Ijimmyzw22

Thank you for the input. Yes I heat treated with used motor oil and it hardened up nicely. Yes I get the bit about no guard for the blade. Started out just seeing if it would draw out nicely and ended up with this. It feels good in the hand. Thanks again for the input.

Please critique. It's my my fourth knife. Made from an old octagon crowbar. The handle I powder coated flat black. Polished to a high luster.

It's kinda at the wrong angle in the pic. It is sanded with 120. Shiny compared to what it looks like

So this is my third knife. Hit me with corrective advice. 1058 steel hardened up great. Poplar handle. All I had. Sharp as all get out. My buddy hunts so I figured he needed a good skinner type knife. Anyways have at it.

Thanks for the input guys I need it. The finger holes look sharper than they are they are well rounded and it is very comfortable in the hand. I used some high carbon steel I had in scrap. Heat treated with motor oil and a quart of trans fluid and yes it did warp a tiny bit at the Chou as you call it. The wood is just some poplar I had laying around. The shallow bevel is because I just didn't know how deep to go. OverAll it's very sharp and very comfortable in my hand. I'll keep taking all the helping pointers I can get. Starting a skinner knife tonight. Her is a pick of my forge. 10 inch square by 18 inches. I tug welded from flat steel. 2 inches of ceramic wool then lightweight firebricks inside. Oh and my first knife.

After building my propane forge and dialing it in this is my second knife. I think it came out good but I'm no expert by a long shot.

The steel I used was just some scrap I had laying around I believe it is a medium carbon and started life as a 1 inch by 1 inch solid square rod about 10 inches long. I quenched it in used motor oil with a quart of transmission fluid mixed in as that is all I had on hand. I had to do it twice as it didn't harden properly the first quench. The tang goes all the way to the end of the handle and i actually had to cut about.25 off of it it was too long. I attached it with epoxy the 5 min type. The handle is made from some poplar wood I had laying around. I polished the blade just to see how it looked when done. It sharpened up perfectly and is razor sharp and seems strong enough. The forge worked flawlessly and only takes about 5 minutes to heat to non magnetic.

I don't know if I should add this to my first post or not so here goes. I built my own gas forge from scratch. Rig welded and built my own burners. Well I finished my first knife and it came out awesome. Used some steel I had laying around and it all went smoothly. Check it out. Jim

Thanks so much for the great great info. I'm in Tracy ca. Been using the forge for two days now and it works awesome. Again thanks for all the awesome info.

Yes I will thank you. What burner would you recommend?

Yes I did, tried a few friends forges and put together what I thought I would like. The only thing left to do is coat the wool with refractory cement and am awaiting the fire bricks. Fired it last night for the first time and it heated steel real quick. I have a few friends that now want one just like it. The only thing is I might want to try some different burner types but overall I am real happy with it. allowed me to practice my welding too.

Just here to say howdy. I just finished my first gas forge made completely out of flat steel bent tug welded and designed. I tried to take the best of everything I've seen and reviewed. IMG_0368.MOV