SlimW

i agree, a taper would be best. I want the forward end of the scale at an angle, so I imagine the taper needs to be perpendicular to that line. Thats the tricky part. Still sanding, lots of time to think about it. Maybe it would be better as a hidden tang? That would lose lots of weight.

Frazer: I am making this knife for a guy I know who gave me a 9'x9"x4" plank of walnut, so I am planning on making scales from that. ThomasPowers: There is no taper on the blade. I am debating a taper on the tang, it's pretty thick. I'm not sure I currently have the setup to taper it evenly on a grinder, and I'm not sure I'm up to a filing session to taper that whole tang I will probably drill lots of holes in it, but I'm still thinking about it.

Yes, I plan to file a sharpening choil in. right now, i'm trying to get the file marks out. next time, I will switch to a less coarse file as I approach the final shape. I think that will make the initial sanding a lot easier. I'm debating on how to blend in the back of the swedge now, I don't want to leave those sharp corners.

bevels roughed in. i got good symmetry, too. sanding with 80 grit now.

those metal uprights with all the holes in them are from computer racks, they used to hold a set of battery backup units that got junked. it's pretty easy to change angles by moving up, down, forward, and backward. the rows of holes are offset so that makes it even easier to get very fine changes in angle. A lucky coincidence, this is because I'm a borderline-needing-an-intervention hoarder

the trashheap file jig works pretty well! it took me a little over an hour, on and off, to file this bevel. its a lot neater than my previous attempts with my 1x30 delta grinder.

wish me luck, fellas, me and my pallet wood filing jig are starting!

that's a handy tip, Frosty.

Here in the US, in Pennsylvania, most knives are ok, provided that the knife has a "common lawful purpose", unless you're in Philadelphia. They make up their own laws for some reason. Thus, there are two categories of knives considered to be offensive weapons: Blade exposed ‘in an automatic way’, or; Implement for infliction of bodily injury with no common lawful purpose. Thank you for the thoughts on swedges. I will reconsider.

Thanks for that, Bob. If you look at my very first pic, you can see that I have a very long swedge, almost the entire length of the blade. Will this thin the point out too much? The peak (if that's what it's called) of the swedge will be centered on the drop in the point. I see that usually knives are only made with a swedge about 1/3 of the blade, is there a reason for that, or is that just style?

I just re-read my post, and I shouldn't try to do math after midnight. The steel thickness is 7/32, not 15/16. I'm not grinding inch-thick steel, lol.

Hi all - I'm SlimW, and I like knives. I've been reading threads here for a few months, and just made an account. I've made a few knife-shaped objects so far, but nothing I've wanted to stick my name on yet. Now, I'd like to do a little better. My next project is a "skinner-ish" thing that I intend as a gift for someone who did me a favor, if this all works out and doesn't look hideous, that is. This is a stock removal knife. I'd like to grind a swedge along the top of the blade, since this is fairly thick steel (15/16" 7/32"), and I've made myself a jig from angle iron to clamp the knife onto. My question is this: is it better to grind the main bevel first, or the swedge first? Does it make any difference? ------------------------------------------------------------------ Here's a few of my previous attempts, before I decided to actually research how knives were made. No hiding my shame! The knife with the wooden sheath was one I made from an edger blade and scrap I had laying around the garage. It's ugly, it's awkward, but I made it for my son, it mysteriously seems to hold an edge, and he really loves it, so I guess it turned out ok. The folding knife was my attempt to make a liner lock. I didn't know how to grind a bevel, the body was way too thick, and the lock surfaces weren't angled so it doesn't lock tight. The knife with the aluminum hilt I made for my nephew as a Christmas exchange gift. As you can see, I didn't know how to grind a bevel or sand a blade here, either. This was also my first attempt at leatherwork, using an old belt for a sheath. Hey, he likes it, so I guess it's ok. The last knife was another scrap knife I cut out of steel from a set of garden shears. This one is shiny, at least, and I think the handle is interesting. I will probably try to make an improved version of this one at some point.