Let's Make a Knife, pt 3

Picking back up with Step 13...

Heat treating foil is important! Since mere mortals cannot afford to have controlled atmosphere kilns in our homes, we can wrap our parts in foil for the heat treating process. It forms a barrier between the part being heated and the air around it. This stuff cuts reasonably well with a pair of quality scissors. Wear something to protect your hands, it's sharp stuff.

Let's Make a Knife, pt 2

Let's continue with this little beastie....

Step 7: We left off yesterday with a 50 grit grind. Tonight I brought it up to 120. You don't want to go all the way to an edge, leave it dull...just a small flat along the edge of the blade.

Let's Make a Knife, pt 1

**Disclaimer: I'm not presenting this as the "only," "best," or any other way of making a knife. This is just the method I'm using...on to business..

**EDIT: As I've typed the subsequent parts, I've realized that my usual long winded approach is sounding longer and windier. I'm not try to over complicate the process, I just stop at points where I think a picture is helpful.

I think it'll be fun to do a step by step on how I make a knife. This particular knife is being made for my friend, Max. He wanted a good paring knife to add to his kitchen.

Step 1: Pick your knife. In this case, we're going to make a "modern" paring knife. The OA size of the knife is a bit under 8" with a 4" blade. This is an easier overall pattern. Side note, I have templates for all of my knives, so I can come back to them later if I want. This is a good time to determine what type of steel and its thickness. (A2...1/8" thick...as you'll see soon)

First Customer Knife

Until now, any knife you've seen here has been made for my own learning. A few have been given as gifts. The second knife I made was given to my friend to say, "thanks," for getting me into this mess. BTW...at best that was a rough knife. But mentors understand their students, and he knew where I was going. And, being the gracious teacher that he is, he appreciated the gift. Almost a year later, and just short of forty knives, I believe my skills have advanced quite a bit.(in other words, I think I've taken the learning curve in stride...some folks learn this much faster, some slower)
.A new friend of mine, a professional chef, asked for a paring knife. Based on my asking price of $75 we actually came to an agreement on a barter. This is her knife. I think it's pretty cool...

I'm calling this shape the "modern" paring knife. About 8" overall with composite (G10) handles.

A Bit of Travel...

Usually, when I disappear for a few weeks its because I'm going somewhere boring for work. This time, however, I was off to England.

I've never been to England before, and I decided that I would see some sights during my time off. Specifically, I stayed in a town called Crewe. I made two trips from there. (Not counting the three hour drive from London.)

The War Memorial in Crewe. A beautiful tribute.

"They shall not grow old, As we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, Nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun, And in the morning, We will remember them." - "For the Fallen" by Laurence Binyon, 1914.

Hunting Knife

I'm very proud of this knife. It's by far the most complex knife I've made. Also, this is my first venture away from kitchen knives. I make kitchen knives because I love to cook and bake. However, I wanted to venture outside of my comfort zone a little bit and expand my skills. I mean...that's why we're into making stuff, right? To learn and expand?

The hunter is the bottom one. The top knife is a tanto...and not quite finished. This is right before heat treat.

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

Consider this as a bit of a public service announcement.

If you EVER show an allergic reaction to a wood species, get it out of your shop. Every piece. Every scrap. Every damned speck of dust. Get it out.

This applies more to tropicals, as I don't know of too many people showing allergic reactions to domestic woods (though it's possible...I think I heard of people being sensitive to pine). Anyway, I use several tropical woods. They make great handles for kitchen implements.

A few years ago, I had a strong reaction to honduras rosewood. It was bad. I broke out in hives and had respiratory issues. I've been fine as long as I didn't work with it. Several weeks ago, while working with Bocote I had a skin reaction. "Bummer," I thought. I like that stuff. Last week I made the stupid mistake of making a knife handle from a piece of mystery wood. There was only two things it could have been. I'm allergic to both of them. I should have stopped and thrown it away.

Red, swollen, don't forget the hives!!! This arm isn't as bad as the other. The thing with these allergies is that they get WORSE each time you're exposed. It hurts like hell and itches even worse. This picture is a week after the initial reaction.