My first knife

S

sicilian767

Well-Known Member
Hi guys,

So, I'm currently making my very first (successful) knife. I bought a piece of 1095 steel from usaknifemaker (love 1095, it's a great performing, low cost steel) and ground away. However, I made a mistake when making the knife because I didn't fully plan through what I was going to do for the handle. I thought I was going to do like most factory knives, and grind off part of the tang to make it skinnier than the blade. However, my steel is only 1 inch wide, and there was really no need for me to do that because after grinding it I decided the best option for mounting a handle would be to epoxy two pieces of wood to each side of the tang to create a handle. The biggest reason for this is I'm very limited in tools. I have a dremel, a hand held (and not too powerful) belt sander, a grinder, a saw, and a hand file. What would be really handy is a drill press, a bigger grinder, and a large belt sander, but those are out of financial reach for now.

So my question to you guys is, what would you recommend the best (and most solid) solution is for attaching the handle? While at the same time making it good looking. For the wood handle, I literally took it out of my back woods, so I got plenty to spare if I mess up a couple of times. I was thinking about drilling out a hole in a piece of wood, but this will be tricky to get exact by hand, and I'm also afraid of the wood cracking on the sides. Would using epoxy to glue the two pieces of wood to the side of the handle be a strong design?

This won't be the last knife I make either, so if this one doesn't turn out perfect, it's okay because I'm gonna give it another run right after I'm done with this one :D I'm currently saving up for an anvil and hammers so I can start forging steel, but so far the grinder is working great :)

Looking forward to hearing some input! I'm not sure how to post pictures on here, but I'll make a quick youtube video of it's dimensions and what it looks like, and then post the link on here
 
Figured out how to upload! here are the pictures as well. The one with the brown background (my chair) is the most recent photo.
 

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normally the handle scales are through pinned and glued on.... i my opinion glue alone is a huge error, its not if the glue will fail, but when it will fail.

now, please tell us you drilled holes through the blade before you heat treated your blank. if you didn't your in for a lot of work. no over the counter drill will even scratch the blank after heat treating. you'll be stuck buying a carbide drill and hopefully getting the holes needed drilled.

sorry to be the wet blanket, but the next one will be easier. it sounds like you need to do a little more reading and befriend a local knife maker.

Erik
 
Well, the bad news is it's heat treated. The good news is, I only treated the blade, while leaving the handle un-quenched. I didn't dunk the handle in oil either. Do you think I can still drill it?
 
sicilian767 said:
Well, the bad news is it's heat treated. The good news is, I only treated the blade, while leaving the handle un-quenched. I didn't dunk the handle in oil either. Do you think I can still drill it?
Click to expand...

Yes,
I would use a carbide 3/16" or whatever size bolt or pin you plan on using?
I use Loveless style bolts in all stainless, which will require a counter sink drill bit, you can just go 1/8" and use nickel silver or yellow brass pins.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
That's a relief! Yeah, I'll try that then. I'm starting to get a better idea of what I'm going to do now, and I have an even better idea on what I'm going to do for my next knife. But part of learning is experience, and this is good experience. Thank you all for your input! I'll post pictures and give y'all updates as the work continues, and of course you'll see the finished product when I'm finished. I think I'll post all my future work on here to get some constructive criticism, how I can improve and such. Really appreciate it!
 
Looks nice man; you have to start somewhere. The others are right about the rear being hard, but you say you did not quench the rear..Maybe you will still be able to drill. Curious..how did you heat treat this?

As for the handles, cnc is right about the way they are usually done. You really should invest in a small drill press. Got a Harbor Freight Tools near by? I bought my little bench top drill press that I have for like $50 I think, may have been less. It does fine for some of my knife work. Also check craigslist and local classifieds. If you don't see anything, post an ad saying you are looking for a drill press..I saw one about a year ago for like $25...it was a floor model.

To do the handles, first try to drill that tang in a place you are not going to put the pins.. Be sure you are using a HSS drill. If it starts to cut, you know you are good. Low speed with a little motor oil will work -You always Need some sort of lubrication when drilling metals.

Now that you know the metal will drill, clamp the whole assembly up how you want it (handles and tang in between). Drill through all three at the same time, and do both holes (assuming you will do two pins) without unclamping. Then once you are done, you can put your pins through with epoxy on rear of handle scales. squish the whole thing together and then clamp it closed and let it dry. When you get done, you can starts grinding away all the excess and forming a handle :)
 
Wow, those are excellent prices! 25 dollars for a drill press? I'll have to check craigslist, and see what's on there. And I just googled Harbor Freight Tools, and turns out there is one in Fredericksburg just 30 minutes from me. I'll have to stop by there this weekend, and see what they have if not craigslist.

You're giving some excellent advice J S Machine! I'll definitely try all of that. Excellent advice for the handle. Good thing is my brother just picked up a clamp from his fiance's house that she was about to get rid of. So I'm all set for that! Getting pretty excited to finish this knife now :D

As for how I heat treated it, I used a grill, charcoal and a shop vacuum to get it hot enough. I only put the blade in the fire though, as I didn't see a need to get the handle hardened. I got it hot enough so it was dark red, and I heard you gotta get it hot enough so that a magnet can't stick to it. I did it based off of site though, and I matched the color of the steel from what I've seen in pictures and videos online. Wish I took a video of the whole process so I could show you guys.

But after I got it hot, I quenched it in warm, used motor oil. After that, I washed it, sanded it a bit (to get any excess carbon and oil off) and then I tempered it in the oven at 425 degrees for an hour and 15 minutes. I think the 1095 is around an Rc of 60 right now, which is okay with me. I prefer a hardness between 57 and 60 for most fixed blade knives. It can scratch my Cold Steel Kudu, which has a hardness of 56 to 57. Just got through trying the same thing with a corner of the handle, and the handle couldn't scratch the Kudu. So hopefully I'm good.

Thank you all once again for all your advice! Much appreciated! :)
 
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