First knife nearly finished...

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Sheprador1973

Well-Known Member
Hi all. Just wondered if anyone would be interested in a couple of pics of a knife I've made (the first). To be clear, I DO NOT consider myself a blade smith at, Im not interested in making knives to sell and Im very much still learning (just don't want to put anyones nose out of joint).

So after 'making', well putting together, a bushcraft knife a few years ago (really badly) from a TBS Grizzly blank I decided to have a go properly. Took a few months to build a 72x2 belt grinder from scratch incl a 2HP motor and (due to being largely broke) gradually got together a few basic tools, belts, epoxy etc.

Anyway, the knife was not really thought about long and hard from a design POV...I just wanted to see if I could do it tbh. Bought some 80CrV2 steel bar in 4mm and transferred the design (plus a few others Im about to work on). Cut out with an angle grinder (super messy job that!) and ground to shape with a 36 grit ceramic belt. Then drilled holes for pins etc. Hardest part by far was grinding the bevel, and especially the plunge lines. Built a steel grinding jig loosely based on the White Bone jobbie from the states but still a very long painstaking task. Eventually send off to Graham Clarke to be heat treated to around 58 HRC. Got the blanks back and set to cleaning up with 240 up to 600 grit again. The handle is spalted burr Elm with a nice figure glued in with 3mm black G10 liners and 0.8mm red fibre liners. The pins are plain old brass rod in 6mm. Finished the blade at 600 grit (not sure Im totally done yet tbh) as Im not a personal fan of mirror finishes. The handle was soaked in boiled linseed oil for 24 hours after being finished to 2400 grit and then buffed lightly. Finally profiled the bevel and sharpened it last night using a cheap Edge pro knock off and some truly awful Ruisin stones that came with it. How sharp? Much more than any knife Ive bought before...would probably describe it as 'nasty b*****d sharp'! Cut my finger taking some quick pics) Still to finish with a high grit paper all over and etch a 'makers mark' when I can pick up a cheap label/stencil printer.

Anyway, just wondered if you have any thoughts? Thanks for looking...

PS Next time I won't bother with a lanyard tube, not necessary on this kind of knife I think with retrospect.

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Thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated. Just added a few more pics indoors as the outdoor light wasn't working really. Also forgot to mention it has been stropped on leather but could still do more work on the sharpening tbh. Many thanks, Paul.

PS just realised I need to clean that windowsill AND stop using the kinetic bullet puller on it! :lol:

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Good looking knife.
And you wouldn’t be putting anyones nose out of joint selling it or another in the future.
No one on here has the monopoly on selling knives and there are a few people making and selling projects on here.
 
Great job how did the belt grinder build go? I'm just in the process of getting the parts together to build one.
3 phase motor
Inverter to control speed.
40 x 40 box section to build frame.
I haven't got the rollers yet and am thinking of buying them off Ebay.
 
It was ok tbh mate, easier than expected. Had to teach myself to weld, which it turns out I'm rubbish at, but got good enough to seam weld some 40x40 together. I got lucky in that after a friendly chat a local steel fabricator cut my bits to length with his pro gear according to my plans. I was on a very tight budget so opted for a 2HP single phase motor (Clarke) for only £80 odd new. Its a beast with a 36-40 grit belt on it! Again i couldn't afford some nice machined ally wheels so made some drive wheels from 3 sections of MDF glued together. Got a 3, 4, 5 and 6 inch wheel to change speeds slightly. Would prefer a 3 phase in the future, especially for the woodwork as the speed is a little frisky for removing wood. For the tracking a platen wheels I went with some 50mm longboard wheels from Amazon. Crowned the tracking wheel with lecky tape and got it all lined up. Less than perfect but works well OK as a whole. Pretty exiting when a belt lets go at 3000 rpm too! :eek:

Good luck with your build and pls pm if you need any help. Gotta go source some 3mm veg tan leather for a sheath now :rolleyes:
 
Sheprador1973 said:
It was ok tbh mate, easier than expected. Had to teach myself to weld, which it turns out I'm rubbish at, but got good enough to seam weld some 40x40 together. I got lucky in that after a friendly chat a local steel fabricator cut my bits to length with his pro gear according to my plans. I was on a very tight budget so opted for a 2HP single phase motor (Clarke) for only £80 odd new. Its a beast with a 36-40 grit belt on it! Again i couldn't afford some nice machined ally wheels so made some drive wheels from 3 sections of MDF glued together. Got a 3, 4, 5 and 6 inch wheel to change speeds slightly. Would prefer a 3 phase in the future, especially for the woodwork as the speed is a little frisky for removing wood. For the tracking a platen wheels I went with some 50mm longboard wheels from Amazon. Crowned the tracking wheel with lecky tape and got it all lined up. Less than perfect but works well OK as a whole. Pretty exiting when a belt lets go at 3000 rpm too! :eek:

Good luck with your build and pls pm if you need any help. Gotta go source some 3mm veg tan leather for a sheath now :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Cheers for getting back to I will let you know how it goed
 
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