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Started working on my next knife over the weekend, have about 14 hours into it so far. It's been a lot of hard work, and I learned a few new things. Primarily that if you plan to file your knife into shape by hand, make sure that you cut as close as possible to your design with the hacksaw to save time and work. I didn't want to run into the same problem I had with my first knife, and cut in too far, and sort of ended up with the opposite problem. The second thing I learned in the process was that cutting your knife out of cardboard is a great idea. I knew it would help, just didn't know how much. It can really make the difference between making a knife that looks cool and one that feels really nice.
I decided to go with the ask forgiveness not permission on this one in regards to what my friend wanted, and compromised. The knife he wanted was going to be too big, and after mocking it up on cardboard I didn't like how it felt. I shrunk things down a bit, and changed up the handle. The knife is now about 5.5" overall, and is probably a little large for neck carry, but plenty fine for an EDC on a belt. The thing feels great and I'm able to get lots of different grips on it. I put it in his hands and he was sold.
Here's a couple pictures. First one is just after cutting out with a hacksaw, the second is where I'm at now. It's sanded to a 120 grit and I plan to drill some holes and harden it next weekend - We were down to -40 with wind on the weekend, and I didn't want to stand in that. Next weekend were forecast for +3. Good old prairie winters.
As always, let me know what you guys think.
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