So - after getting involved in backyard forgeing for a few breif and fun months and getting the bug pretty bad, i had to hang up hammer + tong during a period of moving house and haveing my tools in storage ( for about 2 years) - now finally ive got them back out of storage and built myself a nice warm place to forge away from the rain....

Naturally i decided to test the water with a "letter opener" knife - out of mild steel - gotta keep things simple for the first timers am i right?

So - in the lovely books i have read on smithing and blade smithing - their are allot of do`s and donts about foreing a blade and puting a handle on it. I pretty much broke / bodged all the rules - like a typical learner.
But it is after all my offical "first go". Please feel free to critique my little working - it`s not great at all. Although like some bizzaro mom - im so proud of my baby. *grin*

Here are the pics - ive waffled on for long enough.







Thanks for your time and patience with yet another beginner on the site.

alot nicer than my first try at a knife kendall

Thankyou very much :D

Very nice work for a first try. I like the leaf-type blade, especially for a letter opener, and might have to borrow that idea from you.

What's the bolster made from?

The bolster was made from pewter - and the handle is ash - And thankyou, I quite liked the leaf blade for a letter opener, seems to work in my mind.