Rick it looks as though you are off to a great start.  Here are some pics of my heat treating setup. I used our chimeneya some rebar and a hair dryer. I used a welding magnet and a canola oil for quench. Everything went well with the heat treat and quench. I normalized it twice before quenching. I also tempered it twice in my oven at 375. After quench it seemed to harden well because a file would just sing right off of it.  I messed up and tried to fix a slight bend that occurred and the
tip broke of with just a very small amount of pressure.  I wonder if I did something wrong other than putting pressure on it. I did however grind her down to the similar shape so that I could atleast finish my first one. Any advice or critisism is welcome.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Oh man,I feel your pain.I'm glad you could redo it.I like the hair dryer thing.Looks like you had a real hot fire.How long did it take before you hit nonmagnetic.I will try the hair dryer thing next time...

Rick it didnt take very long..maybe 15 mins. once the coals settled down and really got cooking.  What shape of knife would you classify this one, maybe a small skinner?  I really need to brush up on what different blade shapes and grinds are called. Here is a pic after the break and new grind. Thanks again guys for any help and advice.

Good job.I'm in the same shoes you are.I just started making them about a month ago.I cant even sharpen one yet.I'm either going to study up on sharpening knives or try & make a scabbard.Post a pic when your done....If you need any help when you start your Board bow let me know.I'll post a pic of my last board bow.

The last 4 bows I made...Top Yew-name Crickett--2nd Osage name-Osage Hunter---3rd Red Oak name
-snake eyes----4th-Red Oak no name yet...

Those are some great looking bows.  Im on shift today at the station so in between calls ill be working on my knife so i hope to get her resanded and get the redoak scales on today if im lucky. As soon as i finish this knife ill be back on my bow to get that done and then move on to the next ones....

Well I finally finished my first knife and sheath.  It still needs some polishing on the blade and i really need to learn some skills on the old sharpening stone but overall im happy with it for a first attempt.  It has red oak scales and 4 coats of low gloss tung oil.  It feels good in hand but i really wish i had the skills to make it razor sharp, its close but not as sharp as id like it to be.  The sheath is real thick leather from a full side and rawhide lacing. Let me know what yall think any comments or suggestions would be great.  

Looks good! You've got to remember getting enough metal removed to get somewhat of a 22-25 degree angle requires removing ALOT of metal usually. Doing it only with stones takes a long long time. If you have a belt sander running 120 grit it takes alot of sweat equity out of it! You can do it this free hand till you feel a burr the entire length of the blade then do the opposite side to you get another burr! You should be able to stone,buff or ceramic rod it from that point. If not run a magic marker down the edge and then hit it with your stone again. It will tell you if you need more angle when running over the belt sander. After a couple knives you'll have it down. Admit your already planning your next one!

Excellent recovery from that break. I've had a few break on me and I usually just give up on them

Thanks for the complements guys.  LC, you are totally right im not only planning my 2nd but the 3rd 4th and 5th...lol.  Im hooked and i hope i can progress and get better so that my knives will be as good looking and useful as some of the rest of the artists on this forum.  Here is the template for #2 and its probably going to be my swap knife(ferrier rasp) so let me know what yall think.

Wow! Good looking work!

Great job canders.I thought you gave up on it...I just finished my 3rd.Gota take a break...fingers & wife cant take much more...I burned up her hair dryer yesterday putting some zip back into a file knife....I like your #2 I want to see a pic when your done..

Hey Canders Knives(and bows) are lookin good!
I do see somthing that kinda bothers this ol guy! I would not recomend quenching in a glass or plastic container.Flare ups happen!!! Plastic burns(BEEN THERE DUNN THAT) and glass breaks. Just thinkin out loud. C-Ya Bob

I'm going to take your advice and switch to a metal container for my quench oil it was just the only thing I had handy at the moment. I will definently keep posting pics as I get them finished and again as always thanks for the advice and comments.