What am I even doing?

[Tag302]

I really have no idea what I’m doing... this knife is the epitome of jerry-rigged.
the blade is made from a shovel, the scales are teak from an old window frame, the pins are steel bolts I ground smooth, and the brass accent is from a random piece of brass I found in a drawer.

 

[billyO]

For not knowing what you're doing, I'd say you did pretty well.
Nice job extending the tang so the scales fit.

 

[Tag302]

Haha, thanks. In the photos you can see where I welded the tang onto the blade (I spot welded very slowly to not mess up the heat treat on the blade) but when I went to cut my scales I realized how fricking front heavy this knife would be. I needed more weight in the back so instead of welding on more to the handle, I just used those brass pieces. Lol.
Surprisingly, it’s still only 220g

 

[daveb]

I've seen worse A lot worse.

Front heavy is a good thing.

 

[Tag302]

So if function is the number 1 priority (it was not in this case obviously, I did use a shovel...) should I have left the extension off to make the front even heavier?

 

[kennyc]

"jerry-rigged" is how the world's great inventions came to be - i love the spirit of this!

 

[ecchef]

I think it turned out great. I like the brass detail.

 

[cotedupy]

Well this is right up there with the coolest projects I've seen here. Feckin' ace!

 

[Jville]

Super cool project!! It looks like it turned out great. Im curious how it cuts. Ironically, it's still a shovel, a food shovel.

 

[Bobby2shots]

I dig it! ⛏

 

[Tag302]

I ho

Super cool project!! It looks like it turned out great. Im curious how it cuts. Ironically, it's still a shovel, a food shovel.

I haven’t used it enough to really know how it does. Plus there are a lot of variable in working with including my knife and sharpening skills...
But can say that there is a bit of a twist in the blade. It is curved one way at the edge and the other way at the spine. Because the shovel has compound curves in it and there is just so much metal on this design, I wasn’t able to get the bend out. I could get one bend out and it would pop out another one elsewhere.
I don’t have a way to heat treat it at the moment since I live in an apartment so I was kind of limited on how much work I could do on the steel.
But, I am trying again on a smaller blade and I think I actually got it pretty straight

 

[Danzo]

How does she cut?

 

[ModRQC]

Shut up and take my shovel!

 

[billyO]

I wasn’t able to get the bend out. I could get one bend out and it would pop out another one elsewhere.

This might be a good time to practice some straightening techniques. There are a few different ways to accomplish that, in post #7 of this thread, there's a decent video on different ways:
https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/...thing-other-than-user-error.49200/post-740953
The hammer peening method is what I'd try on this blade.

 

[Tag302]

How does she cut?

I think it cuts pretty okay.
It has a relatively flat bottom which is different than the typical chef knife a typically use. I tend to do a fair amount of both rocking and push cutting when I cook and this knife is okay with pushing. I’m also quite a noob with knives so haven’t quite developed a fine enough “palate” to really notice huge differences in the way a knife cuts.
I am going to start another thread with photos of the other knife I just made from this shovel!

 

[MoabDave]

Looking forward to your fine work!

 

[FishmanDE]

I'd buy that. Kool as hell