First Knife, Be gentle

[Dogvet99]

I have been lurking for awhile now and have thrown my hand into forging knives. I bought a gas forge, made a bucket anvil, and collected assorted tools off ebay(tongs, hammers, etc.).

This is my first. 5160 leaf spring. Hammer forged to shape and then finish ground. I bought a grizzly knife grinder. I bought a book by Jim Hirisoulas, and a video by tim lively to help guide me.

I tempered the knife in the oven and differentially treated the tang and spine with a torch.

The guard and pommel were made by me out of 5160. The handle is wenge and black micarta. I also did some filework on the spine.

Let me know what you think.

Bret

[Finnr]

That is a great looking knife. Hard to believe that it's a first try!
Finnr

[pete46]

R U Really A Vet?
Oh Nice Knife!!!!!!!!!!!!

[brucegodlesky]

Good job, Bret.

[nc_cooter]

Great first knife.....
Two suggestions:
Blend the top of the guard to the handle.
Shorten the bottom of the guard some.

Just my personal preference.

Still a great first blade.

[hammerkid]

LOOKS GREAT!!!!!!!!!! for the 1 st time or 100th time !!!!!!!!!!!:cool::o

[julian]

Welcome!

It looks like you're definitely on the right track, awesome first blade.

One thing I'd recommend starting to work on are the curves and blending the handle/blade together; once you've got the subtleties in shape and proportions down, stuff will seem to come out a lot nicer.

[Dogvet99]

Thanks for the comments. I will try to post some pics of a new knife I am working on. It is a smaller hunter style. I am also going to work on the guard and try to refine it a little better. Thanks, Bret

P.S. I am a veterinarian(dogs and cats primarily).

I got started making longbows and recurves, laminated, about 15 years ago. I think that the patience I developed refining these will help with the knife making process.

[Glenn]

go to the top of the forum page and click on User CP
click on edit profile
go to the bottom of the page and enter your location and save.

It would be nice to know where in the world your located.

[Feukair]

Nice first knife dogvet!

[Dogvet99]

Thank you for your kind words. I am looking for some guidance on sharpening with the belt grinder. I have a grizzly 2 x 72 and have a hard time maintaining an angle. I am using the platen so far. Any advice, tips, tutorials, etc would be much appreciated.

[FredlyFX]

Very nice knife Dogvet. A lot nicer looking than the dozen or so I have made.

[brucegodlesky]

Use thw slack belt, either above or below the platen. That will give a slight convex bevel.

[Rich Hale]

Use the rest at a ninety degree angle to the platen take a chunk of metal or wood and put the angle you want the blade ground to on the face of the holder youi made so it faces the belt as the holder slides across the rest. clamp the blade to your holder so the edge is down. You do not want the edge catching the belt. You can use a piece of scrap stell as a substitute blade until you get the angles like you wish. slide ther holder with the blade camped across the rest so it grinds nicely. This will not give you the convex grind as suggested above but I bet if you try this several times it will let you hand hold without a rest and either maintain a constant grind or the convex, whichever you prefer. Enjoy And make sure your rest is close enough to the belt that no part of what you are grinding can get in between the rest and the belt.