Jephgag

Thomas Powers - Here are 2 photos. 1 showing the marks left and the second showing the knife in it's entirety. I am not sure how I missed it, but the tip of the blade is way too thick compared to the rest of the blade. And the plunge was supposed to be 1/8 longer. I made a few tests with the knife before taking the pictures to see if the knife would hold an edge. I hammered the knife to cut through wood, I cut through old sand paper , i cut through softwood (don't have any hardwood around) and the knife is still cutting great. I will need to work more on the tip though. Overall, i'm pr

Thomas Powers - I ran out of sanding paper to finish the handle. I will go grab some tomorrow and hopefully finish it then. It's pretty much the only step left. It does feel like a knife which is pretty exciting. The proportion are a bit off as I tried to make the micarta myself and it was too thick. Next time, i'll definitely buy the micarta or a blank of wood (I have a nice wood shop near where I live) to concentrate on making a better blade. I also have a lot of air bubble in the epoxy as I used scotch brites and didn't properly press out the bubbles. I also didn't wrap the blade prope

When I was growing up, we only had a few classes (2 or 3) to teach us very very basic tool handling (filing wasn't included). So I am picking up things as I go. I am aware of draw filing and I used the technique, but that doesn't mean I'm good at it. My domain is electronics and electricity, so I am discovering the skills I need as I go. This is why I didn't go full on perfectionist mode for that first knife. I already noted area where I need to research more in order to bring my skills to an acceptable level. The only thing I searched extensively is the propane forge as it can be dangero

I didn't know those existed, so that's a big no. I was using a paint brush to try and remove debris as much as possible. But the worst offender is definitely the plunge line where I made a big mess as I tried to redo it many times and it left deep scratches.

I will post pics later when everything is finished. I made some blue scotch brite micarta with black epoxy that is still curing as we speak (should be good by tonight). I made a lot of mistake though during the blade filing. I made a blade with Gough Customs file guide, but I left a lot of scratching marks on the blade. I messed up the plunge line big time so now it is not placed well (too far back). I wanted to go through the full process of making a knife, even with flaws, just to get a feel of how it goes instead of trying to get everything perfect the first try.

Sorry, I am not sure which one is which. I see annealing all the time for knife making, but it seems like this is a mistake? After looking at the definition, it would be tempering then. I want to give back some softness and ductility to my blade. Thanks for the correction.

Just an update, I successfully heat treated my first knife, The file skated on the blade. I'm annealing it as we speak. Thanks all for the tips, and I am excited to be part of this community for this journey. I will see you around!

Thanks for the reply frosty. Regulations here make it so that I need to be outside for propane. My forge is outside so I am not worried about Co2. I also have a fire extinguisher ready for when I will use the forge and I will keep the propane tank as far as my hose permits it. I am also setup on stone to make sure nothing flammable will be coming my way. I do not have the 1/4 turn ball valve though, so i will grab that tomorrow and add it to my setup. However, my regulator is integrated the hose, so the valve will be between the hose and the burner. Not optimal.

Thanks for the replies, 1) I did check the IFI FAQ first before posting my question (I've been lurking for a while now). I will make sure to keep it in mind for the following posts. 2) I used propane rated tape for my connections (Harvey 017065). I tried to make sure that no tape was loose on the thread. Will that tape degrade ? Do you have a link to the Threadlocker gasket seal ? I tried looking online, but I am not sure what I am looking for here. I guess my only fear is the fire going back up the line. So either it will snuff out quietly, or it will poof, just like a BBQ sometim

Hello, I built myself a venturi burner for a small heat treating forge and after many online readings, I was able to make a starter propane forge. I took a lot of precaution to make sure that there is no leak (gasline teflon + soapy water test multiple times) and everything seems good. However, since I am using a highly flammable gas, I want to learn as much of the process before firing the propane burner for a first heat treatment cycle for safety reasons. One subject that I haven't found about is how the burner should normally behave when I cut off the gas. So my question is: