Rookie tactical WIP

Justin Presson

Justin Presson

Well-Known Member
I have been wanting to make a tactical type defense style knife. The other day I was looking at another forum and seen a knife by maker Don Hanson and I really liked the blade profile. So I drew up a sketch and then thought I had better contact him to make sure it was ok and not to copy his. He looked at my sketch and said it was ok and not a exact copy of his and to go for it so I was excited.
I was dead tired after work yesterday as we had a busy day but couldn't wait to get started so I did and thought why not make a WIP. I really enjoy them and even though I'm extremely new to making knives I decided to start one. Im sure alot we be simple things and i will make mistakes but here goes.

I drew the sketch out on graph paper then transfered it over to thick cardboard paper (like cereal box) then cut it out and traced it to the steel witch is 01 1/8" thick.

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Next I started cutting out the profile with a hacksaw.
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I need a bandsaw :p
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Roughed out with hacksaw
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I used a large drill bit to take the majority of the material out of the finger grove.
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Since I try do do most of the rough out at the shop at work to keep my garage at home clean I use the bench grinder to get the profile close then I will clean it up later with the belt sander.
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That's as far as I got the last pic is it all roughed out hope I can pull this off that blade profile has me worried if I will be able to grind the bevels since it has that recurve. Hope i didnt bite off more than i can chew. We will see!!!
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Got a little more time after work to work on the knife.

I started off using a 8" half round file to work all the inside curves and do a little draw filing on them I like that size file for my finger grove guard area seems about the perfect size.

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I wrapped some sand paper around a large dowel rod I have to also clean up the curves after draw filing.
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I also tried putting the dremel in the vice and tried to kind of use it as a spindle sander it worked ok but need something to rest the knife on to keep it 90 degrees to the sanding drum.
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Off to the "grinder" it's an oldy but a goody that I used to clean up all the other areas.
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That's as far as I got today.
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Thanks for looking. Any comments are welcome. I'm a rookie so any thing you see that I could do different or better feel free to chime in.
I just got 5 back from heat treating so this one might take a back seat for a bit but I will try to keep widling away at it.
 
Looking good Justin. Hey, I think there may be enough clearance under the bottom wheel of your grinder to use it for smoothing out some of those larger curves. You may want to remove the platen just for visibility. I'd try that before I'd fiddle with a Dremel.

Also, that back idler wheel looks useful also (depending on motor clearance):3:
 
Smallshop said:
Looking good Justin. Hey, I think there may be enough clearance under the bottom wheel of your grinder to use it for smoothing out some of those larger curves. You may want to remove the platen just for visibility. I'd try that before I'd fiddle with a Dremel.

Also, that back idler wheel looks useful also (depending on motor clearance):3:
Click to expand...

I thought about that but was not sure if it would mess up the wheel or not they have a slight dome to them and I did not know if it would wear a groove or something in the wheel? I agree the dremel is not the best option.
What do you think will those wheels hold up?
 
Unless you're cutting through the belt I don't think it would hurt. I have a cheap little harbor freight that I do that with and it's just as crappy as the day I started.....:biggrin:

I don't push real hard as it's so weak I can stall it. But it does work for things the flat part won't.

Maybe some of the every day knife grinders can weigh in on this question?
 
I'm curious about using a hacksaw to cut out the profile. I like using a hand saw to do this. I cut out my last profile with a jewelers file (took about 40 blades) and a long time. can you cut those curves the way you want with a hacksaw? I just bought a hand grinder from Harbor Freight and to be honest, it scares me to death. Tell me about your hacksaw experience. Thanks,

wallace
 
wmhammond said:
I'm curious about using a hacksaw to cut out the profile. I like using a hand saw to do this. I cut out my last profile with a jewelers file (took about 40 blades) and a long time. can you cut those curves the way you want with a hacksaw? I just bought a hand grinder from Harbor Freight and to be honest, it scares me to death. Tell me about your hacksaw experience. Thanks,

wallace
Click to expand...

You can get some curves cut out with a hacksaw for sure. In the fifth picture down that is all hacksaw cuts. You can roll the hacksaw either way and surprisingly with a little pressure can get some curves cut. You have to usually go about half way on a curved cut then start on the other side and work your way to the previous cut. It's not to bad I would recommend trying it over a hand grinder if you have not. Hope that helps.
Justin
 
Got a little time to work on this guy.
I set it on a flat surface to Se how straight it was nice bow in it as you can see. So I marked the spots that need work.
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My vise is not very wide so I used a scrap of wood and taped some old door hinge pins I use. Then in the vise it goes and i tweaked it a little and keep checking on my flat surface.
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much better
Once straight I coated it with dye and marked my center line
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I just use a cheap Harbor Freight caliper to mark it
Now on to the belt sander. I rotated the blade until the belt was making contact all across it and that is where I started my grind. I also made sure the tip of the knife and the spine were contacting my work rest so my plunge line would be consistant. Sorry no pics of the actual grinding as I was in serious concentration mode :D
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Here is one side at 60 grit. I have the other side half way done but I had to go pick the boy up at daycare and felt myself rushing so I stopped yesterday.
 
Thanks guys. Waldors it is a old craftsman 1×42 with a 1/3 hp motor and i put a smaller drive wheel on it to slow the belt down and I also put a ceramic platen from USAKM on it.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
 
I'm a groundskeeper and one of the guys I work with is a lawnmower fixer junker guy and had about 5 he thought would work and one was perfect size.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
 
Back to the grinder. I was using the tool rest to drag the blade across to get my flat grind and then it gave out! Apparently I over tightened the nut and stripped it... sorry no picture of the gun show.

So with no replacement bolt I decided to go all free hand. I Layed out some lines with a sharpie so I could see my grind better.
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I ended up taking it up a little higher than I wanted but that's ok and i did have one little oops where I just nicked the spine with the belt dang it! I will have to try to feather that in
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The grind turned out pretty good for not have my rest but it had some areas that needed help so I took a little cheap triangle file I had and did some draw filing.
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Then on to some 120 grit sand paper on my fancy sanding stick to clean it up
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You can see that darn spot on the spine that I have to get out:mad:

That's it for now...slow and steady.
 
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Looking good,as for the little mishap I would round the spine over starting behind the plunge line were your handle scale starts.just roll it over a touch.
 
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I have been busy with other knives so have not had a lot of time to work on this one but I was up late last night finishing some sheaths and decided to get all the holes drilled.
Nothing to exciting except I broke a drill bit off in the first hole (insert Homer Simpson voice saying "Doh!" here) guess I fed it a little fast for that little bit but with a little work I got it drilled out.
Next I need to get my final sand on the flats and it will be ready to send out to HT.
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That's my pin placement 1/8, 3/16 and 1/4 pins are what I'm going to use probably do a tube on the 1/4 one.
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That's with all the holes drilled out to help Epoxy go through and to lighten it up.
 
Sorry for not updating much. Work has got me busy plus i have several other knives in the works. I finished all the hand sanding and cleaned every up.
I had to draw the edge back a bit as it was pretty thin...it still is but I'm hoping it doesn't give Darrin Sanders any problems as he is who will be doing the heat treat.
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I know it seems like I'm posting the same picture s over but I'm just showing the various pre HT steps.

I hate sanding the flats is there a better way than by hand? Do you all that have a 2x72 do it on them or still by hand?

Should have this one and a few others headed your way this week Darrin.
 
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