Knife Making |
Knife Making |
Jun 28 2012, 09:40 PM
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Moderator Group: Members Posts: 4,459 Joined: 25-August 09 From: way on up thar Member No.: 6,983 |
Time to learn something new. (I blame Woody for this)
I am going to build a custom knife... and hopefully many more after I get skilled enough. I've learned a lot through the internet and am ready to get started, I'll post my progress. Hopefully I won't screw it up too bad. So far.... I bought a fixed-handle knife blank. The overall length is 7" and the blade length is 3-1/4". It is 1/8" thick. Good steel - 440c with a hardness of 56-58 RC so it should hold an edge really well. This blade style is called "Western Skinner" and will make for a nice fish & bird knife when completed. While I'm waiting for parts... I decided to practice some decorative file-work today. I plan to incorporate something like this on the Skinner. This is a vine pattern that I practiced today on a piece of leaf-spring metal that Woody gave me (also 1/8" thick). I used several different needle-files to do this work. I'm ready to try it on the real thing. -------------------- /l ,[____], l---L-OlllllllO- ()_) ()_)--o-)_) BLACK SANDS MATTER! Very Happy CP Lifetime Member CP CORE TEAM Referral Code CE213 |
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Jul 8 2012, 08:54 AM
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Moderator Group: Members Posts: 4,459 Joined: 25-August 09 From: way on up thar Member No.: 6,983 |
Thanks! I'm hoping that maybe some other folk here might want to try it. Many of us are very outdoorsy and crafty and I think it fits well. You and Dan would be naturals at it, try! It's not really hard to make a basic functional knife and it's a lot of fun. Don't "need" a bunch of tools or money either... heck, the early settlers and cowpoke made some excellent knives back in the day without a fraction of the tool resources or electricity that we now have. The build I'm working on here is going to end up costing me less than $30 total.. and that's only because I had to buy the steel and wood.... and added the vine-pattern which will require purchasing epoxy pigment. I won the "Western Skinner" knife blank on eBay for $6.51 (such a deal for heat-treated 440C!!!), and (also on eBay) purchased the handle slabs (scales) for about $10. I spent a couple of bucks on the right sized brass rods for the handle scales... which I can also use on future builds. I'd like to make some nice kitchen knives at some point too.
For now, I won't be able to update progress much until later in the week. I may add another (smaller) brass rivet to the handle near the ricasso area for more durability and I'll post that if I do it. I have to order some black pigment that is compatible with the filler I will be using for the vine-pattern (which I hand-filed into the top of the tang). This will be one of the final steps of my knife before finishing but I have to wait for the pigment to get here. -------------------- /l ,[____], l---L-OlllllllO- ()_) ()_)--o-)_) BLACK SANDS MATTER! Very Happy CP Lifetime Member CP CORE TEAM Referral Code CE213 |
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