MastaStan

6 minutes ago, JHCC said:

Only if you have the horn of the anvil pointed at sunrise on the equinox. 

Feng shui blacksmithing!

I don't have my stumps in the ground but one it root up one is root down, just because they worked that way. Anvils fiited and the stumps were nice and stable.

Very nice work, blade is very impressive and I'm loving the spalted maple. I like the rich dark colour in there.

I have just acquired a huge piece of spalted beech ...can't wait to use it. Love the stuff!

I was told a nice tip from an old blacksmith...to use the back of an old drill bit to heat up the hardened area you need to drill. Let it cool, and then drill as normal. To anneal the hardened area. Only as a last resort!

Oh yes...very nice knife by the way I meant to comment yesterday but ...

Looking good, push on and up.

Good work. Nice blade and handle shapes going on.

Like has been said, not making the marks helps. Draw filing is laborious but works a treat to get things flat/straight.

You're going to have to file/sand until you can't see anything but the grade of file/paper that you are using until moving to the next grade of file/paper that you want to finish on. There were a lot of strokes in my comment not nearly as many strokes as I take filing/sanding lol.

All the best.

Nice neck knife blank Nate. I too had a railway track anvil to start off with and have now got a proper anvil. A 1945 english anvil. The difference is phenomenal. I was lucky to get an oak stump for the railway one and an ash stump for the real anvil.

I love, love, love this knife.

Thank you all for comments.

15 hours ago, Dylan Sawicki said:

Looks cool but I'm confused by the handle construction. Is it like a taco where the wood wraps around the tang?

Basically a slot cut out of the top of the handle for the tang to fit in. This pic might help...was early in the making.

Finished this knife yesterday for my brother in law, who is a fireman. 

01 steel with walnut handle and stainless finger guard.

Blade is 5mm thick and 4 inches long. Overall length is 8.5 inches.

26 minutes ago, Dylan Sawicki said:

Looking forward to the next one. I'll bet it will a 10 times better with the pins sorted out. Design wise I think it looks great.

Thank you Dylan!

23 minutes ago, Will W. said:

You could always make brass tubing, if you have none. I've done it myself, before I located a source if it. Cut your pins to the proper length, measure and find exact center, and drill a hole down through. The ID of the tubing will determine the thickness of the walls, obviously. 

Like Glenn says, if you never build a box, you never have to think outside of it!

Thanks for the tip Will, I'll definitely use it at some point.

Also I forgot to say, I never dislike critique.... Especially when it is so nicely put!

Cheers.

4 hours ago, Will W. said:

Nice work, Stan. Looks functional and practical. 

I know you didn't ask for critique, but the placement of the center pin really sticks out to me. 

Other than that, it looks well made. Love the handle choice, never heard of Jatoba before, but it's certainly an attractive wood. 

Thank you Will, as usual a great comment from you!

As Thomas has correctly surmised, the end pin should have been a lanyard hole. (Didnt have hollow brass rod at the time) Maybe it won't look odd on the next one, I think this is going to be my standard bushcraft design now.

I've taken advice about the front of the handle being too wide and improved accordingly.

Thanks again!

1 hour ago, ThomasPowers said:

The center pin makes me think that the end of the tang pin was originally planned as a lanyard hole and got pinned as an after thought.

You got me!

Hi all, just a quick couple of pics of my latest bushcraft knife.

Heat treated O1 steel with Jatoba handle scales. Blade is 5mm thick, just over 4 inches long. Overall length is 9 inches. Has a nice weight and quality feel to it.

The photos don't really do justice on the wood. It has lovely chatoyance and when you look at it from different angles it has a 3D effect like a hologram.

Thanks for taking a look.

Wow. That really is something else!! I'm quite astounded. The stitching is amazing. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you both very much for your advice. I'll be sure to listen and learn!

1 minute ago, Tubalcain2 said:

 

Ibor's thing is replica blades. those are ones he made. he does a darn good job, too.

Ahh... I kind if just figured it out from a couple more of his posts. I thought these where antiques. Very nice all the same good work!

Great work!

Really interesting, how old are these pieces?

I do my knives by stock removal, but I want to start getting in to forging. I have a nice little forging setup that I have been practicing on....made a simple fire rake for my coal forge, some little tool brackets, some other attempts at things and have been playing around with blade shapes.

Once I'm a little more confident, I will definitely try out some Damascus.  I completely agree it would be much more satisfying to have made it myself.

