My first knife

[Gub410]

This is my first knife.

I wrappedsome baleing twine around it for the handle it’s main purpose is cutting baleing twine I did the bend  just to see what I could do also there is a pic of my forge going(it’s a lot of pics I know)

[ThomasPowers]

What's the alloy and what's the heat treat?  

[Gub410]

Idk steel it’s my first knife

[jfigler]

It kind of looks like you just put an edge on a flat bar and wrapped a rope around one end.

[Steve Sells]

have to agree, that is not a knife

[Glenn]

It may be a sorta knife shaped object, but the true test of the project is if it cuts bailing twine.  If it cuts the twine, he succeeded. Be careful of the bend at the end of the metal as it could rip chunks out of your hand if your not careful.

For your second attempt do a little research as to a metal that will hold an edge, the shape you want that will do the job, and how to add scales to the handle for a more comfortable grip. 

[Gub410]

It’s more of a sharp object than a knife

[Glenn]

In a barn, they mount a sickle tooth on the wooden post just below the ball of twine. Pull what twine you want and drag it across the sickle tooth to cut it. A sickle tooth is not a knife but it cuts twine.

[Gub410]

I just posted it here because there is no page for sickle teeth 

2 hours ago, jfigler said:

It kind of looks like you just put an edge on a flat bar and wrapped a rope around one end.

 

2 hours ago, Steve Sells said:

have to agree, that is not a knife

You are right 

I’m going to make a real knife soon

[ThomasPowers]

I could turn that into a mini cleaver with a bit of work in the forge...

[John in Oly, WA]

Flatten the handle end (get that tight curve out of it) and cut it narrower than the blade part, so your hand fits around it better, and you'll be getting close to having a knife.

[Will W.]

Reminds me of a stone hand ax.

[Frosty]

Got the first knife out of your system now Gub?  S'okay it's all about  learning the craft. This lesson was about what happens when you don't have the necessary skills sets to make what you want. Happens to everybody, stop feeling special.

How about looking through beginning projects, find some mild steel and pick up the skills. Once you have the basics down making a knife isn't a lot more than learning new heat management and heat treat. Grinding is grinding, start doing some stock removal knives so you can build grinding and finishing skills.

Keep that one though, so you can look at it as you learn and see how far you've come.

Frosty The Lucky.

[JHCC]

We’v seen lots of KSOs — Knife-Shaped Objects — but I think this is our first OSK: an Object-Shaped Knife!

[Justin Carnecchia]

Is what it is..

If you felt proud and were happy with it that's what's important.

The question for you then becomes what you want to do next, and if it's still making knives then keep at it.

My advice, and what was most helpful to me is plan out the knife before you start. I made more than one great looking blade that never turned into a knife because I didn't think ahead to a handle..

I make a detailed drawing of each knife I forge before I start and go from there. Make it full sized and include handle, guard, pins, etc..

Get as close as you can with a hammer and then grind from there. 

If you work towards a high standard, you'll be surprised how quickly you can get to knives that look like what you want, whatever that may be.

[Frosty]

I like it John, OSK it is!

The important thing is you're working at the anvil. Good on ya. We're pulling for ya.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Charles R. Stevens]

Well, add a few skills and you can call that a cleaver. Punch a hole in the center of that beast, then use a chisel to come in 90d to it and then slit the handle in half and you are in the realm of a tang. A cuple more punched holes in the tang and you can mount scales to make a handle.

it’s a mater of learning the skills you need (both the skill and the need for that particular skill) and then stringing them all to gether. 

A hot cut, punch and file can shape a piece of flat stock into a knife blank, wile if you start with round or square stock it’s easier to shape the steel with minimal cutting. 

I second Frosty. Have fun, learn new skills and string them together.