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Wow, very beautiful. How long are they closed? Or open? A lot of work involved there.

Justin, looks like you are coming along very nice. I think you would love having a drill press around. Great shop tool. And I know what you mean about can't wait to get home to work on current knife. Just as soon as you get one done, you just want to build another. I have my small drop...

Nice work.

Do quench plates need to be a certain metal, or would anything thick and flat work. Would cold roll work?

Welcome, I'm just south of KC, about an hour or so. Lot of good info here for new makers. That's why I'm here.

Here I'll show. My process of building a file guide, I hope. Using 1" x 3/16" x 4" 1095. Here I am squaring my 1-2-3 block to my flat platen to try to true everything up. Here I'm starting to square the edges on both pieces. I had already worked over the flats with 80 grit paper on...

This makes perfect sense. So for 1095, 300 degrees would be a good amount of tempering and still retain enough hardness to work for what I want it to do. Thank you for the tip. Hopefully I'll get my file guides finished up tomorrow.

Thanks, these are the tips I really appreciate. I started making my file guide this morning, then got called to family duties.

Used a cutoff wheel in the Dremel and removed some of the material I don't want. To get this far, I used a thin piece of metal and strips of 80 grit paper, finally ground down one of my files to around .080". Lots of dipping in the water, and more grinding on the file. Keep checking...

Fred, I have seen those, and I wondered, how well an end mill would work with that type of vise. I would guess in a inexpensive table top drill press, it would wear components out quickly, and may have some chatter. Drill presses are not designed for the side to side load of trying to turn it...

Looks beautiful. MTF is that "Monday thru Friday"

I really appreciate the support and any help. I remember when I took machine tool in vo-tech back in the 90's we would use the short stubby center drills. I think it would help to get the hole started. I will also look into those shorty drills Sampson is talking about. With this just being my...

Thanks, I always heard that you learn from failures, that must mean I'm really smart. :) :)

I really wasn't pleased with my first guard attempt. I think I used to large of a bit for the drill press I was using. So I cut off the first try with my hacksaw, squared the end of the bar, and marked it again. This go around, I used a smaller center punch and a bit different method of...

I arrived home from work and had received some supplies. I had ordered a 3/8" thick guard with a 1/8" slot cut into it from a knife maker supplier. I thought I would grind it down to 1/4" thick and install. My blade is right at .125" thick, the slotted guard is .131. So I'll have to make one...

I have no ties with Fred, but I did purchase a bubble jig from him. I can't express how much I like his system. I ground out a few blades with not very good results without it, now using his system I've had very good results. There is still a learning curve to using his jig, but it does work...

Looks good, I had a guy tell me about putting the center pin In a straight line between your two end pins like you are doing, but stick it in the fattest part of the handle, instead of exactly in between the two ends pins. Something to think about, seems to make it more pleasing to the eye...

Thanks for all the encouragement guys. I ended up spending the day at my knife maker buddies shop today. He hardened two other blades for me. This blade, I need to cut out my notch where the guard will go on at. Since I don't have my brass to fit the notch, I didn't heat treat this one. I'd...

Well I've finished more than 6 and less than 12 knives. I'm still wet behind the ears for sure when it comes to knife making. I thought I would share my first build along. I had a talented knifemaker that recommend me the bubble jig. I can't say enough about how well this tool has improved my...

He is my biggest mentor in this craft. Has become a good friend and a great teacher. I own a few of his blades, and his style sorta shows up in my work. I'm a big fan of his work, and he is always helpful to answer my elementary questions.