AlphaBlade

It isn't finished in that picture and the blade is not epoxied into the handle yet. I did normalize the steel after the initial cutting to shape. After that pic, I have done final beveling, sanding and polishing with 2 rouges. I just finished hardening and quenching in olive oil and tempered for 2 cycles of two hours each at 350 degrees. The charcoal left an interesting oxidation or something. I'm trying to decide how much of that to remove. It looks pretty nice removing only an 1/8" at the edge. The handle is now epoxied on. I'll post a final picture when I've finished. Thanks guys.

Yes that is a nicholson file. I've got a bunch of old files and rasps on the way, but I thought I'd start with one of these, as I had read that they make a nice blade.

That is fantastic! I'm amazed at what can be done.

That is a beautiful shape. I'm looking forward to the final pics and handle choice. Nice.

Thanks guys. I'll look into that leather source. I would like to get hold of some old saddle leather source.

Thanks, Josh. I plan to use it a lot. I'll need to make a sheath so I can keep it with me.

I hope this is an appropriate place to post pics of my first knife and to welcome comments. I started with a file, a moose shed, some hard rubber and brass. I rough cut the blade with a cutting wheel and then normalized with my webber charcoal grill and tested with a magnet (pretty cool). I did the shaping with a hand and bench mounted grinding wheel and then a hand file. I was able to cut a slot in the handle with the cutting wheel and then hand work it to get the tang to seat close to the final shape of the handle. The blade is not yet affixed to the handle, because I have to get most of the scratches and such out of the blade before heat treating and tempering. I plan to leave some of the file marks for effect. I am thinking of leaving the oxidizing on the blade to keep it rustic looking, but I'm not sure if that is even possible. Will it just rub off? Don't know. The overall length is 7 3/4" and the blade is 3 7/8". I am really enjoying this. I would really like to use clay to get color variation in the blade, but think that might be best left to another attempt.

Hello from NH. I am just now getting around to attempting to make a knife. I met and purchased a knife from Daniel Winkler fourteen years ago and at that time thought it would be a good thing to try. I'm looking forward to learning and participating a wee bit.