should I even sell this?

S

soundmind

KNIFE MAKER
I just finished this. I built it as strong as I think I know how. Its unique, has a good looking side profile, and a smooth finish. But it has a lot of other visual flaws.
It's a Jantz blade, D-2, with moose scales I sawed off the crown. These pics show the flaws in the handle but there also some bad scratches on the steel I gave up getting out (by hand).
Any advice on whether to scratch this or get what I can out of it? I have about 50$ into it.
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all the holes for epoxy rivets

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large gap on the left side of the picture between the spacing material and the tang

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another shot of that with some antler dust that got caught in some crazy glue to fill the gaps. I used some leftover 5 min epoxy that got away from me.

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some uneven epoxy is catching the light on the front of the handle

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Its unique but the crown isn't back far enough on the right side. It bumps into your palm. Feels good for a lefty though.

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This is a shot of the gap from the top of the knife

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I'm happy with the profile. Overall what I had in mind.

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I didn't want to take off too much of the crown because it looks nice. But still the scales don't line up here.

Anyways, think I just built myself a new keeper or is it worth selling with my name on it? I'd like to use knifemaking to supplement income eventually.
 
Looks like a good first blade and your seeing its flaws is a good sign. As a fellow rookie with the same idea of potential supplemental income eventually. I would give you the same advice I got a bit over a year ago,
1 Can you live with your name on a flawed blade?
2 Did you honestly do everything to the best of your abilities?
If you answered no to any of these two then, this is either a keeper or a gift for a friend.
My advice to you is to gift it to a good friend to test the blade aspect and comfort of your handle shaping.
This is just my .02 take it or leave it.
 
Those are good things to think about. It's one of two I did at the same time. They're numbers three and four for me - doing the handles. There's a pic of the other on the introduction page.

Thanks, Walt
 
Walt pretty much hit the nail right on the head.

I know for me personally, if it's not the ABSOLUTE BEST I can make at the time, it doesn't leave my shop. No exceptions. For me, there's no such thing as 'good enough'.

No knife will ever be perfect. And if you tried and did the absolute best you could, then sell it if you want to. If you know you could do better and aren't happy with the results, then consider Walt's advice.

The fact that you posted this thread and the subject matter makes me wonder if you already know the answer. :)

Welcome to the forums. Stick around and keep asking questions. The knife looks pretty good as far as the profile and the moose crown scales are unique. The issues you mentioned you're unhappy with are pretty easy fixes. Ask around in the 'shop talk' subforum and the 'new makers' subforum and you'll find lots of help for you questions. We'll help you get your blades where you want them to be.
 
I give it a few hrs an Ed may lend a bit of his advice on it also.
No problem on the advice.
Ed,Mr. Doyle and several others have lent their opines on many a newbs twist on the same old question of "should I". The initial impact of the words from our peers as advice may deflate the puff in our chest but, it is to show where we can improve our skills and final product. (Learned this one myself) lol
 
I know for me personally, if it's not the ABSOLUTE BEST I can make at the time, it doesn't leave my shop. No exceptions. For me, there's no such thing as 'good enough'.
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I totally agree with John's statement. The toughest thing to achieve in the knifemaking world is a good reputation....and it's also the most fragile thing. What that means is essentially this: You can spent a lot of years building yourself a good reputation... but let one sub-standard knife out the door, and your reputation can be ruined at the speed of sound.

No knife will ever be perfect. And if you tried and did the absolute best you could, then sell it if you want to. If you know you could do better and aren't happy with the results, then consider Walt's advice.
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Can't be said any better! The difference between a "knifemaker" and a "Good Knifemaker" is that the Good Knifemaker knows how to minimize or fix their flaws. How well you do either of those takes time and experience. There's nothing wrong with wrapping a "flawed" knife in a rag and stuffing it in a drawer.... then, one of these days when you get to feeling really good about yourself as a knifemaker....pull that knife out of the drawer, look at it, and remember where you came from. Doing so will keep you humble, and will also show you just how far you've come!

