1st knife from scratch!

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zbq

Well-Known Member
Here are some pics of my first knife from scratch.
Metal is 01 with an "accelerated oxidation" finish
Triple quenched in olive oil (differential heat treat)
(if you look close, you can see the temper line)
1 hour draw back @ 410* x 3
Scales are Desert Ironwood
Brass bolsters that I soldered on
I made the mosaic pins from scratch too.

I'm not satisfied with it since the fit and finish didn't turn out as nice as I wanted them to. Any pointers would be appreciated.
I want you to be straight out honest with your criticisms because that is the only way I can get better. Thanks for looking.:)

Side 1.jpg
Bolster 1.jpg
Bolster 2.jpg
Spine.jpg
Bolster bottom.jpg
 
If that is your first,you did a great job.With those pics,the only real problem I see
is what might be a small gap at the top where the scales and bolsters meet,and that may
just be the pic.You should be proud of that one,now go make another.

God bless,Keith
 
Keith Willis said:
If that is your first,you did a great job.With those pics,the only real problem I see
is what might be a small gap at the top where the scales and bolsters meet,and that may
just be the pic.You should be proud of that one,now go make another.

God bless,Keith
Click to expand...

You're exactly right Keith.
I got impatient and tried to finish the bolsters and scales prior to assembly.:34:
The part that I am not satisfied with is the fit of the scales to the bolsters.
Also, when I soldered the bolsters on, the ricasso got a little hotter than I wanted. You can see that in the discoloration of the integral guard.
Oh well, live and learn.
Thanks for the compliments guys, I've been working on that knife since about August. The guy who is my mentor moved to a different house so I didn't have access to his Bader and other nice toys and more importantly, his advice, since our schedules weren't meshing. I did the blade with my 4x36 belt sander, sand paper and files.

Next up is the sheath for that knife.
 
Man that is very nice for a first knife. I wish I had a mentor to work with. I just keep reading and going on self taught.

How did you do the "accelerated oxidation" finish?
 
Fergy35 said:
Man that is very nice for a first knife. I wish I had a mentor to work with. I just keep reading and going on self taught.

How did you do the "accelerated oxidation" finish?
Click to expand...

Thanks!:)

Boiled in bleach over a turkey fryer.
FWIW- The only reason I did it on my own was because I was shown how to do it.
It's some really nasty, caustic stuff and you have to be REALLY careful about it.
The fumes are bad stuff too.
 
Ah, nothing like caustic fumes and fire to boot. I will keep that in mind for a "maybe someday" thing.

Seriously though, thank you for sharing that. That is a good looking finish. I may give it a shot when it gets warmer out.
 
What's your gripe ?
That's a great effort for a first from scratch. The only real things I see is the scratch on the front of the bolster, the bottom of the bolster could be finished a bit better and the solder line looks thick but could be the picture. Get to work on another one.

Rudy
 
Thanks Rudy :)

My "gripe" I guess is just that I wanted it to turn out better than it did.
Not a big deal or anything, I just want to do better......and I WILL!!:cool::biggrin:
The "scratch" on the front of the bolster must be a hair from the gray fox fur that I didn't notice but you are right on the money with the rest of it. The solder line on the top of the bolster is too thick and I'm afraid to take it down anymore than I have already.

I have another one traced out on 1/4" O1
It's kind of a Persian Fighter style blade.
I just talked to my mentor a few minutes ago and we might be
able to get together in the next few days and use his port-a-band to cut it out. :biggrin:

Rudy Joly said:
What's your gripe ?
That's a great effort for a first from scratch. The only real things I see is the scratch on the front of the bolster, the bottom of the bolster could be finished a bit better and the solder line looks thick but could be the picture. Get to work on another one.

Rudy
Click to expand...
 
For your first knife, I think you should be very happy. Hopefully you learned some things along the way that you can use next time. Now there ARE a few things that I would have done differently (these are my opinion only):
  • Thin down the handle. The photo along the spine makes the handle and bolsters seem really thick and chunky. I was digging through some of my older knives over thanksgiving, and reallized that I had the same problem early on. I think it is just the fear of taking "too much" away. You'll get over it.
  • Taper the tang. I just love me some tang tapers. Helps to balance everything out, both visually and physically.
I also feel like I would have changed the orientation of the scales a few degrees if possible (or maybe flipped them)... but now that's just being picky. ;)

Nice job. :thumbup:
 
Last edited:
Thanks Erin :)
GREATLY appreciate everyone's pointers!!:35:

thoughts below

Erin Burke said:
For your first knife, I think you should be very happy. Hopefully you learned some things along the way that you can use next time. Now there ARE a few things that I would have done differently (these are my opinion only):
  • Thin down the handle. The photo along the spine makes the handle and bolsters seem really thick and chunky. I was digging through some of my older knives over thanksgiving, and reallized that I had the same problem early on. I think it is just the fear of taking "too much" away. You'll get over it.

    It does look thick and chunky but I was going on how it felt in my hand more than from aesthetics and I have big hands.

  • Taper the tang. I just love me some tang tapers. Helps to balance everything out, both visually and physically.

On the LONG list of things to learn. :)

I also feel like I would have changed the orientation of the scales a few degrees if possible (or maybe flipped them)... but now that's just being picky. ;)

I actually did change the angle of the scales about 15 degrees because I wanted the grain to follow the contour of the finger groove and on down the tang. If I hadn't changed the angle, some of the grain would have been at about a 45* angle and I would have lost some of the really nice grain streaking that you see. I think this ultimately turned out to be one of a couple of reasons for my "fit issues" with the bolsters since I didn't use the already square end of the scales. They were a book matched set so flipping them wasn't much of an option. Unless I am misunderstanding what you meant by flipping them.

Nice job. :thumbup:
Click to expand...
 
I like how you did the finish. It all goes well together. Really nice shape overall.
The grinds will improve the more you do. I like to thin a blade this size down to nothing at the edge. You get a sharper blade, same thickness.

Great effort, you have talent. Enjoy it.

Fred
 
Thanks Fred!:)

I actually haven't put the cutting edge on it yet.
I'm gonna do that after I get the sheath done.

For some reason the tang and blade look thicker in the pics than they actually are.
The piece of O1 that I started with was just under 1/8 inch thick so the blade is actually
thinner than it appears. At least I think so....



Fred Rowe said:
I like how you did the finish. It all goes well together. Really nice shape overall.
The grinds will improve the more you do. I like to thin a blade this size down to nothing at the edge. You get a sharper blade, same thickness.

Great effort, you have talent. Enjoy it.

Fred
Click to expand...
 
looks good my 1st one looked like someone through a piece of steel under a mower then put wood scales on it for a handle you should be proud turned out great
 
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