First custom knife

O

omegaman111

Guest
I love collecting knives and i have been collecting for a while. my collection isnt very big but i go for quality not quantity and sadly i dont have much money to throw around for my desire to buy every knife that catches my eye. recently ive become very interested in custom knives and ive been inspired do my own work, and i plan on doing much more custom work. i know its not perfect but i used the tools i had available. which would be a Drill/Mill (mainly just the drilling function, i wasnt really sure what to use the mill for but any suggestions would be appreciated), a heavy mounted quality vice, various files, different grades of emery cloth and other sand paper, a dremel, and a lot of time, sweat, and hard work. I used some 1/4" 1095 carbon steel bar i bought a while back, and because of the thickness the knife turned out to be quite hefty. for the handle i used micarta and 416 stainless rod for the handle pins. there is some etching i did with a diamond tip dremel bit as shown in the 3rd pic, this design goes along the other side of the tang to where the blade edge starts to taper to reach the tip. I heat treated it myself using a fire pit in my backyard (quenched in peanut oil) and i used a household oven for the tempering. the sheath is made out of .060 concealex. all of this was done at home. i cant say i got the exact product i wanted out of it but im satisfied with how it came out and i plan on buying some ATS-34 and doing some more work but im going to be more careful and exact in order to get a nicer product. the edge is decent and the satin finish is satisfactory. let me know what you all think, any constructive criticism (along with how to fix what i did wrong haha) would be greatly appreciated. thanks everyone.


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I think that is a great first effort! Sounds like you learned a lot and remain teachable. Keep that attitude and you will be well on your way to world supremacy!
 
I'm in the same boat as you. I like custom knives but can't afford them, so I'm working on making my first also. That looks great. I like the holes in the front...very cool.
 
thanks guys haha, yea i put the holes there because i didnt get the clean plunge lines i wanted so i found it to be a little boring so i decided to add the holes. btw if anyone knows how to get nice clean plunge lines with the use of a file or without the use of a belt grinder that knowledge would be greatly appreciated. thanks again.
 
Nice work Omegaman...I started out just like you with files and sandpaper. I am on my fifth knife now and it will be my first since I got my belt grinder. In some respects it was easier doing thing by hand because progress is slower. But I keep at it (this fifth blade is technically my sixth because of the learning curve using the grinder) Keep up the good work! One thing that might help with using the files is clamping your work to a piece of hardwood shaped like a knife blade. Wayne Godard describes them in his book $50 Dollar Knife Shop...that really helped me.
 
thanks, ill look around for that book, and hopefully i will save up enough money sooner or later to buy a belt grinder haha
 
I sold my M1 Garand so I could buy my knife grinder. it pained me to do so but it was just sitting in the safe collecting dust. I decided to turn it in to something I could use more often.
 
yea i know what you mean, i guess i gotta try and sell some things in order to get a knife grinder. do you think the knife grinder was worth buying?
 
thanks, im having some D-2 steel delivered friday so that i can start on something new
 
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