Actually this only probably my third or fourth knife shaped object to date. I don’t consider myself a knife maker at all I just decided to give it a try.  It’s 136 layers of 15n20 and 1084 with a brass pins and a curly maple handle. The guard is a different pattern from a scrap piece left over from another project. There’re a lot of things that could be better but I’m happy with it at this point.

Beauty!! Amazing work, let alone for your first! I hope to get there some day....

What are some of "the things that could be better"? 

Sweet!

Welcome to the pattern welded addiction....

Thanks guys. Some of my grind lines and fitting could use a lot of improvement.

 

 

I like it!! Good Job!

The steel looks good.  Not washed out or muddy looking like a lot of early pattern welding attempts.  

The grinding and fit and finish will come along with practice.  I'd encourage you to take the grind higher up the side of the blade.

That a great piece of curly maple.  Did you do an aqua fortis finish on it?

Yeah I used Aqua Fortis for the first time it’s amazing stuff. I’ll keep that in mind about grinding the bevels higher. I wasn’t sure how high to go. Thanks 

I need to play with aqua fortis.  I love that look.

You'll find your grind referred to as a "Noob grind" in some circles.  Many commercially made knives are ground like that, so it is understandable why people start there.  Below is a pic of a similar blade I did a while ago, but the grind goes almost all the way to the spine.  If you look closely, you'll see that most makers have grinds more along these lines.

What part of northern Indiana are you in?

I’ll have to remember that. I’m about 15 miles or so from Michigan in roughly the center of the state. 

Nice looking knife Zachary, but be careful! That pattern-welding stuff can be very addicting.

Maybe I should see if I can find a local support group?!!

Yes. Better a support group than a rehabilitation center. This kind of an addiction needs support more than a cure! LOL

Any blacksmith clubs in your area?

There are a couple groups about 45 minutes either side of me. 

fy wayne meets 2nd saturday

I need to remember that. You happen to know a gentleman by the name of Bruce Teegarden?

yup good man, worked with him a few times over the years

Well, there you go! Looks like you've found your support group. Now there'll be no stopping the addiction.

That’s the problem! It appears to be more of a helping you in group!

Oh yeah, they'll help you get in deep. Who knows what it'll lead to. And anvils and hammers are "gateway" tools - they'll cause you to acquire and make more - tongs, chisels, punches, hardies, guillotines, forge presses, flatteners, dies - the list is endless. LOL

Awesome pattern. Nicely done

18 hours ago, Zachary said:

That’s the problem! It appears to be more of a helping you in group!

Well YEAH we'll help get you involved in the group. It's no problem at all. It's what we do.

Frosty The Lucky. 

Yes, aqua fortis is the best to use on curly anything.  When we burned wood for heat a few years back, I got a lot of curly ash mixed in.  I saved as much as I could.  When using regular stains, they settle into the grain and disrupt seeing the curly pattern but aqua fortis doesn't do that and it turns out fabulous.  

You sir made an excellent looking knife!

The more common name for aqua fortis is nitric acid.

That mild acid is used to give some woods an aged look.

The reagent would be around a ten percent solution of nitric acid.

Pine and maple wood are often treated with that chemical.

Please look up safety sheets for handling mineral acids, before using those reagents.

They can give a nasty burn or even kill you.

SLAG.

Good points Slag, I always use gloves and do the AF treatment outside.  I've found rubber gloves are not needed and that regular first aid type latex gloves are enough protection for this type of work.  I wouldn't recommend ever using it indoors without ventilation or the right kind of mask.  Sure works really well though.  

Yeah I carefully read the directions (this time) before I used it and tried to be careful.