First knife

[Elmarginalo]

Thought I would post some pictures of the first knife I made.

 

It's a forged Knife, forged from O1 steel, normalized it 5 times (thought the more the better right?), then quenched it in vegetabel oil.  2 1hour tempering cycles @ arond 220°C

Handle is micarta.  My goal was to make an all round knife that can also be used in the kitchen, hence the longer chef like blade.

 

Not too happy with the result:

Some file marks are left that were too deep and couldn't sand them out.  The holes in the handle weren't straight as they were drilled by hand, not by column drill (not sure if this is the correct term in english, I mean the drill that is stuck at 90° angle).  If you pay attention you can see the copper tubes aren't 'straight'.

Here and there some small 'spaces' between the handle and the knife.  Any ideas what I can use to fill them? my main concern is water getting in.

 

Critique and advise always welcome ;-)

 

[Steve Sells]

good start.  I do have one comment about normalizing many times, too many, and the grain gets too small, and you start to reduce the ability for the steel to harden.

[Elmarginalo]

Thanks, I didn't realize it was possible to get the grain size too small.  Will take that into account in the future!

[ThomasPowers]

 Not a bad blade; here in the USA it would fit well into the "rustic" look.

 

I believe the term you are looking for is "drill press".

 

For cooking or hunting knives the handle slabs are often bedded onto the handle with epoxy to prevent any access of food or moisture between the handle and the tang.

 

May I commend to your attention "The Complete Bladesmith" by James Hrisoulas.

[Elmarginalo]

Hey Thomas,

 

drill press => that's the term I was looking for :D thanks!

Got that book, but I can still read it a few times: so much info on so little pages.

I put the slabs on with epoxy, but I can see that at some places there's at some spots a 'paper-thin' space left between the slabs and the steel.

I guess I didn't spread the epoxy evenly or so? 

Any ideas how to fix this? whipe some epoxy over it then sand the excess off again? superglue maybe?

 

for some reason my second picture didn't work so here's another try:

[Frosty]

The trick to getting enough epoxy in the handles is to use too much and clamp the leaves tight enough epoxy squeezes out. As it sets it will get stiff before it gets hard and at that point it is easy to cut off with a razor or a scraper.

 

You were using a draw (single cut) file yes? You have to keep the teeth clean with a file card. (a short bristle wire brush specifically for cleaning files) You also need to vary the stroke a little to prevent scoring, (deep scratches). By vary I mean to alter the angle of the file slightly and use a different part of the file. Draw filing is holding the file across the work and drawing it towards you so most of the file is not on the work for any one stroke. Moving the file so you are using a different part of the file will help prevent scratches. Even in high quality machine made file there is slight difference in the teeth and every once in a while a tooth gets damaged so there may be a little burr and the burr can score the piece, especially if it rides in the same place every stroke.

 

Pretty nice first knife, well done.

 

Frosty The Lucky.