Second knife

[Lucas]

Hello everyone, I finished up my second knife a few evenings ago. This one is 1084 and 15n20, both from Aldo, forge welded together for 180 layers of random pattern. Heat treated by heating just past nonmagnetic and quenching in canola oil. Tempered with 2 one hour long cycles at 400F. Spine is .110" thick, scales are maple, bolsters are black paper micarta, pins are 3/32" stainless. Apologies in advance for the cell phone pictures, haven't taken the time to set up a light box and use a proper camera yet.

 

[Ed of all trades]

Looks sweet, looking forward to seeing more. Ed

 

[Lucas]

Thank you. I'm not happy with the plunges, but I learned from it. Finished grinding on my third today, ready to be heat treated. It is also 1084 and 15n20.

 

[Justin Presson]

Looking good!

 

[John Wilson]

Great work! My personal opinion is that I like that you reduced the number of pins and you moved them to the center of the tang. I know the lots-of-pins look is a popular aesthetic, but you roll the dice with how close they get to the edge when you start rounding the scales. Sometimes, less is more. When you use gorgeous wood like that, let the wood be the star. Again, just my .02 and with inflation you what .02 is worth.

Really liking your designs.

 

[Lucas]

Thank you. I'm having a blast just picking up new skills. I ground out another blade this evening. Figured if I was going to heat treat one, I might as well do two. I spent more time getting the plunges lined up and stopped before the spine, and am happy with how this one is going so far. This one is 1084, 1/8". Undecided on what wood/bolster combination I'm going to try on this one.

 

[John Wilson]

That plunge looks a whole lot better. I really like your handle profiles, too. The one thing to think about is the weight of the finished knife. When you are making good, ergonomic (chunky) handles the knife is going to have some heft to it. That's a good thing- but ask yourself if it has more heft than it needs. A lighter knife is quicker in the hand and will balance nicely when you use the knife for more delicate tasks. You can remove a lot of dead weight by relieving some steel from the tang by drilling holes. You don't have to totally skeletonize it, but two or three 1/2" holes would fit nicely in that blank above. If you don't have a drill press with the HP to drill big holes you can always drill lots of smaller ones.

 

[Lucas]

I will keep that in mind, thank you. I have handled knives that felt like they weighed a ton compared to similar sized knives, and had wondered how the weight difference was made up; materials, construction, and size being similar.