#5 first fillet knife

[john smith]

15N20 3/32" thick
7 1/4" blade
11 3/4" OAL
5/8" w##e blade
linen micarta scales
stainless hardware

Finally finished what is supposed to be a fillet knife.
It took forever to finish, l found out long skinny blades are not that easy to do by hand.
I normalized twice, treated in my forge and quenched in canola oil. Tempered in oven for two 1 hour cycles at 400*. I could not find alot of information on treating 15N20 so I treated it like 1080. I'm not completly satisfied with the way it turnd out, there is some flex but still a stiff blade. I'm not sure about how I like using micarta, I have always been a woodworker. I thought the linen would have a little more grain in it. I guess I should of tried the canvas micarta. the shape of the handle has a great feel in the hand
I have to thank Ray he pointed me in the right direction I was trying to make this more difficult in the heat treat process at first. This knife was a learning experience
Let me know what you think good or bad.
Sorry about the bad photos

[cdhumiston]

That looks like a mighty fine fillet knife to me. The only thing I notice is the right scale looks a little thinner than the left. That may just be a bad camera angle. The Micarta looks really nice and all fillet knives don't have a huge amount of flex. I have a couple that don't flex much at all.

[Crex]

Looks good from here John. The black micarta is a nice touch and looks better than white to me, however I always used white or light colors to keep from inadvertently picking up the wrong end while grabbing the next fish. I prefer stiffer than store bought in a fillet knife. I think they work better on larger fish and are easier to touch up while working a table full.

[Frankallen]

Looks good to me John! Great Job!!

[C Craft]

Hey, I think it turned out really sweeeeeeeeet!

[Ray Rogers]

I agree with the others, nothing wrong with that knife. If you want more flex next time though, you can get it by the way the blade is shaped. That knife looks like all the flex is in the first 3" or so and not too much at that. To increase the flex, reduce the belly of the blade and make the profile decrease more uniformly from the handle to the tip. Then, taper the thickness (a distal taper) from the handle to the tip. After all that, set the teat treatment to give a blue color on the steel for spring hardness (not as good at edge holding but more flex). I have just described a blade of maximum flexibility for a given thickness and w##th. Back off on any combination of those parameters and the blade will stiffen up as required.....

[squigly1965]

Hey Cool you're a Smith get it get it. Blacksmith, John Smith

But seriously though
Good looking knife.Real good fit and finish

I'm suppose to be making one for my Dad for his birthday. Which is coming up next month

Chris

[Doug Lester]

Chris, you might want not to stand so close to the forge all the time, I think you're inhailing too much fumes :-}. John, I agree with everyone else, that's a great looking knife.

Doug Lester

[squigly1965]

thats how I get all my good ##eas you know man. peace bro

[huntforlife]

Nice work John! That micarta looks like it polishes up to a pretty nice shine.

[john smith]

Thanks for all your kind comments. maybe I'm being hard on my self just as we all are when we do a project. I d## expect a little more flex then what I got, But I rather have
better edge holding ability. All I have ever used before was cheap store bought with lots of flexand no edge. As a rookie getting use to blade and handle size and symetry takes time to achieve. Like I sa## before doing a long slender blade by hand was a lot of work but I wasn't giving up. I'll have to get me a grinder in the future, then I can mess up some steel why I try and learn it. Again thanks.

[CWKnifeman]

John, you d## a really good job on the knife. I have to agree with carl about the stiff flex on this type of blade. My brother-in-law is a salmon gu##e in the northwest and he can use one of them stickers with ease. He told me that the next one that I made him needed to be a little stiffer and still have just a little flex. The bigger fish that he is used to working with require a little stiffer blade than the store bought variety. Also Ray is correct in getting more flex by the blade gemoetry and taper of the blade.
I think that the canvas micarta might be a little better if you want a better grip feeling, but linnen will hold even when wet. If you want a little more grip with it thenmask off the blade area and hand sand it with some 320 grti without polishing it. Not bad at all for #5.
Thanks for sharing,
Curtis

[Crex]

I think Doug's on to something there Chris. I'm sure you d##n't mean to infer that about John.
ie.- a silversmith works with hot silver.... a bladesmith works with hot blades......a johnsmith works with er, eh, umh.......
Sorry John, couldn't help it. Great looking knife, I prefer edge holding over more flex as well. Just what I'm used to. Ray's on the money in getting more flex throughout the blade. Just got to play with it to get it where you want it. Rough finish your blades and then test for flex and edge. That way you can make adjustments before finishing and attaching the handle. Hey...that means making more knives....nothing wrong there!

[iheartweapons68]

I think you d## a great job. Hope you enjoyed making it!!!!

[squigly1965]

Alright guys I'll take the gas mask I have attached to my forge off for a while. But only a little while just to prove thats not the problem.

And about rough finishing. You might want to use some scrap material for handles to keep your pin hole nice and tight. I've been having a problem with this myself.

Chris