WIP - First Knife Time!

[Ucmd]

Wow, looks great.

 

[camperman]

Exceptional work.
Well done that man.

 

[Noah]

Thanks folks. I really appreciate the support and advice!

Now if I can just grind it without grinding through the damascus in the spine area...

 

[Noah]

Here I've glued and cut the handle scales.

Time to chisel out the grooves for the tang, glue it all together, shape and finish.

I suspect that when I finally sharpen it it'll break through that last tiny bit of damascus on the heel and tip and get to the inner core of 15N20 like it already is on the other side. If not, I'll sand it out a bit more and re-etch.

Headed toward the finish line.

Yeah I know, it's been pretty slow. But I'm in no rush. For now I'd rather take my time, think about things, and learn all I can.

 

[milkbaby]

Very cool, it's looking excellent! :doublethumbsup:

You're doing a frame handle?

 

[Noah]

You're doing a frame handle?

Is it called a frame handle if you chisel in a groove on each scale then glue them together and secure the tang within the handle with epoxy?

Being new I'm not always up on the terminology yet.

 

[Noah]

Only reason I chose to do the handle this way, btw, was that my room mate had some pretty wood that was already milled flat and square for scales and it was too thin to do as a single piece handle.

Hopefully it'll come out nice...

 

[milkbaby]

I think it's called mortise tang construction when you split the wood in half and have the hidden tang inside a chiseled out pocket. Not sure if it is still called a frame handle, I'm not great on terminology either lol.

Instead of only a piece split in half, one could use a spacer between two scales to hide the tang (similar to three piece laminated saya construction). This would be considered frame construction I think.

Either way, looking forward to seeing the finished knife!

 

[Noah]

Finally finished!

While I'll always see every little flaw and work hard to make less of them each time, I'm overall quite happy with this for a first effort.

Oh...and it's sharp!

Comments, advice, etc. always welcome!

 

[Noah]

A friend pointed out that the picture above makes the handle look fairly large. I have fairly large hands, but it's actually not that big a handle.

Here's a different view for perspective:

 

[Noah]

These pics really don't do the wood in the handle any justice. Guess I'll have to work on my photography at some point.

 

[milkbaby]

Nice job! :doublethumbsup:

Sometimes it's difficult to capture just how amazing wood looks in a picture.

 

[camperman]

That's a great job from start to finish.
Thanks for posting.

 

[Noah]

Well so far it's been holding its blade quite nicely. I'll admit though that I haven't put it through any Forged in Fire type nail cutting tests. :eek2:

 

[Noah]

Finally saved up enough for what I intend to be my lifetime anvil. Next chapter...

 

[Dave Martell]

Dude I know what you spent there....congrats!

 

[jessf]

What does the wing coming off the top face get used for?

 

[Beau Nidle]

Nice! I don't expect to see it that shiny ever again!

 

[Noah]

What does the wing coming off the top face get used for?

It can be used for making scrolls or any other bends where the angle is more acute than 90°, but you can also use the empty space between it and the main anvil as a place to bend things straight or to make slight dips.

Also it can be handy when you want to have a longer than 5" surface under something but don't want to move around and use the whole anvil face.



I'm sure there are other uses as well, and I look forward to learning about those, or just trying them as I go.

 

[Noah]

Nice! I don't expect to see it that shiny ever again!

Indeed! Use hasn't marred it at all, but the straight up shiny new look is now gone. It's begun to look like the great tool it is.

 

[Noah]

Dude I know what you spent there....congrats!

Yeah, it was a hard decision, but I decided it was best to save for several months and get one that I'll hopefully always be happy with rather than getting one that I'd want to replace.

I'm very happy with it.