metal99 Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 Hello everybody, I just wanted to show everybody my first actual knife. A little about me. My name is Julius, I have been tinkering with knife making since I was about nine or ten years old. I have always been a hands on type of guy and have never been afraid of new things. I am an apprentice at an autobody shop and have been in the trade for about 10 years. This is the very first actual knife that I have made. A little about the knife. I forged the blade out of a chevy truck tailgate torsion spring so I have no clue what kind of steel it is. I did a few tests with it to see how hard it would get and what the best temperature would be to draw a usable temper with. After I found the hardness I wanted I did a little destruction testing with the steel and had very good results so I decided it was probably going to work well for a knife. The rod was about 5/16 around so I forged a hidden tang knife with a 4 1/4 inch blade. I welded a stud onto the end of the tang so I didnt have to peen the base on. I made the finger guard and base out of brass stock. The handle is a 1/16 inch thick of rosewood laminated inbetween two ebony scales. For spacers I used un-stabilized deer antler from one of my Dads small bucks. The handle was wet sanded with minwax tung oil finish up to 2000 grit then hand buffed with cotton. All of the polishing was done by hand on my strop after sanding up to 3000 grit sand paper. There are quite a few things that bug me about this knife but for the first one I guess its gotta do. Because the antler was not stabilized the pores filled up with the slurry from wet sanding the tung oil in so that kinda bugs me. Other then that a good machine polish would probably fix it up. I sharpened up the blade today so I can put it to the test and see how it holds up!!! I tempered the blade at 450 for 2 hours then did a little file test, the file was still skating off the blade. The next temper was done at 500 for 1 hour and it gave me what I was looking for. A nice hard blade that would be easily sharpenable. Let me know what you guys think!! Hope the picture quality is ok, I didnt realize that the camera was set to 3mp . . . Any advice will be greatly abreciated. Julius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metal99 Posted March 2, 2012 Author Share Posted March 2, 2012 Here are a few pictures of the process. Hope you enjoy!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kwisatz Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 Nice work! I haven’t even started learning how to build handles yet. I am going to scrounge up a few unique materials for them over the next few weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metal99 Posted March 2, 2012 Author Share Posted March 2, 2012 Thanks man! My dad and I just went to the bush and picked up half a trailer load of spalted maple burl and some maple with nice white rot stains red and brown ribbon streaks throughout. The next knife I make I am going to use some of the spalted maple burl. Do you have anything in mind for your handles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nc_cooter Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 Great first knife. My first one looked like crap on a stick. Now make another one. Learn from your mistakes and try not to repeat them. Then do it again. Practice, practice, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnewberry Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 Very nice knife, and not just for a first knife. Keep going! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metal99 Posted March 3, 2012 Author Share Posted March 3, 2012 Thanks everybody! I am a bit concerned on how well it is going to hold an edge tho, I had it shaving-hair topping sharp last night and just from sitting over night it barely shaves today. . . I have seen this happen with some other knives of mine but it took longer then over night. Might be the price I pay for playing with unknown steels lol. What syle of knife would you guys call this? To me it has a bit of an old hunter look to it but at the same time maybe a pirate steak knife? What do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 Mild steel can be sharpened quite well but like you said towards the end it does not last. I am not sure wot your steel is, I drive a chevy truck and have a lot of friends with them, never have heard of a tailgate torsion bar in one..May just have been arouind them and never knew.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeddly Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 I know the blazer tailgate has them for sure. Had one once and the spring was busted. Them tailgates are HEAVY! Good lookin blade man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metal99 Posted March 3, 2012 Author Share Posted March 3, 2012 I think my problem was with the blade being lift with the oil from my hands on it. I usually clean my carbon steel blades and use a light gun oil on them but I was tired to after sharpening it I just put it away and left it. I'll so dome more tests with it and see. the torsion bar is found on fairly new Chevy's and Dodge trucks. You cant see the bar unless you take the tail gate off. Time will tell if it will be a good blade. If nothing els I have a fancy knife shaped letter opener :) @Jeddly, Thanks for the nice comment! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metal99 Posted March 13, 2012 Author Share Posted March 13, 2012 Just noticed I cant spell lol "I'll so dome more tests" in my last post made me laugh lol. I cant edit it for some reason . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowboy Bob Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 This is excellent work !! Especially for the first attempt. The only thing I would like to make a comment on is that you include some photos of the work in progress. I would like to see some of your methods. I use chainsaw bars to make my Bowie knives and am always looking for ways to improve. (I should talk - haven't taken any of my work, either). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metal99 Posted March 18, 2012 Author Share Posted March 18, 2012 This is excellent work !! Especially for the first attempt. The only thing I would like to make a comment on is that you include some photos of the work in progress. I would like to see some of your methods. I use chainsaw bars to make my Bowie knives and am always looking for ways to improve. (I should talk - haven't taken any of my work, either). I really wish I would have taken more progress pictures, I posted the only ones I had :( I'm working on number 2 right now its just a stock removal knife that I am making for a friend. I'm going to take more pictures of this one as I go. I wanted to forge this one but until I get set up at my dads place with the forge and stuff I wont be forging much. The first knife I made was small enough that I was able to use the O/A torch in a tiny brick forge setup but for larger blades its just not enough and I'm sure the boss would get mad when the tanks need to be filled up lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowboy Bob Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 A friend of mine has a forge fired by propane that is made from a mini-keg (Heineken beer), with the use of Kaowool. We should be able to get temps of up to 2000 degrees F, but because of the altitude here (7000 ft), we are having trouble getting the temps we need . The whole thing is only about 16 inches long, and 9 or 10 in diameter, and really portable. Let me know if you want to check this out. I can get you in touch with the guy that made it. I will include pics, if I can ever figure out how to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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