Thanks again, and watch this space for some homemade Damascus and a sheath lol.

D.IVO, thank you very much for your comment.

The pins have red epoxy inside them.

Cheers.

Thanks again Will for your reply and input. I wish I'd made the Damascus but I'm not quite ready for the process so it was bought. 

Dimensions 130mm long, 35mm at widest part and the blade/metal is 5mm thick.

Rosewood is something I haven't worked with before but always been interested in...it turned out better than I could have imagined!

I have some Buffalo leather that I'm going to fashion into an upsidedown neck sheath.

Thank you again.

Mat.

Latest neck knife that I've done. Second knife that I've made to order.

Heat treated 15n20 & 1095 steel Damascus blade with rosewood handle scales and red mosaic pins.

Thank you Will!

This is the first knife that I've made to order, the guy is more than impressed! He wanted it made for a specific sheath so I had to work around that.

Heat treated tool steel with English oak scales and brass pins. Oak was finished in a two part, water based varnish. Came out very nice. Shave sharp!

Next order is another Damascus neck knife, this time with rosewood scales and mosaic pins.

Thanks for looking.

Amazing, really love this knife! I think it would be nice with a matching bone sheath, just an idea. 

Think I'm going to be trying to make something similar to this (doubt it will be of the same high standard) 

Thanks for sharing! 

6 hours ago, Will W. said:

Pros: 

Profile looks nice.

Those scales are AWESOME!!!

Tube pins look well executed.

Plunge line and ricasso are very crisp.

 

Cons:

Center pin is offset, and looks a little odd.

Bevels are a little short. 

 

Overall, nice work. I really like it. 

Thank you for your honest feedback,  I think you're AWESOME! I know at you mean about the center pin...it just felt right regardless of aesthetics....it felt better structurally.

Bevels are definitely something I need to work on. Working on my kit, got an amazing person helping me out!!!

Thanks again!

7 minutes ago, lanternnate said:

I remember reading somewhere (but now cannot find it) that traditionally a Scandi grind was actually a bit hollow ground because they were ground with large stone wheels. Then over time the grind would flatten out from repeated sharpening on a flat stone. As our resident Scandinavian can you shed any light on this if it's true or not?  I'm a fan of the Scandi grind so I've been trying to research it and get it right. I've been doing my attempts flat, but flat is the only option I have with my current grinder.

Im definitely intrigued because what I thought was a scandi grind seems to be not  or is.....I dont know....somebody call Thor

Someone will get my sense if humour one day!

21 hours ago, lanternnate said:

I like the blade shape a lot  and the hollow rod handle pinning looks cool. One of the things I've found messing around stone sharpening some of my Scandi attempts is the position of the choil to the grind has a big impact. If you start the Scandi bevel at about the midpoint of the choil it's easier to sharpen the entire cutting edge because the stone doesn't need to get as snug against the back of the bevel. The ones I've done like yours where the bevel starts more at the front of the choil are a bit more of a pain to get sharp the entire edge.

From a personal preference perspective, the handle looks like it might be more comfortable for me if the front were a bit narrower. I like the dropping rear though. I like the feel of a dropping rear to the handle in these kinds of knives.

Thank you for the feedback. I love honest feedback, gives me something to work on.

16 hours ago, templehound said:

If we make a knife it should have the goal to cut, feeling comfortable to the hand, made stable and solid and have some beauty in the eye of the beholder.

Your knife has no real scandi grind because it is hollow ground.Hollow ground knives are for short cuts, like for surgery or shaving.

In Scandinavia wood whittling is a part of the culture and so are knives with a low bevel  flat grind.Those grinds are not meant to cut deep into the object, which is not possible with woods.

If You see hollow grinds on such knives, then they are auto-ground mass ware, or the result of misunderstood cutting geometry.

Second critique I have on the size/wideness of the bevel...it is too narrow, You should dare grinding higher, giving it more ability to cut.

 but If You think: " it cuts pretty good!".... than its fine

Third is the unequal positions of the tube pins holding the scales, getting an uniform distance is no big deal.

Well, the "prototype thing"....definitely nothing that fits a "first try" especially on design.

Finishing a knife(thats what You did) is always something You can be proud of and that deserves all respect.

 getting better is something that keeps Your pride alive and growing.

You asked for thoughts and I gave them.

stay keen and all the best

Cheers

 

 

 

Thank you for the feedback.  You've definitely give me food for thought and that's exactly what I wanted.