Marriage Knives, A WIP for some good folks.

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VaughnT

Well-Known Member
As it was told to me, the Tradition of the Marriage Knives is as ancient as man himself. Like a marriage, you craft two knives out of one piece of stock.

Got an invite to a wedding in entirely too short a while and have to kinda scramble to get something decent ready. I had wanted to do something fancier, something with a bit of burl, maybe some engraving, but I've screwed up the first three blade designs. Might be able to salvage them, but they wouldn't be right for Marriage knives.

So, off to a supply house to get some O1 steel and other sundries. Why is it that you can never find one store to buy everything you need at?

Anyhow, I thought I do a proper write-up on the process. Hope to get them done by the wedding, but I've only got a month....

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I'm not a guy that works off of a set of blueprints. This design was rough-drawn and will be modified as I go. This one is for the Bride and will be a bit tricky to keep the handle small enough for her (she's itty bitty).

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Here she is after profiling. I'm very unhappy with the integral guard and will likely remove it and shorten the handle. That's the breaks when you do things by the seat of the pants.

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Hope you've enjoyed it so far. Good times ahead!!
 
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The integral guard came off yesterday. Unfortunately, it was just too far back and was used more as a sub-hilt than anything.

This design has been very very tricky to work out because my hand is so much bigger than the person the knife is going to. What feels "right" to me will be too large or awkward for her hands. Every time I think I have it right....

Now, I'm going to shorten the handle about an inch and do a little more fine-tuning of the profile. Then set in the bevels. I'm going to try and do the majority of the work with belts, not files! :D
 
So, haven't been getting into the shop like I would like to have, but...

An hour this afternoon and I got the bevels done. I'm learning to use a 2x72 grinder that dad and I made, so it's taking a bit more time than I had thought because I don't want to ruin the metal. But it sure is faster than a file and sandpaper!!!

Now, I'm going to cut an inch off the handle to bring the proportions in. I keep forgetting that this is for a girl with girl-size hands.

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Lessons learned: BMW's small-wheel attachment is truly a tool worth having. If you don't have it, you're working way too hard!

Also, judging what belt speed to run on what grit is a pain. I'm never sure if that's too fast or too slow, but I keep plugging at it. Belts are cheap.

Lastly, I really have a lot to learn. Most importantly, I need to learn to slow down and focus on the details.
 
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