The fact that you posted this thread and the subject matter makes me wonder if you already know the answer.
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BINGO! If there's a question in your mind as to whether or not a particular knife is "good enough" to sell...then it's probably not. Listen to the "angel" on your right shoulder, rather then the "devil" on your left shoulder...if you listen to that little "devil" you WILL come to regret it.
 
If you sell a subpar knife, you've likely lost a future customer.

Even if you fully disclose the knifes flaws, that person may be less inclined to purchase from you again because they'll have a preconceived notion of substandard work from you.

FWIW I am not a knifemaker. I am a knife buyer/user/collector.
 
I'm gonna say the fact that you're even asking means NO, you should NOT sell it.

Don't misunderstand me; I'm not saying it isn't a good knife, a knife that could be sold, or even that it's a knife somebody wouldn't be and be over the moon about. BUT, the fact that you're not 100% happy with it is enough to answer you're own question, IMO.
 
Thanks to everyone,

Considering selling it, you helped a lot. My wife likes it, maybe I'll keep it around and learn how d-2 functions for a user.

The push for me to sell it was from people who want something from me unique from the area. I wasn't sure if I should settle on it, even if they were willing to. Since I'm the only one doing this around here and not pumping these out they more than likely would settle for whatever I had at the time. That's why I thinking sell it low. But selling it, is still selling it. So, I appreciate your answers from a looking back and looking ahead perspective because the fact is, I don't want someone to think that's what they'll always get from me. I don't want to establish that reputation or have to prove myself time and time again, to live down an ugly knife.

I know there's other flaws a trained eye would catch but the fact is, too, that I know I could have done better. My first two were cleaner than this one. Since I can see myself cutting the scales back off someday, I should have took them back off right away before the epoxy set up. I don't think I'll make that mistake again either. I wouldn't have lost much time - not as much it's costing me now. I rushed it, because, again, people wanted something from me.

My other idea is to sand off all the crown and natural texture and end up with a white/grey handle(you can see the color in the first pic before glue up), keep it, and live with the gap and scratches until later when I can sand and grind a blade cleaner.

Thanks for the advice on this and the time. Because of other people still maybe wanting it, I needed the outside perspective. I boarder-line thinking that it was "good enough."

-Luke
 
FWIW, and this may only be my opinion, but implementing a handle with an antler crown is typically best done on a stick tang style of knife. Antler/stag can be split and used on a full tang, but typically you'll also have bolsters in front (or a guard) and even in the rear of the handle. Stick tanks will usually always have a guard, and often a pommel cover as well, unless it's opted to keep the crown, though I've seen embellishment on this as well.
 
I think that you were fortunate to find a moose crown that was long enough and straight enough for a knife handle. Just from the looks of it, and I may well be wrong, I think that your problem stemmed from splitting the crown without putting a little dish into it. I think that if I were to try something like that I would hot glue the crown down to a board that I had marked a center line down to line up the antler with to keep it centered too. Remember to establish a straight edge on the board and work from it. Then I'd put the widest blade on my band saw that it would accept and split the crown and board together using the rip fence to keep things straight. After that I would apply some course sand paper to something flat, like a piece of stone threshold, with some stick and peel spray adhesive and sand the cut surfaces flat. Something like a 4X36" sander could work too but it would put more antler dust in the air and smell a lot worse from the heat that would be generated. Also power equipment allows you to overshoot the mark faster.

As far as whether or not you can sell the knife, you knew the answer to that when you posted. Give it away to someone who'll use it or use it yourself to see how the handle feels and that pattern of blade works. Regardless, what you attempted was higher than one would expect from most beginning cutlers and you really did come oh so close to carrying it off.
 
Another tip is to not be afraid to saw off the scales and start over. Yea, it's hard to "waste" handle material, but the way I look at it, a good piece of steel that you put all that work into deserves to look it's best "forever". I am always glad when I decide to take off the scales and redo them to fix a gap or fix a scale that didn't line up right or something. Some guys make so many knifes that they just throw the whole thing in a scrap bucket but I don't make so many that I can't take the time to fix what went wrong.
 
