MEMBER ITEMS FOR SALE
Custom Knives | Other Knives | General Items
-------------------------------------------
New Posts | New PhotosAll Photos



Go Back   The Knife Network Forums : Knife Making Discussions > Custom Knife Discussion Boards > Knife Making Discussions > The Newbies Arena

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

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 02-28-2013, 11:56 PM
BladePatriot's Avatar
BladePatriot BladePatriot is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Virginia Beach, Va
Posts: 26
1st knife done

I usually lurk on the site and look at the beautiful creations from the rest of you fellas but I have finally finished up my first knife and I'm pretty happy with the results. This is the most therapeutic hobby I've ever found (next to fishing/hunting). I literally sit in the garage for hours working with the steel.

The finish looks a little rough but it is just a weird thing the light did when I took the picture. It is actually much more smooth and uniform that it appears.

The OAL is 8.5" with a cutting edge of 3.75" and thickness of .187". I went with 1084 because most of the comments here mentioned it being a relatively easy steel to start out with. Please, critique away. I'm always open to tip, pointers and constructive criticism. Thanks!

Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 03-01-2013, 09:06 AM
Ray Rogers's Avatar
Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
Founding Member / Moderator
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Wauconda, WA
Posts: 9,840
For a first knife that's a very complete and 'finished' looking package!

Critique:

I assume that's a full tang, can't be sure from the picture. If so, those pins are very small. When you use such small pins it's better to use a lot of them. Normally, it wouldn't matter but I'm talking about the exception to the rule when you might have to stress the knife to the max.

Again, from the picture I might be seeing things wrong, but it doesn't look like your grind goes all the way across the blade. It looks like the grind is on just a small area near the edge and it is rounded rather than flat. The further the grind goes across the blade the easier it will slice through firm materials and flat sides work much better than rounded sides.

The logo looks great but generally a logo should include your location. In your case, your motto might serve the same purpose as it further identifies which Richey you are. The problem, as I see it, is that the motto contains Greek letters and the average person wouldn't be able to enter those into a Search field. I haven't tried it, maybe it wouldn't matter, but it's something you should look into if you plan to sell many knives some day.

The sheath looks terrific!


OK, that's it. Now, take the knife out and use it until it falls apart or you become convinced that it works as good as it looks. I'm not kidding about this. I know it's hard for a new maker to do that to his first knife but until you do all you have is a pretty object that resembles a knife ...


__________________

Your question may already have been answered - try the Search button first!






Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 03-01-2013, 04:50 PM
BladePatriot's Avatar
BladePatriot BladePatriot is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Virginia Beach, Va
Posts: 26
Thank you very much for the critique Ray. I really appreciate the pointers. The motto below my name is "Molon Labe" a greek phrase "Come and Take Them". I'm in the Marine Corps and move often with my job so I didn't want to put a location under the name as I will eventually move which would require me to get new stencils and render the previous ones useless.

You're correct about the grind and I was concerned about that when I was making it. The grind doesn't go all the way to the edge but it does go up further than it appears in the photo. When I went back to grind off the scale from heat treat, I got a little liberal with grinder and ended up needing to "blend" to make it more uniformed on each side. I will definitely be more cautious on the next one. I gave this one to a friend for him to use and abuse and asked that he give me some feedback on it's usability. Hopefully it works for his purposes. Thank you again Ray. Take care.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 03-01-2013, 05:50 PM
ricky_arthur's Avatar
ricky_arthur ricky_arthur is offline
Skilled
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Utah
Posts: 524
Looks very nice, Like the Molon Labe in the logo.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 03-01-2013, 08:59 PM
redbuda redbuda is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Bakersfield, CA
Posts: 22
Nice work. What and how did you put the makers mark on the blade and sheath? Newb here so just wondering.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 03-01-2013, 11:57 PM
BladePatriot's Avatar
BladePatriot BladePatriot is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Virginia Beach, Va
Posts: 26
Thanks a lot Redbuda. For the blade makers mark it's etched and for the sheath I had a leather stamp made.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 03-02-2013, 08:05 PM
add147 add147 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: East Texas
Posts: 26
WOW! Great looking first time knife! I hope when I started on my first one will look that good!!!!
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 03-03-2013, 05:33 PM
Crex's Avatar
Crex Crex is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Acworth, GA and/or Hanging Dog, NC
Posts: 3,583
Welcome and thank you for your service.
Nicely done for a first. Ray's pretty much on with the critique...nothing to add.
Except, no matter how good your friend is he will never give you as honest an opinion or critique as you would yourself. Just doesn't happen. Test your next one yourself.....break them eggs baby!
Keep 'em coming.


__________________
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
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 03-03-2013, 08:48 PM
BladePatriot's Avatar
BladePatriot BladePatriot is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Virginia Beach, Va
Posts: 26
Thank you for taking the time to critique Crex. You have a good point with getting an honest opinion from a friend. It looks like I'll be wearing out my next one myself. Take care
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 03-04-2013, 05:02 AM
Crex's Avatar
Crex Crex is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Acworth, GA and/or Hanging Dog, NC
Posts: 3,583
Just put yourself in his place. I really have to work at it even with my students. Lot easier to be blunt with folks you don't know......probably a good part of the reason for the most of the postings here. No one is out to hurt or injur another party on this forum, but all can learn from a lot of good eyes and experience.
You're headed down a fun road with all kinds of obstacles/challenges to deal with, we're just here for the ride and backseat drive.
Keep on Truckin!


__________________
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
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 03-07-2013, 08:00 PM
rachet197 rachet197 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: MN
Posts: 12
if that's your first knife, then WOW!!!
Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
art, back, blade, easy, edge, fishing, flat, full tang, heat treat, hobby, hunting, knife, knives, leather, make, making, materials, package, pins, sheath, steel, tang


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 09:38 PM.




KNIFENETWORK.COM
Copyright © 2000
? CKK Industries, Inc. ? All Rights Reserved
Powered by ...

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
The Knife Network : All Rights Reserved