Will W. Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 Good day. This is the first hidden tang knife I've made, and also the first pinless knife. Overall length 13" (33mm). Blade is 5160, tempered for a single cycle at 375° for an hour, to attempt to save as much hardness as possible (it's not going to be cutting firewood after all). The bevels are at a ~10-15 degree angle, so it is very sharp. The handle is black walnut, sanded down to 1500 grit, and it feels really nice and smooth. I made sure to fit it very tight, and epoxied it on. Being my first hidden tang, I decided to follow the KISS prinicple on the design of the handle. It has a small copper bolster (hope I'm using that term correctly) which was also epoxied on. The handle and bolster both feel very solid. I made sure to take my time with this one, and frankly, I like it. Despite my best efforts, my camera refuses to take decent pictures. Any thoughts? Thanks. Will W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 How does it handle dicing tomatoes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will W. Posted February 24, 2017 Author Share Posted February 24, 2017 Quite well. So I would say it fulfills it's purpose haha. Functionally, all seems well. I don't really like how the plunge line got a little wobbly on both sides. I only have my darn angle grinder to work with, and it's hard to control that precisely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Cochran Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 13 hours ago, Will W. said: I only have my darn angle grinder to work with, and it's hard to control that precisely. Do you not have any files in the shop? You can do many things with good files including but not limited to cleaning up that bevel and the edge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 Yes look into draw filing, a valuable skill for a blade maker! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will W. Posted February 25, 2017 Author Share Posted February 25, 2017 Michael Cochran I should have been more specific. I do have files. I use them to fine tune the general shape mostly. The files leave gouges, and I lightly clean those gouges off by using a flap wheel (sandpaper wheel) on my grinder (if I had been more patient and cleaned it with sandpaper, this problem would have been avoided). When I did my final few passes, I got a little careless and made the line a little wobbly. I tried to fix it but I didn't want to remove too much metal, it's thin as it is! Lesson learned: slow down even more. Also the third pic, I just noticed, makes it look like there's a grind mark right above the plunge line. That's just a reflection. No way I would leave that haha. I need to get a better camera if I'm going to post any more pics of anything. Thomas I just did some research on that. I've heard the term, but the technique is new to me. I'll try it in the future. Thank you for the tip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 Be sure to use the file card often and draw filing can smooth out a lot of issues. If you let stuff get pinned in the file gouges will show up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 Drawfiling needs a lot of patience. Trying to take off too much at once will definitely clog the teeth (what ThomasPowers calls "pinning", because the clogs look -- and scratch -- like little pins), but going light and cleaning often will give you good results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will W. Posted February 25, 2017 Author Share Posted February 25, 2017 Yeah, my files are pretty dirty. No doubt in my mind that they should be cleaned out. I never even thought that stuff trapped in them could create deep gouges like that, honestly. The moment you think you have something simple like files figured out, there's always more to be learned. My research said to use a single cut file. I assume a double cut would also create gouges using this technique, seeing as how you have teeth going the opposite way? Interesting. Thanks for the info JHCC. I'm definitely going to try this in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 One thing I've picked up along the way that's very handy is a 65 year old industrial arts textbook on Metalworking. Very handy when you want to solder stuff but are not quite sure of the "how"---- also filing, drilling, tapping, etc and so on. IIRC it cost me US$1 at a yard sale...There was still metalshop in middle school when I went through but it lacked a "drill sergeant" instructor. Actually I've picked up several of the old versions,"Farm Shop Practice", "General Metals", "Sheet Metal Worker's Handy Book", "Welder's Guide"...In my experience anything pre-1960 will have useful information as a given. Post that date you need to check them out more carefully. Note that the *really* old ones can be "interesting" when it comes to safety---hardening using cyanide for instance and should be approached with caution so that you can pass such information to your grandkids and great grandkids! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will W. Posted February 26, 2017 Author Share Posted February 26, 2017 Hardening using cyanide?! Wow. That's interesting, alright. I'll have to keep my eye out for some textbooks like that. Sounds like they would make good reference guides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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