Small Neck Knive

[spc13b]

I took some advice from a lot of other members earlier today. I want to say thank you very much. I was very discourage. Just the few tips I was told has already made a difference. I found the center of the blade and scribed it. I used my 1/8" chainsaw file up to the center line. I marked the center line of the belly at .0625 and then I added .020" to that where I would have .040" left on the belly for the HT. I then used a double cut file to file the belly down to the first line at a 45 degree angle. I started filing the bevels slow and made sure not to go past that first line on the belly. Slowly worked it and this is my result.

[cnccutter]

good job John. sometimes its just little thing we don't think about that make all the difference. now that you have a new trick in your tool chest, each one will get easier.


Erik

[spc13b]

Originally Posted by cnccutter

good job John. sometimes its just little thing we don't think about that make all the difference. now that you have a new trick in your tool chest, each one will get easier.


Erik

Thanks Erik

[ricky_arthur]

Looking good. Sand a little, fix the handle and drill some holes so you can HT it.

[metal99]

Drill some holes is right! I just finished heat treating five knives last week and guess what? I forgot to drill the holes in all five of them!!!!

[spc13b]

Originally Posted by ricky_arthur

Looking good. Sand a little, fix the handle and drill some holes so you can HT it.

What would be a good grit of paper to bring it up to before HT? about 220 grit? I need to file and flatten the curved area at the bottom of the tang. You can see it is a bit jagged from profiling it out with the belt sander.

Originally Posted by metal99

Drill some holes is right! I just finished heat treating five knives last week and guess what? I forgot to drill the holes in all five of them!!!!

I bet that was horrible trying to drill those holes out after HT. How many drill bits did you go through?

[Bowman]

Well done!!

It's easy to get discouraged. It took me a year to make my first knife because I researched so much and looked at so many makers works. My thoughts have been to make it simple and functional. It is a knife after all and it should perform that function as well as you can make it. In time, when the process gets easier, then make it more complicated.

In a day, you have made leaps and bounds; that's awesome. Congratulations

PS I have had some success with draw filing bevels. Give it a try if you haven't already.

[Doug Lester]

That's looking nice. Sometimes you just need to stay with it a little longer to bring everything together.

Doug

[metal99]

Originally Posted by spc13b

What would be a good grit of paper to bring it up to before HT? about 220 grit? I need to file and flatten the curved area at the bottom of the tang. You can see it is a bit jagged from profiling it out with the belt sander.



I bet that was horrible trying to drill those holes out after HT. How many drill bits did you go through?

I stuck the knives tip down in some water and heated the tangs to red and let them air cool. That seemed to do the trick.

[spc13b]

Well here it is pre heat treat.

[ckluftinger]

John, "A master does not fall from the sky" is an old saying in German - well, the English equivalent, anyway. This is to say, it all takes time, and the only way you will get better is by doing it again and again and again. if the knife fails, chalk it up to experience and try again. Frustrating, yes, but each try is a lesson learned. You are well on your way. A small suggestion, and one that's still fixable if you have't attached your handles yet: try to space out your holes more evenly. They seem too close to the bottom of the tang compared to the top, and not centered between the bolster and butt. Just my opinion. You can re-drill them; nobody will know. besides, extra holes will serve to lighten your knife in the back end and give you better balance...
Go to it!
As far as the grit goes, I usually go to 120 before HT on the grinder, then 120 after HT by hand, and from there up to 1000, depending on the knife. Mostly by hand.

[Blue Sasquatch]

I had similar issues with getting clean bevel lines John, Draw Filing seems to have fixed it for me, your knife is turning out great!

When I scribed my first (and only :P ) knife, a micrometer helped the top bevel line and for the bottom since the blade thickness was 1/4 inch I took a 1/8th inch piece of stock steel, ground more of a point on one of the corners (keeping it level) and used it to scribe the bottom of the blade, doing so on both sides gave me two lines, which leaves you with a flat enough edge to finish after HT (Or atleast that's my theory. . )