My first forged knife

[Chris C]

Well, as promised, here is my first forged knife.  It was forged at a friend's shop.  (he's one of our Forged In Fire champions from here in central, Oklahoma)   I did all the work…………..with his verbal guidance, of course.  Thanks to him for that because I could never have done it without his help.  (and his forge, anvil, hammer and HT oven)   It is made of 80 CRV2 and heat treated in his oven.  (I don’t have all the equipment I need to be doing this yet.)

First two pictures of the rough forged knife.  I didn’t find out until later I’d forged hollows on both sides of the blade, so it ended up being a narrower blade from top to bottom by the time I got the bevels ground in. 

 

 

 

Third picture is of the design I planned, based on the forged shape.

 

 

 

Fourth pictures is of the blade after I’d ground and skeletonized it. 

 

 

 

Fifth and Sixth are of the finished knife.

 

 

 

So there you go.  My first forged knife.  I had a ton of “firsts” with this knife…………so many I won’t bore you with them all.  Can’t begin to tell you how much I learned in the process.  There are things I’m not terribly happy about, but like I told David………….”Hey, it’s my first forged knife!”.

So now it’s time for me to pour a cup of coffee, sit down and ask all of you knife makers to honestly critique my work. 

 

 

[CrazyGoatLady]

That is a beautiful piece to me Chris. Congratulations on your first forged blade. Keep them coming

[Chris C]

Thanks, CGL, I'll try.  Have a stock removal knife I'm working on.  When it's finished, I'm going to get back on finishing up my forge so I don't have to use someone else's.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

For a first knife it is outstanding. What a difference it makes to have someone guiding you instead of trying alone.

[Chris C]

Yes, I wouldn't have known where to strike next if he hadn't been there.  From there on, it's been flying on my own.  Lot's of "firsts" with this project.  Learned a lot.  Working on my second, but it's a stock removal knife.

[MCalvert]

Well done! I love the contrast from the black to the burl, and the grinding looks really clean. Did you do much hand sanding, or was it all on a 2x72? Fantastic first knife!

[pnut]

Most first knives don't have an actual distal taper. Good job. Can't wait to see more.

Pnut

[Chris C]

The choice of woods was Gabon Ebony and Elm Burl.  I only wish I owned a 2x72.  The majority of the steel work was done on a 1x30 or hand sanding, drilling and hand filing.  The wood work was primarily done on the 1x30.............but a lot of hand sanding up to 800 grit before finishing with wax.  The wood was stabilized in a vacuum system and Cactus Juice.  As you can see from the video, it's a rather small little EDC.  Now I have to learn how to make sheaths.

[ThomasPowers]

Well, I bet you already learned the one about the "as forged" surface making a huge difference on clean up difficulty.   You can tell how annoyed I am with a new student by if I allow them to forge a knife before they have decent hammer control.

[Chris C]

Yup, lot's to learn about hammer control.  First thing I've forged beyond a steak flipper!

[sfeile]

Not sure why you tapered the tang. To me, that looks a little bit odd. (But just personal opinion.)

I can see some glue lines between the tang and the liner. Seems there wasn't even pressure when gluing the scales on. Also a bit of residual glue coming out at the ricasso that wasn't cleaned up.

The brass pieces in the handle scales are off where your two halves aren't quite in the same alignment on the knife.

There is also a bit of twist or warp between the blade and handle. It can be seen in the last forging photo, and also in the last finished photo.

The plunge grind on the marked side looks to be just a bit deeper than the other side.

 

I know those are a bit nit-picky for your first, but honestly it looks very nice over all. The shape is good, grinds are clean, distal taper looks even, looks comfortable and functional. You definitely seem to have the basics down and skills, now it's just refining the little things. Excellent result for your first though. I wish my first had turned out that good.

[Chris C]

 Boy, I wish I had your eyes, sfeile!  Thanks for the critique.  Takin' notes.

[CrazyGoatLady]

Honest question: Isn't the reason for tapering the tang for reducing weight? 

[sfeile]

2 minutes ago, CrazyGoatLady said:

Honest question: Isn't the reason for tapering the tang for reducing weight? 

It could be used that way, but with the skeletonizing (is that really a word?) that was done, it would be a little redundant. Just to me personally, it makes the lines look a little odd. 

[CrazyGoatLady]

Thank you. I was just wondering. That makes sense

[Chris C]

Indeed................and so is skeletonizing.  But seeing as how this is my first one, I wanted to try everything I'd read or studied about.  I'm a newbie, I can make mistakes or even play around with different ideas.    Learning what works and what doesn't.

[sfeile]

7 minutes ago, Chris C said:

Indeed................and so is skeletonizing.  But seeing as how this is my first one, I wanted to try everything I'd read or studied about.  I'm a newbie, I can make mistakes or even play around with different ideas.    Learning what works and what doesn't.

One thing to watch as you get playing around trying everything at once, is how they affect your overall balance and what the intended use is.

