpful info and constructive criticism. Skippy

[LAR43]

Looks like you got it going there Skippy.
Look for the handles/scales in that big on line auction site under knife making, or knife maker. Pins are usually uncoated brazing rod . .available from your local big Home fix up outlet.
You're probably going to have to H/T the blades unless you stopped the heat from migrating forward when you heated the tangs. It's not all that hard. You can do it w/ a propane.mapp gas torch, a magnet & some used trans fluid.Then draw back the temper in the kitchen oven or toaster oven. Just make sure you wash the blade down real good, or you're gonna get tossed out of the house!!            Being an auto tech, I'm sure you know what burned trans fluid smells like.
Keep on going, take your time & enjoy it!
Nice start!!

Larry

[skullworks]

Looks great to me!

[imskippy]

Thanks guys.
Larry I did keep the heat only in the handle. Is there a way to tell if it's hard enough to hold an edge?

[LAR43]

Kind of difficult to tell w/ any blades that aren't heat treated.
Usually the non carbide tipped blades will sharpen up nicely and hold a decent edge as it's pretty tough stuff to begin with. A file should slide instead of cut when pushed along the edge. Not across. Hold the file kind of firmly & slide it the way you're going to file when you do the edge bevels. You can feel the difference between a cut and a slide. If the steel's hard, you're going to have to bear down when you file the edge bevels if it hasn't been annealed, which is what you did to allow you to drill easily through the tangs.
Spark test a piece of scrap . . the sparks ought to look like a kids sparkler . .white w/ litle stars forming off their ends. Red or orange usually means low carbon content. Carbon content isn't necessarily an indicator of hardness, but the amount of carbon which will allow the steel to be hardened & heat treated into a good edge holding piece.
IMHO, heat treating the blades will only make them better.

Larry

[imskippy]

When I was filing the bevel I had to push fairly hard to cut into the metal. I was going from the top of the blade towards the edge, is this wrong? I know when I go to put the edge on I will be using my lansky sharpener which cuts up the bladee from the edge. What should the angles be for the best all around edge? Thanks again for all your help. skippy

[brettlandon]

Skippy, I've been using the same method you have to build my own knives.  I used my lansky sharpener set at 20 degrees.  I removed most of the stock using a belt sander (inverted with a block cut short beside it and the lansky clamp on the knife blade), but to do this you want to take just a little at a time, flip, quench with water or rubbing alchohol (or put between two large pieces of steel stock) and then repeat.  This is much faster than a file on a hardened blade.  Remember not to let the blade get too hot to hold in your hand or you will be annealing and rehardening as Larry stated above.  Go slow and enjoy.  This stuff is truly addictive.

-Brett

P. S. There are others here far more learned than I.  This is just my experience.

[OconeeDan]

Welcome Skippy, you are doing fine, especially for your first one.
Just buy a 3' brass rod from Home Depot for pin material, doesn't have to be brazing rod.
Find a local hardwood floor guy, they'll have scraps that are nice handle material, FREE.  I would not fool with oak, but they will likely have some brazilian cherry, maybe some walnut or purple heart.
Dan

[brettlandon]

Following Dan's advice.  If you can find some Austrailian Cypress, that stuff is hard and cool!  I've installed several floors made from it.  Hmmmmmmm, I'm getting an idea....    

-Brett

[OconeeDan]

I have already made a knife using australian cypress, I wasn't too impressed with it.  Not as hard as I thought it would be, very oily. At least that was my experience.  Very aromatic when you sand it, similar to cedar.
Maybe I didn't get the hardest heartwood.  But it didn't even compare to brazilian cherry, maple, or purple heart.
But it does make some beautiful flooring!
Dan

[imskippy]

Alright I got a chance to file the bevel and start sharpening the blade.
Setup.
 

First side done.
 

Sharpening.
 

At what point do I polish? I would assume after heat treating. I think this one I will leave untreated and treat the second one so I have a comparison for edge holding.

[KHALVERSON]

skippy you might want to try the brass rod test on your edge.
take a piece of 1/4 or 3/8 dia brass rod  and clamp it to a table or in a vise you need about half of the dia exposed . now take your blade
sharp edge facing towards you . place the edge on the rod at a slightly steeper angle than what you have honed  with med pressure push the edge across and away from you at the same time
watch the edge closly if it chips  it is too hard
if it rolls over and leaves a burr it is too soft  it should deflect and come back straight
i hope this helps

[imskippy]

I have to get more pics up later. I decided not to treat the first blade and have put a handle on. the wood is beleived to be mahogany and I'm using tung oil to finish.

How many coats of tung oil should I do? Do  really need to wait 12 hours between coats? the first coat saoked right in and was dry to the touch in an hour.

[imskippy]

well I finished the handle work on my first knife just need to put an edge on it.
I decided to switch blades and finish the second one I cut out of the same blade. This one will be for my dad's  b-day. He supplied all the material and is very big about recycling so it is only fitting. If only I could etch a recyle logo into the blade that would be cool.

Thank you all for your help and advise. There is still so much more to learn. Skippy

scales roughed out
 

shaping
 

ready for finish, between coats and steelwool.
 

finished!!
 

some minor filework on the back.
 

[Bodork]

Hey Skippy. Nice work on the knives! Listen, I have a few wood pieces laying around from building bows. Some might be big enough for you to use. Next time let me know what you are looking for and I'll check my scraps. Mike

[brettlandon]

Nice Job Jason!          I wish my first knives turned out that well.  I'm sure your dad will love it.  Now, about the sheath....

-Brett

[imskippy]

Bodork, I'm actually waiting very patiently for a box of scraps from Bill. He is sending me a bunch uncluding some from the bow he's building me now.

brett, where do i start? thats my next venture.

[Bodork]

Hey Skippy. Bill ought to have plenty of knife sized scraps for you. I can't believe how many bows he has sold in just over a year of making them. If he's not careful, he's gonna have to make a full time job out of it!
 It will be neat to make a knife to match your bow! Be sure to show it off!
 If I can help ya, let me know. Mike

[brettlandon]

Try this Jason.

 http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=110;t=000033

It helped me alot!

Keep up the good work and post pictures of your sheaths.

-Brett