Mark_mjs93 164 Posted January 23, 2018 Report Share Posted January 23, 2018 So I decided I wanted to work on a new knife. I’ve done a couple in the past but mostly just been a case of rehandling old blades. This time I wanted to do the lot from scratch. Didn’t really have anything laying about that would be much use for a blade so I went to B&Q and picked up a length of steel. If nothing else it’d be useful for future blanks. I Used a small piece to test how well it held an edge after hardening etc and it held it pretty damn well. So onto the project. I found a blade template I liked he look of and used it to rough out what I wanted onto the steel. Used a couple of files, hacksaw and the bench grinder to shape this out and I drilled the holes for the scale pins, 30mm apart once this was done I went to the bench grinder to put a bevel on it. Okay purists, I know it’s not a belt sand but hey, we make do with what we’ve got haha! Once the bevel was eyeballed into place and roughly, not even slightly, symmetrical I thought its time to give it a heat treat before going any further. (forgive me, by this point I was making it up as I went along) heated it to glowing and then quenched it in oil. Then moved on to polishing (I hear the knifemakers of the forum reaching for paracetamol already from the headache I’m causing, sorry) Basically I worked up through the grits from 40-2500. To get it looking nice and cutting well. More to follow shortly. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mark_mjs93 164 Posted January 23, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2018 (edited) Once it was beginning to shine nicely and the edge was holding and cutting nicely... I decided it time to move to the handle I had had an old wooden lamp in the shed that was in our living room growing up. Hasn’t worked for years and I thought one day I’d find a use for the wood as it looked nice. Today was the day and it also meant a nice sentimentality to the knife. mince cut down and roughly shaped and the holes drilled I cut three brass pins and pinned and epoxied the lot in place. DONE... no, not really, Jeese even I’m not that bad. Again, went at this with rasps, surform, chisels and bench grinder then worked my way up through the sandpaper grits to give me... a very simple, basic, tidy little knife. It had a bit more polishing and sanding after this picture to freshen it up but it cuts nicely and as long as it can take a fair bit of abuse I’m happy. For the grand price of £6 of steel, a few man hours in the workshop and the Mrs telling me I looked like a fekkin chimney sweep (bench grinding in a warm sticky environment always brings out the best in me) I have a serviceable knife. Plenty still to learn and lots I would like to do but I’m pretty damn proud as this is my first start to finish knife from blank to finished. Cheers all smithy Edited January 23, 2018 by Mark_mjs93 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mark_mjs93 164 Posted January 23, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2018 The finished product after a shine and an oil. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Welsh_red 4,306 Posted January 23, 2018 Report Share Posted January 23, 2018 Looks great for a first go. I've always wanted to have a go at making a knife and watching forged in fire has made it worse Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mark_mjs93 164 Posted January 23, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2018 32 minutes ago, Welsh_red said: Looks great for a first go. I've always wanted to have a go at making a knife and watching forged in fire has made it worse Honestly. This was maybe 6-8 hours of work spread over 2 days. I am a sucker for ‘man at arms’ on YouTube. The things they create are unreal! The vikings axe they forged recently with the Damascus cutting edge!! Amazing! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GruffaloGriff 1,852 Posted January 24, 2018 Report Share Posted January 24, 2018 Fantastic, good to see the work in progress pics. Thanks for sharing. Griff 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mark_mjs93 164 Posted January 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2018 3 hours ago, GruffaloGriff said: Fantastic, good to see the work in progress pics. Thanks for sharing. Griff Cheers Griff. I’m looking to try the denim epoxy scales you put in that hammer soon. Absolutely stunned by how good that looked 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GruffaloGriff 1,852 Posted January 24, 2018 Report Share Posted January 24, 2018 2 hours ago, Mark_mjs93 said: Cheers Griff. I’m looking to try the denim epoxy scales you put in that hammer soon. Absolutely stunned by how good that looked Yes considering they are so simple to do they look rely good. Perfect fit every time. Drop me a pm if you want any more info or tips. Griff 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mark_mjs93 164 Posted January 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2018 2 hours ago, GruffaloGriff said: Yes considering they are so simple to do they look rely good. Perfect fit every time. Drop me a pm if you want any more info or tips. Griff Cracking. Cheers griff. I’ll drop you a pm if I have any questions. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bunny bandit 98 Posted January 24, 2018 Report Share Posted January 24, 2018 You should be proud of that Smithy. That's a good looking , practical little knife. ? All the best Bb 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mark_mjs93 164 Posted January 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2018 2 hours ago, bunny bandit said: You should be proud of that Smithy. That's a good looking , practical little knife. ? All the best Bb Cheers Bandit Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spsurfer 891 Posted January 25, 2018 Report Share Posted January 25, 2018 That looks good!! Reminds me to the Kephart knives! If you're doing everything by hand, I only can recomend to get to a good finish before heat treatment as this can be very frustrating to get out these scars from the base grind. If you have a belt sander, get a basic grind, harden and then finish with finer belts. Do you have an idea what kind of steel you used? Regards Nicolas Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mark_mjs93 164 Posted January 25, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2018 4 minutes ago, spsurfer said: That looks good!! Reminds me to the Kephart knives! If you're doing everything by hand, I only can recomend to get to a good finish before heat treatment as this can be very frustrating to get out these scars from the base grind. If you have a belt sander, get a basic grind, harden and then finish with finer belts. Do you have an idea what kind of steel you used? Regards Nicolas Cheers for the advice Nicholas, I won’t lie I’m really not sure what type of steel it is but I know it holds an edge and it’s relatively easy to work with. Thansk for the advice about the finish. I’m working on another knife currently so I will try to employ this method when I finish that one. Thanks smithy 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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