A little EDC like that, you may not notice a big difference, but you make a chef's knife and it is extra blade heavy, it can become uncomfortable to use in long sessions. On the opposite end, a large chopper/camp knife may not perform as efficiently being too light or handle heavy. 

Again, I know it's your first, but just more things to keep in mind as you move forward. I see some pretty good potential Chris.

[HammerHeart]

Jeez man this is mind blowing. My first blade was horrible. My dad said here the forge, here's the anvil, and this thing is your hammer. He forged out a snake real quick and said "that's how you do it, now you can figure the rest out on your own" 4 years later I still call him asking for tips on certain projects. : ) 

Your goin to be a beast at the blades man. 

 

 

[JHCC]

Nicely done!

[Chris C]

Thanks for all the compliments.  It's funny, though................I didn't post the pics here for the "pat's on the back".  There's a whole lot to learn about good knife making.  My desire is to be a well respected knife maker.  Part of that is to be positively judged by my peers, which is why I posted the pics.  I've been an artist of one kind or another all my life.  Therefore, I know to the untrained eye that knife is a beautiful piece..........especially since it's my first out of the chute.........but I knew it wasn't perfect.  I'm desiring perfection and have appreciated all the honest critique from the knife site I frequent and from here where I got my start into this forging journey.  I'm starting this journey mighty late in life and can only hope I've time to get to a point that my knives are sought after.............or at least well respected.

13 hours ago, sfeile said:

One thing to watch as you get playing around trying everything at once, is how they affect your overall balance and what the intended use is.

A little EDC like that, you may not notice a big difference, but you make a chef's knife and it is extra blade heavy, it can become uncomfortable to use in long sessions. On the opposite end, a large chopper/camp knife may not perform as efficiently being too light or handle heavy. 

Again, I know it's your first, but just more things to keep in mind as you move forward. I see some pretty good potential Chris.

sfeile, I didn't know if by mentioning "balance", you meant balance in design or weight.  I was trying for the balance point of weight to be at the Ebony bolster.  Turns out it was at the back edge of the 1/8" brass pin closest to the bolster.  That was why I skelotonized and tapered.  I realized it probably wouldn't make that big a difference on an EDC, but I wanted to give it a try.  I'll say, once again, I sure wish I had your eyes.  I had to use a 30X jewelers Loupe to find the exposed glue on the belly of the spine.  Good catch.   Actually, there isn't any uncleaned up epoxy at the Ricasso.  I cleaned it up, but scratched the Ricasso in the process.  I need to go back and correct that.  The brass pieces were perfectly aligned..........at one time.   I glued my handle block up and then cut it in half to assure everything lined up.  Then I went to the stabilizing step.  (wrong order of things to do)  The week the slabs spent in the Cactus Juice (don't ask why!) must have attacked the Acraglas Gel epoxy because I kept having the two different woods breaking away from the brass.  Cleaning up the surfaces to re-glue I lost the "match".  In the future I'll do all of that after stabilizing.  And, yes, I probably tried to "bite off more than I could chew" for a first knife, but that's my nature.  I do that with every interest I have.  Honestly don't know it its good or bad, but that's the way I operate.

Once again, thanks for the honest critiquing.  Just what I needed.  I used to judge furniture and wood carving competitions and can attest that a mamby-pamby judge does no good for any competitor. 

[Les L]

Chris, great looking knife. I haven't tried one yet, but I hope my first try comes out looking a fraction as good as that.

[Chris C]

Thanks, Les.  I've LOTS to learn, but learn I will.  Working on another right now.  We'll see what I've gained from the critiques.

[Marcus_Aurelius]

Chris,

Great looking knife and I really dig the look. I make a blade once in a while and I am just getting started in the journey like you. Recently I have used eastern red cedar for my handles but I’m looking to branch out for a hidden tang blade I’m working on. Where or how do you source you wood? Did you order the elm burl online or buy it from a local store?

To comment on the tapered tang: As I understand it (this may be wrong so take this with a grain of salt) the tapered tang helps to transition the vibrational node to the bottom of the handle which is only important on much bigger blades. Otherwise it is to help balance and reduce the weight of a blade.

-Mark

[Chris C]

Mark,

I'm a retired furniture builder and a wood carver.  I've lots of woods left over from 17 years of that.  In the case of the Elm burl, it was given to me over 20 years ago as a half log.  Couldn't figure out what the heck to do with it, but knew I didn't want to let it go.  (typical hoarder as my wife calls me!)   When I got into knifemaking, I decided to cut it up and see what I've got.  Needless to say, I was both surprised and happy.  I've enough for about 8 more knives and then it's gone.  Not letting go of a single piece of it.

[ThomasPowers]

When I first was married, I worked in a custom wood shop and one day we got in a set of book matched highly figured walnut boards in a semi load of walnut for wainscot and judges panels. I told my boss to call the police now as they were going home with me.   He said no problem; board them out and pay for 1/3---as they would be useless for the project---can't have 1 drop dead gorgeous raised panel with the rest of them plain!

Still got them 30 years later!