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  #1  
Old 01-12-2018, 11:26 PM
DamascusFreek DamascusFreek is offline
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My first three Damascus knives

Hi, I'm new to the forum, and to knife making. This is my first post. Thought I would post a pic of the first 3 Damascus knives I made. These are the 4'th and 5'th knives I have ever made. The two matching knives I made for my parents, and they are made from 1084,1095, and 15N20. They are 64 layers with some raindrop pattern in them. The other knife is 1095, and 15N20, and is only 24 layers. Handles are Cocobolo. The handles on the two matching knives have a partially hidden guard that I came up with as a way to fix a mistake I made. I drilled the forward tang hole too close to the guard and it would have left less than 1/4" of wood if I butted the wood up against the guard. I was afraid that would crack over time, so I wrapped the wood around the guard by cutting it out in a mill. All together I have about 70 hours in the two matching knives. Those two knives were made from the same piece of steel, and the handle scales were all four cut from one piece of wood, then one scale from each pair was used on each knife so they are truly matching knives. I tried to make a cross pattern with the raindrop pattern, but didn't come out the way I planned, so they are hard to see. Hope you like them. Any constructive criticism is welcome as I am learning. I started making knives in September. Thanks for looking!





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Old 02-01-2018, 06:14 PM
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Andrew Garrett Andrew Garrett is offline
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That's nice clean work! Far better than my 4th and 5th knives for sure!
That guard is the most interesting thing I've seen on a knife in a while. Sometimes mistakes can be 'happy accidents' that may be the case here. It's certainly a technique which may be worth some development.
Anything 'different' is good!

Constructive criticism..., let's see...
I wont call it criticism, because it's not, but if you're looking for 'tips', I will offer what I can. Feel free to ignore me if you like.

Your handle shapes are very well developed for a rookie--far beyond most at such an early stage. Many are blocky and bulky. Yours are well conceived from a side profile and offer a nice upsweep at the heel of the palm (been listening to Jason Knight?). They have no offensive edges to bite the hand--good! From a top or bottom profile, don't be shy about thinning them just a hair and perhaps giving it a 'coke bottle' shape. This technique enhances the overall comfort and aesthetic.

Your damascus is good linear random pattern. I'd love to see a sexy twist or ladder pattern (my favorites). A twist can really enhance the lines of the profile and put some real 'action' in the blade.

When you get down to your edge width before etching and sharpening, go down to 1/16" or a tiny bit less. That way, when you put your secondary bevel (edge) on it (about 44*), it will be a nice thin sliver of silver that doesn't get wide enough to draw the eye away from billet pattern or handle details. On more 'industrial' or 'primitive' styles, the wide edge bevel is appropriate but on finer work such as these, I think a thinner line is best (opinion only).

These are just tips mind you. I was happy to get them when I was developing and I still am. Thank God for Youtube. I get some cool tricks there too.

Great work! Keep posting and welcome to the forums!


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Old 02-04-2018, 10:58 AM
DamascusFreek DamascusFreek is offline
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Thanks Andy for the advice! I appreciate it. I know what you mean about the edges. I did these knives with a 20° edge, but the last knife I did had a 25° edge, and I like that a lot better. It's much narrower. I think I'll use that on most stuff from now on, and save the 20° for kitchen knives. The bottom knife was the first knife handle I ever made. I like the feel of these in my hands, but my hands are really big, so I had to keep going in the house and check with the wife to see how they felt as the people I made them for have much smaller hands than I. I think my big hands are going to be the hardest thing to compensate for when making a knife handles for someone else. Thanks again!
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Old 02-20-2018, 10:47 PM
keaton keaton is offline
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Nice work! Far better than mine...
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Last edited by keaton; 02-20-2018 at 10:52 PM.
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Old 02-21-2018, 11:17 AM
saim8 saim8 is offline
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nice post

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