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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
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O1 lesson
hi, let me tell my story on my first real knife attempt, after investing probably $500.00 in new and used eqimpment and playing arournd with OF steel and saw blades, i bought a piece of PG O1 steel and hacked me out what i thought was a pretty good looking hunting knife. after heat treat and polish to a nice 2000 grit shine, i put on water buffalo horn scales. then i taped the blade and started to shape the handle. i ground the pins and thong hole on a stone grinder, quenching often as to not burn the epoxy or handle. something came up,so i laid the knife on my bench for about an hour. when i came back to finish working on it, it dawned on me to maybe change the tape on the blade because it had got wet during shaping.what a letdown!!!!!, i could't belive the rust and crap on the blade,of course the worst is right up the front at the handle, now my knife is ruined,and i am thinking maybe knife making is not for me. there is so many facets to this hobby, it is hard to remeber them all. i think i am going to take up bread making or something like that. thanks for listening (reading) to my rants. jeri
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#2
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did you try cleaning it up with a 3M pad.... maybe its just superficial rust....... or if you have a thin buff wheel.... maybe you can get it in there (just be careful, that darned buffer will toss that knife if your not watching)
a little rust is nothing... the blade is probably still primo only a little surface blemish......... after all, how shiney a knife is, has nothing to do with how functional that blade can be Greg not sure bout baking..... give knife making another try ( persistance ! ) |
#3
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Yep, live and learn. Something worth noting here: a new, sharp belt on a belt sander will cut a lot cooler than a stone wheel. Therefore, it requires less cooling. With unstabilized natural materials like your buffalo horn I don't cool in water - it's more like grind a few seconds then 'sink' the heat out of the pins (or bolsters, or guard, whatever) with my dry fingers. This takes longer but doesn't get water into the handle material, not to mention getting it on the blade.
Most new makers over reach on their first few knives anyway. You feel frustrated now because you may have lost a lot of work. My suggestion would be to not do all that work in the first place - at least not until you have successfully made a few good working knives. For instance, suppose that same blade had only been finished to 400 or 600 grit instead of 2000. That's perfectly good for a working knife, looks fine if it's done well, and doesn't take near as much time and effort so you don't feel as bad when something goes wrong. And the handle - why use something so easy to damage as buffalo horn ? For the first few knives Micarta or even Dymondwood are much more forgiving materials. They are waterproof and not nearly so easily damaged by heat. When you can make a decent knife with these materials then move on tofancier finishes and handle materials. You may be trying to learn to do too many different things at one time, slow down a bit - but don't give up ........ |
#4
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Something you might consider on the finish, after 2000 grit take it to a buffer. Buffing smears the chrystaline structure and helps "seal" the finish. That would help the rust a little. When done with the handle just refinish the blade and buff it out. Also renaissance wax helps to protect the finish. Just my thoughts and what I would do with it. Never give up. When everything comes together it is more rewarding than anything.
We all screw up and make mistakes no matter how long or good at it we are. My friends and family love my screwups! A flawed finish does not mean the blade is not good and is still very usable. I always finish off mistakes the best I can and give them away. I get alot of feedback on the performance and know what is working or not. My last screw up I gave to my brother in law, My first attempt at filework, he saw a beautiful knife, I saw flaws. He rants about it being the best blade he has ever used and 2 of his buddies are asking me to make them one and offering to pay in advance. (money from messups!) Finish it, use it, or give it to someone that will use it and show it off. I don't own a knife that I have made that does not have something wrong, but they work well. __________________ My only domestic quality is that I live in a house |
#5
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Don't you dare give up: I forbid it.
It is not failure! It is PRACTICE! |
#6
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If you give up now you will never get the satisfaction of learning from a whole lot more mistakes!!! That,s the fun of knifemaking. You,re never to good to make mistakes and never to old to learn from them. Keep going, you've already learned a lot. And stick to this forum, there's a lot of very experienced and clever guys here(who also makes mistakes from time to time)
Happy knifemaking !! |
#7
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o1 lesson
Don't quit now! Seems like almost every knife I make has a little problem to overcome. That rust can be handled with some more work. Had a similar problem with one the day before it was to ship. Just took some more work with the rougher grits and then finish again. I just messed up the vine file work and found a way to make it look like it was planned. The customer raved over the "free lance file work". Called making chicken salad out of chicken s**t. Keep at it.
Rick |
#8
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the only ones that don't make mistakes ain't doing nothin' amigo
__________________ Tom Buchanan |
#9
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To do quality work - in any field - you have to be able to recognize your failures and learn from them. In the old days, mines and railroads preferred to hire explosives workers who were missing fingers or limbs. They figured that they had made their mistakes on someone else's pay and wouldn't be repeating it.
What the others have said so far is absolutely true: You can probably resurrect the knife and the only way to not make a mistake is to not do anything. __________________ God bless Texas! Now let's secede!! |
#10
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O1 lesson
thanks for the advice,guys, i was going to knock the handles off and try again, but coul'dt do it. i cleaned it up with simichrome polish and used 2000 paper. it still has a halo around the handles, but looks good from 2 feet aeay.ha, ha. i never thougt smething that looks so simple could be so fustrating. thanks again. jeri
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#11
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Quick note: O1, like all the other Hi-carb steels, rusts. Some faster than others. Nature of the beast. Although 1 hour seems a little fast. Sounds like you may have other contaminates in you quench water that accelerated the oxidation. A white vinegar soak will patina the whole blade and hide the rust blemish.
__________________ Carl Rechsteiner, Bladesmith Georgia Custom Knifemakers Guild, Charter Member Knifemakers Guild, voting member Registered Master Artist - GA Council for the Arts C Rex Custom Knives Blade Show Table 6-H |
#12
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Like the man said, if you aren't making mistakes, you ain't doing nothing. I used to get thank you notes from the steel suppliers when I first started making knives. I think I was keeping the steel industry going with all the stuff I scrapped. Just hang in there.
__________________ Tom Militano |
#13
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Not to worry. You can remove staining and flash rust in a couple minutes with some Flitz. All my knives are 0-1 and I use a couple all the time for kitchen duty. The acid in vegy's and other assorted junk will make the blade look ruined in short time. A few drops of Flitz on a rag and it's all better.
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#14
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O1 lesson
thanks to everyone for the tips and advice, i'm going to hang in there and keep trying. too carl; i never thought about dirty quench water, i have two coffee cans i never change, i will now.!! the handle is curved ,so i used small pieces of blue masking tape to protect it, and then wrapprd the rest just round and round. you could see every tape edge, that was thw rusty part,kind of mosacic looking. the stains came off with polish, but underneath it had shadows like heat treat lines. that was the hard part to clean up. so i'm taking a pause, cleaning up my shop, and going to grind some more steel. thanks jeri
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blade, hunting knife, knife, knife making, knives |
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