My first knife

[Buzzkill]

16 hours ago, Nathan Kraft said:

Also, I remember that I am supposed to have round, not square, plunge lines. But I’m not sure how to do that?

Chainsaw files work fairly well for this.  I mark the cutting edge of the blade for the thickness I want before heat treat and the bevel height I want on the blade.  I then cut in the plunge lines on both sides with the chainsaw file using those marks to tell me when to stop.  Now I have a good guide for the rest of the blade geometry.  Hope that makes sense to you.

[JHCC]

I've done this too; in fact, I think I may have gotten the idea from Buzzkill in the first place. Works well.

[Nathan Kraft]

I’m almost to the point of pre heat treat sanding. Where do y’all get your sandpaper (I’m pretty low budget so cheaper options are better).

[ThomasPowers]

I tend to stock up on name brand paper when I can find them at fleamarkets and freight salvage stores.  Cheap abrasives are generally not worth buying.

Auto supply places may stock higher grits.

[Nathan Kraft]

UPDATE: I have finished my bevel on both sides to the point of being ready for heat treat. I would fire up my forge and do the ht, but it’s a jabod and it’s raining outside (this would be my first time lighting my forge too) so I’m going to wait until tomorrow. 

[Welshj]

I've made a couple of knives using blanks, or the stock removal methods... yet to forge my own blade.

 

But have alot of woodworking experience. A good hardwood that I really like is rosewood. It's a very tight grained wood with a reddish hue. Takes oil, varnish etc... well, or I have even left it plain and polished it with a clean buffing wheel. Not a high contrast grain though.

 

Zebra wood is a good high contrast grained candidate. 

It has dark running lines through a yellowish/tan body. Works well, sands and finishes nicely too.

[Nathan Kraft]

UPDATE: 

Over the course of the week, I have finished my knife. During the heat treat I melted the tip off (this was my first time lighting my forge and I wasn’t sure where the hot spot was). I ran and grabbed my anvil, and did my first ever forging putting in  a rough tip. I then regroups it to shape. I opted not to do a high grit finish (I’m pretty Rough on my knives so it would be scratched up anyway). I used some scrap 1x4 for my handle and finished it with a burned oil finish (idk if that’s what it’s called lol). I have a pretty steep blade angle, and was unable to get to to shaving sharp, but it will roughly push cut paper. I messed up the handle as I forgot to profile the front of the scales before I epoxied it, but I was able to carve it down to a usable shape.