First Knife Project

A

akjeff

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Not a lot of activity on this forum, but figured its the appropriate place to post this.

Having a go at my first knife, and some constructive criticism from experienced knife makers would be helpful. I bought the blank on a whim, while placing an order with SWAG Offroad. I had just purchased a heat treat oven not long ago( and built a 2"x72" belt grinder ), so when I saw this item figured hell for 20 bucks, why not give it a try.
www.swagoffroad.com

SWAG 1095 Bottle Opener/Knife Blank

SWAG 1095 Bottle Opener/Knife Blank Whether you want to create a knife or pop a bottle top, the SWAG Knife Blank has you covered. Cut out of 1095 High Carbon Forging Steel, this blank can be used to make a useful knife that will actually hold an edge. If you don't have a belt grinder, its also a...
www.swagoffroad.com www.swagoffroad.com

I wasn't wild about the bottle opener sticking out, so that was the first thing to go. Also put a little more drop in the point. The blanks are 3/16"thick, which seemed kinda clunky for it's size, so they spent a few sessions on the surface grinder, until it looked and felt right, which ended up being .160". Wasn't sure of the state of the 1095 steel, and there was no info with it, so I normalized and annealed it before starting to shape the blade, and drill holes.

Just did a straight bevel grind on the blade, keeping it simple. Right off the bat started the plunge line too far back, so that's kinda permanently screwed up....oh well. Swiss cheesed the handle a bit to lighten it up, and balance it better. Rough ground the blade bevel, and then quenched and tempered. It hardened really well, somewhere between 60-65 RC. I think the temper was a bit too warm, as it was on the darker side of straw, and the hardess files show it between 55-60 RC. Finished grinding the bevel, and its at the 400 grit belt stage, as shown in the photo. Also dusted off the flats on the surface grinder.

Trying to decide to what level of finish to take the metal to. As ground, hand sand smooth, high polish, tumbled, etc......Not sure yet. Handle scales will be basic black canvas Micarta. Waiting on some epoxy to arrive for them. It'll likely sit idle for a few days, until the glue gets here, and then I'll post up the finished knife.

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Looks great ! :encourage:
 
For the amount of work you did I highly recommend just buying barstock. You will save a lot of money, especially for a plain steel blank with nothing more than a profile cut out. Those come off waterjet or similar cutters by the dozen and save you maybe 15 minutes on the grinder to get from barstock to profile. There are tons of internet resources to let you figure out a blade profile and scrap wood is always a possibility for test 'blades'.

Metal work looks excellent. Did you buff it at all? At higher grit finishes it helps a lot. Be *very* careful with sharp blades on a buffer lest it get snagged and thrown, but it sounds like you have a lot of tool experience already and probably know that.

Handle looks blocky. The general rule is a more 'egg shaped' cross section, thinner at the bottom and thicker where your palm rests while being rounded all over. If you grip and squeeze, do you feel extra pressure in your finger region? Then thin that region a bit. You don't want 'hot spots' where the extra pressure is concentrated when you grip tightly. Take a chunk or three of 2x2 pine and make a couple of dummy handles as testers so you don't ruin all the work you already have by going too far.

It is a LOT better than my first blade. Keep it up!
 
cdhknives said:
For the amount of work you did I highly recommend just buying barstock. You will save a lot of money, especially for a plain steel blank with nothing more than a profile cut out. Those come off waterjet or similar cutters by the dozen and save you maybe 15 minutes on the grinder to get from barstock to profile. There are tons of internet resources to let you figure out a blade profile and scrap wood is always a possibility for test 'blades'.

Metal work looks excellent. Did you buff it at all? At higher grit finishes it helps a lot. Be *very* careful with sharp blades on a buffer lest it get snagged and thrown, but it sounds like you have a lot of tool experience already and probably know that.

Handle looks blocky. The general rule is a more 'egg shaped' cross section, thinner at the bottom and thicker where your palm rests while being rounded all over. If you grip and squeeze, do you feel extra pressure in your finger region? Then thin that region a bit. You don't want 'hot spots' where the extra pressure is concentrated when you grip tightly. Take a chunk or three of 2x2 pine and make a couple of dummy handles as testers so you don't ruin all the work you already have by going too far.

It is a LOT better than my first blade. Keep it up!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the comments, and pointers!

Agree on the raw stock, in fact I've since ordered some and have it on hand now. I believe I've been bitten by the bug! This pre-cut blank was a complete impulse buy. I was placing an order with SWAG, saw the knife blank, and it wasn't going to add to the flat rate shipping I was already paying for. Figured what the hell, I'll give it a try. I also have a pre-cut, heat treated stainless chef knife I'm working on, as I don't have enough room in my oven to heat treat it myself. I'd have to ship it down to the lower 48 and back for heat treat, which eats up any savings there. May be able to find a local knife maker who would do heat treat on bigger blades. Will have to check that option out.

I did not do any buffing, as I don't own one. This one was just hand polished to 600 grit. I've done a bit of hand polishing/stoning for gunsmithing/ tool making and enjoy the hand work.

Handle is blocky, I agree. Something I need to work on with future knives. Great idea on making practice scales out of scrap!

Thanks again for the kind words and critique!
 
BTW, I strongly agree with your decisiton to grind off the bottle opener. I despise gimmicky things like that on a working blade. I actually chuckled to myself when I read that part of your report!

I use a simple drill mounted buffing wheel on a drill press as my buffer. It is quick and cheap, doesn't take up more of my very limited workbench space, and is easy to use the retreating surface of the wheel. That makes a snag more likely to throw the blade into the back wall, not my leg or foot like a bench mounted buffer. The closest I have come to a serious injury was a snagged blade (vertical belt grinder, belt seam came partially loose, don't ever ignore a bumping/knocking belt either!) being thrown into the floor a couple inches beside my right foot. It snapped the tip off the blade and put a divot in the concrete, so it would have been tip first through my foot if it had hit. I look at anything that can snag/throw a blade with much more respect since then!

Given how twitchy the 10xx series steels are to heat treat, for just a little bit more I would suggest O1 tool steel. The time from oven to quench is much more forgiving, and it is a better blade steel in the end. The 10xx steels are better suited for forging. Heck if you ahve a HT oven just stick to air hardening steels! Quench oil is messy! Tradeoffs...
 
I would love to try this. However, I have a knife problem and need another blade like the South needs more Kudzu...

GsT
 
Since it's my first knife, figured I may as well make my first Kydex sheath for it. Snaps in and out nicely, and now I won't cut myself with it! Still need to get some Chicago screws, and attach a belt loop to it. It least its protected until then. Traditional leather is more my taste, but this was quick and easy.
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