Here is a leaf spring blade I forged for my little brother's birthday. The blade is 6 1/8 inches long and the handle is a wopping 3 1/8 inches. The handle is small to fit his eleven year old hand. There are three copper rivets holding the aged oak handle on. I did a 220 grit hand finish. It's hardened in oil, (blade first) and tempered first at 400 then at 350 in the oven for 2 hours a piece. It seems to flex ok and has a shaving sharp edge. (I was slicing paper!)

Overall I'm pleased.

As you can see the riviets aren't perfect in their holes. That's going to take a bit more practice. With that small of a handle I should have went with a smaller rivet but overlooked that possibility.

Thoughts???
Critisizm???
Scrutinizing???

Dave

Looks like a nice kitchen knife. I hope your brother respects and enjoys it. I use a knife very similar to that all the time while cooking. As he grows and his hands get bigger he probably will not miss the handle length for chopping and such as choking up onto the blade some gives extra control.

Slicing paper is not the same as shaving sharp, but is still a rather nice edge.

Phil

Beautiful job, Dave. Your ever growing talent at this stuff really impresses me. I have yet to make my first complete knife, so I'm a little jealous. LOL.

I'd like to know what the difference between shaving sharp and slicing paper sharp is. Both seem to be adequate to me, Phil. Maybe I'll figure it out when I make a knife for myself....lol.

I guess the difference between "shaving sharp and slicing paper sharp" has to do if your willing to sacrifice some body hair of not, I'm not.
That's a nice looking knife. I don't think I could have trusted either of my sons with a knife at eleven, they would have stabbed the other with it. Had to lock the kitchen knives up.LOL

I used to go to a barber that used a straight blade. Shaving sharp effortlessly removes stubble hairs without tugging or pulling sensations. Paper cutting sharp you may be able to shave with too, but it won't be a very comfortable shave because it will probably pull as it cuts.

Having my kitchen knives paper cutting sharp makes me very happy, and I never try to get them any sharper. If I ever start using a straight razor then I will learn sharpening to a whole new level of performance.

Phil

I think we should get back on topic, which is the awesome knife Dave made.

Phil, If you want a debate on sharpness, maybe you should start a thread on that. I'm sure a lot of folks would chime in. I've always been curious myself about the difference.

Very nice. What type of wood did you use?

good job. but the only thing i would do is...tempet low then test...then tempet high if it's still to hard..just my thoughts,jimmy

Will try jimmy!

Appreciate all the complements. The handle is scrap oak that came off our barn. It's pobably 25 years old AT LEAST!

I may have posted contradictory terms in sharpness. I'm here to learn not teach so if paper cutting/shaving aren't the same then do pardon! I suppose a micro scope would be needed to tell the exact formation of steel on the very edge of each sharpness to determine if and how much different they were. Interesting idea and we have a couple high powered micro scopes!

food for thought!

Dave