First Knife from scratch

[DSD]

very nice jamie,i think a power hammer is in your future [and an anvil]
there might even be a something from up here in september. [if i remember it]

No power hammer but these turned up at work today 50kg knife maker anvil (cubeish one) is for another bloke but the 60kg London pattern is mine.

We had an anvil turn up at work to, only i delivered it there Sunday after picking it up.

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Awesome anvil DSD, is it one of the ones designed by Bruce beamish?

Are they from Lara James?


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Yep that's the ones

I think so. It's not mine i was just the transport

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[deermasterhunter]

Thanks heaps Ted. For the heat treat process I did a bit of reading and then pretty much followed this guide that Bjorn wrote https://creativeman.com.au/blog/how-to- ... ess-steel/ and the Sandvik data sheet, somewhere in there was a table with soak time vs thickness and that is how I came up with the soak time but thinking about it now the blade edge is going to heat up way faster than the spine so the 5min soak time would be ample as you say. As for quench plate I had read about them but not really looked into it but it is easy for me to get some 16mm ally from work and even bolt some together to get more thickness but as I'm looking at doing some kitchen knives which i imagine being long and relatively thin will be more prone to warping so clamping between 2 flat surfaces sounds like a good idea.

No other updates yet, the wood is still soaking and I'll pull it our and cure tomorrow afternoon and hopefully cast in resin if I get time. I did start sanding/grinding the kitchen knife but its too cold in the shed now to do any more sanding of head back out there to take pics

Cool James, you won't go wrong with the plates mate. Also it is sometimes and usually all the time better to grind them after hardening and tempering. Most knife makers do it this way. You just need a bucket of water and dip every pass on the belts.

[bimbo]

Getting there slowly. Got the stabilised wood cast in resin, its a mix of 2 greens and a little white swirled in for good measure. Should look ok once its all shaped up.

[deermasterhunter]

Getting there slowly. Got the stabilised wood cast in resin, its a mix of 2 greens and a little white swirled in for good measure. Should look ok once its all shaped up.

It should come out great mate.

[bimbo]

Few more pictures from along the way
This was getting set up for the resin handle pour - I figure if I am going to pour 1 block I may as well do 4 although the resin I use has a 7 min work time so it gets pretty hectic if trying to mix up and pour more than 2 or 3 colours.



Scales drilled for brass pins, rough shaped and front finished - that bit is shaped, sanded and finished because once its glued on its very difficult to do without damaging the finish on the blade.



The scales where cut at 10mm thick which was way too thick once they are fitted up so next time i would do them at 8 or even 6mm to cut down on sanding and dust. The handle was shaped on the belt sander and then finished off with plenty of hand sanding then finished off with a wax and buff.

Next onto the pants using some 3mm veg tan leather and a piece of A4 paper to make a template. I also cut out the welt and glued that in place and then its ready for dying.



The dye really stiffens up the leather so i give it a coat of neets foot oil which really gets in there and nourishes the otherwise dry leather.



The edges that will be difficult to get to after stitching are beveled and burnished/slicked and edges glued up and stitching holes punched - traditionally using a single diamond awl but its much quicker using a set of pricking irons - the silver fork looking thing which punches 2/4/6 holes at once



Once its all stitched up I dunk the sheath in water a few times which makes the leather a bit pliable and after wrapping the knife in gladwrap to seal it up a bit its put into the sheath and then the leather is manipulated/massaged/shaped to the handle of the knife then left in the sun to dry and once dry it will hold its shape.



After that's done hanging out in the sun and dry the gladwrap was removed, knife sharpened on stones and then stropped until sharp. The sheath was given a final coat of homemade wax - beeswax and neets foot oil based - and its job done. Reasonably happy with how it turned out, plenty of improvements to be made on the next one and learnt a ton











Thanks for following along

Cheers
James

[mick_762]

Thats a bloody good looking knife James, well done!

[daisy]

That came out a treat nice James.

[Camel]

Very well done James

[Rabbitz]

Crikey.

[The Raven]

I am so envious of those with skills....

[trevort]

Well done


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[deermasterhunter]

Absolutely beautiful James, sure wish my first knife had been about a 1/4 as good as that one. Your scales came up lovely as usual too. Great stuff mate, there will be no stopping you now.

[bimbo]

I've been working away in the shed of late getting a few projects finished. I did this little paring knife as part of a group on faceache where the plan is each month anyone who wants draws up a design and then we vote on which one we all want to make and then everyone makes their version of that knife. Not a bad way of trying out some new styles of knives that I wouldn't otherwise try.
2mm thick 12c27 stainless, first go at freehand grinding - full flat grind


I think this was hand sanded to 320 grit - I went up to 600 which gives a nice matt kind of mill finish


Block for the handle


All finished up with brass spacer






The owner of the knife was pretty stoked with it too

[bimbo]

I also finished up this one which I have had sitting around for ages
Japanese Nakiri style - 12c27 stainless steel, myrtle burl and resin handle with brass and black g10 spacers
I don't seem to have many progress photos of this one







This one is actually for me and I gave it a massive work out on Friday and Saturday helping to cater for 450-500 people as part of a Christmas program at church. I cut up something like 10kg of tomatoes, 8kg of onions, 1kg chillies and a heap of spuds and only gave it a touch up on a steel twice which I was happy with and it cut really nicely but will see how it holds up over time.


Cheers
James

[daisy]

You seem to be getting the hang of this knife making shit.