Ausbrooks said:
Another tip is to not be afraid to saw off the scales and start over. Yea, it's hard to "waste" handle material, but the way I look at it, a good piece of steel that you put all that work into deserves to look it's best "forever". I am always glad when I decide to take off the scales and redo them to fix a gap or fix a scale that didn't line up right or something. Some guys make so many knifes that they just throw the whole thing in a scrap bucket but I don't make so many that I can't take the time to fix what went wrong.
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This is a good suggestion. Chances are good that you could even salvage a good portion of the antler. I'd personally cut the scales off, sand the liners off, and then remove the crown and even them up for a folder, or a smaller blade with bolsters, for example. You even have a little room to reshape the current blade tang if need be for a set of micarta scales or something of the like.
 
Just from the looks of it, and I may well be wrong, I think that your problem stemmed from splitting the crown without putting a little dish into it.
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Doug, Did you mean to clean out a divot in the crown so that I don't have to make the slabs match up again with that sharp an angle. I could see how that step would have kept me from cutting the right side slab too short, trying to line it back up with the left.

Your tip on using a board to help get a straight line was helpful, too. Thanks for the response, I'm going to implement something like that next time I get into making antler slabs. Thinking of building a little box around it or something and cutting it all together as you mentioned. I've got a new sharp handsaw. I could set it up for a skill saw, too, but I'm worried about chipping the antler.

Thanks, to you too, Aus. I am disappointed to loose this piece of material, but there's always next fall. The whole process wasn't a waste either - learning a lot from it.
 
Thanks Andrew, I didn't see your post for some reason. But I was thinking along the same lines over the weekend.
 
I was referring to cutting the slab so that there is not much wandering off the line. It's not easy even with resawing a squared blocked of wood but with wood you usually have a little extra so that you can sand the surfaces smooth if it's not too bad.

Doug
 
OK Thanks again Doug.

Any suggestions on cutting slabs off with a handsaw? I have one I that cuts on the pull so I can watch the line better. But sometimes I end up with an uneven slab - A slab that isn't flat in the direction from the top back corner to the bottom front corner. Make sense?

Anyway, you think that my saw is too thin and makes it do that? Or is that operator error?

The reason I ask is because I want them straight off the cut. I tend to get the same uneven results trying to sand scales (and bolsters) flat, even with the sandpaper backed up with something hard.

Luke



Luke
 
OK Thanks again Doug.

Any suggestions on cutting slabs off with a handsaw? I have one I that cuts on the pull so I can watch the line better. But sometimes I end up with an uneven slab - A slab that isn't flat in the direction from the top back corner to the bottom front corner. Make sense?

Anyway, you think that my saw is too thin and makes it do that? Or is that operator error?

The reason I ask is because I want them straight off the cut. I tend to get the same uneven results trying to sand scales (and bolsters) flat, even with the sandpaper backed up with something hard.

Luke
 
OK Thanks again Doug. <br>
<br>
Any suggestions on cutting slabs off with a handsaw? I have one I that cuts on the pull so I can watch the line better. But sometimes I end up with an uneven slab - A slab that isn't flat in the direction from the top back corner to the bottom front corner. Make sense? <br>
<br>
Anyway, you think that my saw is too thin and makes it do that? Or is that operator error? <br>
<br>
The reason I ask is because I want them straight off the cut. I tend to get the same uneven results trying to sand scales (and bolsters) flat, even with the sandpaper backed up with something hard. <br>
<br>
Luke<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
 
Ausbrooks said:
Another tip is to not be afraid to saw off the scales and start over. Yea, it's hard to "waste" handle material, but the way I look at it, a good piece of steel that you put all that work into deserves to look it's best "forever". I am always glad when I decide to take off the scales and redo them to fix a gap or fix a scale that didn't line up right or something. Some guys make so many knifes that they just throw the whole thing in a scrap bucket but I don't make so many that I can't take the time to fix what went wrong.
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First, Take a good look at it and fix in your mind's eye all the things you want to finish differently on every knife from here on..

Anyone that hasn't done this, Hasn't made very many knives.:3:
Saw 'em off, Clean up the blade the way you want, Tape up the blade and start over on the handle.

Have fun & stay safe.
 
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