I dabbled in knife making years ago using little more than hand tools but recently got the itch again and saved up for a real grinder. After spending enough for a good used car and trashing enough steel to make a scrap yard jealous I finished my first two.
They are both flat ground from 3/16" Starrett O1 with G10 scales. The first is multicam - layered with various combos of black, brown, green, and tan. I’m not a real fan but some folks seem to like it.
Second knife has tan scales. I didn’t get a shot the first’s sheath before I gave the knife away. Let me know what you think.
They look nice, especially for your first two. I like the second one better. I made my first (and only) knife with hand tools, as well. I’ve got the itch to get a real grinder but have held off due to other projects. Keep posting pics of your work.
Thanks for the comments. bprice, both knives have a tumbled finish. I tumbled them in a home made tumbler consisting of a five gallon bucket attached to a frame with a motor. Works well and will let me tumble much larger knives than a vibratory reloading-style tumbler. I use 3/4" aluminum oxide tumbling media that is fairly aggressive.
On the first knife, I etched it in ferric chloride before tumbling. It darkens the blade and gives it even more corrosion resistance than tumbling alone does. It does give the knife a vintage or worn look. It makes for a fairly easy to maintain finish that doesn’t show wear too easily.
It’s just a hobby for now but I hope to officially hang my shingle out soon. All the knives I’m making now are going to friends and family to get feedback and some practice under my belt.
I’ve got several patterns drawn up that cover the gamut of sizes/styles. These two are my hunter/ woods knife. I’m working on a batch now of several more of these as well as my neck knife design.
Here’s one I finished up for my brother in law…a bit smaller than the first two and the tip is dropped a bit. Flat ground from 1084 carbon steel with green/black G10 scales and stainless hardware. I tapered the tang on this one so it’s nice and light, noticeably more than the previous two even though it’s the same thickness. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a shot of the tapered tang. Like the first two, this one was hardened to 58/ 59 HRC for good edge holding and fairly easy sharpening.
My day job’s kept me busy but i’ve still been trying to plug along with some more. This is one i designed for a co-worker. I originally designed it as a clip point blade but really like the look of the leaf style blade. I’ve got some of both in progress.
This one will be getting some black and green G10 with a cool contour if I dont screw it up:mad:
I made it for a co-worker that wanted to mount it to his 6004 shroud so I used two aluminum chicago screws to mount it:
Right behind the pistol it is somewhat out of sight yet he can still draw his pistol without interference.
Lastly, here’s one I just finished for myself with some old green/brown canvas micarta. It’s my neck knife/ small knife design but I wanted it with sculpted scales so I used the micarta I had sitting around. It is 7" overall with a 3" blade. The false edge stops short of the tip so that the tip remains strong. I used extra small eyelets on this sheath to make it minimalist. It doesnt have the variety of mounting options but I didn’t care since it was for me.
