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The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need.

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  #1  
Old 07-14-2014, 08:58 AM
WilliamB WilliamB is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Alexanderbay South Africa
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My first knife

Hi all

I have searched around on the forum to find a place were I could post some pics of my first home made knife. I either missed it or didn't search properly so I created a new thread. The admin can add it to the proper thread if I'm at fault.

Anyhow for my first knife I used a file. I made sure it is still a proper file and not just case hardened. I am not sure about the correct terminology yet, but I heated the knife to soften it and then did the forming a shaping work with a small grinder and a hand file. I also constructed a diy filing jig to keep the lines nice and straight.(I don't trust my free hand skills yet.)

Once all the forming and grinding was done I reheated the file to the point of it not being magnetic and then cooled it in old motor oil.

For the handle material I used a piece of Rhodesian teek I got from a friend of mine and pins are stainless.

I made a sheath out of seal leather and put it together using some nylon rope I had lying around.

The cutting edge is 40 degrees combined and was also done on home made jig. At the moment I still make knifes more blunt sharpening by hand but I practice often and hope to sharpen my own knifes by hand soon.

Let me know what you guys think and feel free to give advice and critique.

















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  #2  
Old 07-14-2014, 10:50 AM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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Looks amazing good for your first knife! Sounds like you have the basic process down pretty well. The only thing I would change is the motor oil. Motor oil is formulated to react to heat in a way totally inappropriate for heat treating steel, in other words, its hard to find anything worse for quenching blades. That doesn't mean it totally failed, it just means you'll get much better results using something else. Try canola oil or most any cooking oil, or hydraulic fluid is also a fair choice.......


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  #3  
Old 07-15-2014, 01:38 PM
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DanCom DanCom is offline
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I'd say you did a great job for a first knife!

Dan
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  #4  
Old 07-15-2014, 03:01 PM
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Hunter10139 Hunter10139 is offline
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Yeah I have to agree with Dan and Ray that's an awesome first knife. It looks way better than the shank that was my first knife.


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  #5  
Old 07-15-2014, 07:05 PM
Got steel Got steel is offline
 
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Nice work
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  #6  
Old 07-16-2014, 06:55 AM
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Crex Crex is offline
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Nice first!
With Ray on the motor oil and not so sure on the hydraulic oil since it is also formulated for pressure/heat issues. Canola warmed to 100*-120*, will do very well for what your are doing.

Let's see the next one.

Note: While terminology won't make a difference on your results it will help describe issues, questions and comments, getting everyone on the right page. Learn the basic terms and you'll always get better mor accurate feed back.
Again, nice work!


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  #7  
Old 07-19-2014, 04:35 AM
WilliamB WilliamB is offline
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Thank you for all the good responses. I will definitely look into using a different oil for quenching. I am also in the process of ordering some decent steel for making my next knife. I am thinking of getting 5160 as the price is not to bad and it looks like an easy steel to work with in terms of heat treating. I do wish that there was something one could do regarding the stains and rust though.
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  #8  
Old 07-19-2014, 07:03 AM
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Crex Crex is offline
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Well, all your forgable high carbon steels are going to stain/rust without due maintenance. Staining will happen regardless. I, for one, like a knife that has the patina of age and use. Not much into shiny anything, I'm more into stealth than show.
5160 is good steel and can be learned fairly easily. There are several opinions on how to HT it, luckily most of them work ok. Find one you can do reasonably easy with what you have and work with it until you get it right.
Above all have fun and play safe!


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  #9  
Old 07-19-2014, 02:52 PM
Doug Lester Doug Lester is offline
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That is a good looking knife for the first one. You need to get all the scratches out from the previous grit before going onto the next grit. A lesson that I had to learn early on. The scratches from a courser get will not come out with the finer grit with a little more elbow grease, it will only show up worse.

You could also put a little more contour into the handle. Maybe a little bit of a palm swell.

Two questions about the sheath. First is how was the skin tanned? If it's oil or chrome tanned the chemicals in the leather could attack the steel in the blade. You really need to use vegetable tanned leather for sheaths.

The second is does that sheath have a welt between the two layers. If not you really need to remake the sheath with one or the blade could cut through the stitching and cut you or drop out.

Doug


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  #10  
Old 07-21-2014, 03:11 PM
WilliamB WilliamB is offline
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Once again, thanks for all the reply's and the pointers. I already ordered some 5160 and a few other things in order to get started on my next knife. Not yet sure what shape or style.

Doug, I am not sure about the leather but thanks for informing me about the difference. I did put a welt in between the two layers of the sheeth atleast. :-)

Will post pics of the next one as soon as it is done.
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advice, blade, diy, edge, file, grinding, hand, handle, handle material, home, home made, image, jig, knife, leather, made, make, material, motor, nylon, pins, post, sharpening, sheath, stainless


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