Here is what I've been working on the last couple of days. I decided I wanted a small knife that would be comfortable on a belt for general light duty around camp. So I made two.

The first:

5" LOA
5160
Muriatic acid etch
Brass pins
Big Leaf maple burl

 

 

I wanted a sheath that was comfortable when you sit down... so I changed some of the horizontal sheaths I've seen and made it sit diagonally on the belt. Very comfortable. I'm wearing it right now and I'm tickled by it.  I also tried just using rivets instead of stitching thinking that "Why not let a blade breath?"

Anyway... I love this knife and it's my favorite that I've made so far.  It passed my brass rod test with flying colors (if I'm even doing it right). But... no blade deflection or chipping.

The second:

Another piece of sawmill steel that Kevin gave me.

5.5" LOA
Unknown sawmill steel
Deer antler bolster
red spacers
Birch bark
Big Leaf maple burl
Copper lanyard tube
rope? file work

 

 


This one is a little fancier than I like... But I figure if you are gonna learn the whole craft, sometimes you have to get fancy I guess.

This one got some pretty serious pits during the quench. I couldn't sand em out because I had little enough blade left as it is.  Anybody know what can be done about pitting during the heat treat? I used my ceramics kiln and brought it up to 1500 for 10 minutes and quenched in vegetable oil.

Anyway... Grinding is still a challenge and I'm having the problem of losing alot of material through mistakes... especially at the ricasso/plunge area. But I guess this is what it is at my stage.

Tear em up boys!

Nice Job Buddy!!!  

Great job!!!! Really nice. Lin  

Thanks guys.

So what about that pitting during my quench? Is that typical and most folks just sand it out?

I've been trying to get my blades to a pretty much finished state prior to the quench...

Man I hate going back and looking at those pictures... It's always amazing how many little flaws a macro lens picks up.

Dont get them finished that far unless you have a way to keep them oxygen free during the quenching process. Finish them, say 80% or so, then quench, temper, test, and finish. Allow a few thousandths of an inch of thickness extra to be removed at the finish. Lin

That makes sense Lin... I suppose you also want to be able to get rid of decarb after the quench too.  But I had so many problems on this grind (first one using my lighting fast Craftsman) I didn't wanna sand anymore off. Oh well.... It will make a good letter opener.

WoW Scott, I love them both!  The last reminds me of a Ed Fowler style blade!

Excellent!

Steve
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Potomac Forge
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IN GOD WE TRUST

Thanks Steve!

Ya I like them, especially the first one.  Nice work on the sheath!

Thanks... I think I need to put a small strap and snap on that sheath for peace of mind...

scott
imho your way ahead of the curve
fantastic job on both knives and the sheath
kevin

Thanks a lot Kevin...

Very nice!!! I really like that first one.

Thanks Guzzi.... Most folks are liking the first one....  me included.  I'm gonna step back and do more of that style.  I tried to get too fancy and went beyond my abilities on that second one. Good practice though...

I really like the first one and the sheath!! Larry