All About Pocket Knives

Well....It's done....sorta'. I've still got to disassemble the whole thing and heat treat the blade, but you can get the general idea. I'm still not too happy with the proportions of the handle vs. the blade. The "curb appeal" is missing that I was looking for.....but for a first time knife...???

I think the three cutlery rivets it will have when finished will add to the overall look. I picked up some leather, so a scabard (sp?) is in the offing soon.

looks very good dewman!

Hey, For a first, second, or a knife made in the first year, you did good. Trouble is, now you're HOOKED for life. Keep on going, join knifenetwork.com and take some online classes where you build a knife along with an instructor, seems like they have a half dozen or so per year. They do have some big time full time knifemakers there. I went ahead and put that site out there since their venue is so different than ours. Keep up the good work, if you need a souce for heat treating 1095, make a post and I and some others may be able to find someone, many that do HT (heat treating) will only do certain metals. 1095 is not considered difficult so not all do that one. I do have a HT book for ferrous metal and nonferrous. They usualy run $249 each (not a typo). I found mine at Amazon.com for about $40.0 each, but it took over a yar of lookng, they just don't come up at a low price very often.

For a first time knife you did great! Keep us posted.

Nice looking knife dewman!
Keep up the good work.
I always learn something new with each knife I make. I have lost track of how many I have made or repaired, but I am still learning. That is what makes this hobby so appealing to me.

You did a good job.
Dale

Thanks for the encouragement, guys. Sorry for not posting it on the right forum. I just noticed there was a more appropriate section for this sort of thing.

Dewman

That is really nice.

Great job,Dewman!!

Well....I never got back and posted what the finished product looked like. And for good reason. My friend in California told me how to make a forge that would get hot enough to bring the blade to the proper temperature. It involves using fire brick to form a small forge arrangment. IIRC, it takes about 14 brick. I used a piece of sheet metal supported on each end with saw horses, formed the forge with the brick, filled the inside with charcoal brickets, lit them with a propane torch and inserted the blade. I had a bread pan willed with 30 wt. motor oil ready and waiting, along with a cradle made from a wire coat hanger to hold the blade verticle when quenching. Now here's where I went wrong and didn't follow his instructions. I had placed the blade in the forge HORIZONTALLY, then blew air into the forge with a hair blower. Believe me, this will produce a really, REALLY hot fire. When the blade was a white hot color, I took it out, placed it in the cradle and gave it a slight dip in the oil, edge only, for about one second, pulled it back out for a couple of seconds, then plunged the entire blade into the oil. It came out looking very good except for one thing. It was warped because I failed to keep it verticle in the forge!

If I had been using my head, I could have repeated the process and probably taken out the warp before hardening the blade again....but NOOOOO, not anxious me! For some reason that bears resemblance to stupidity, I tried to straighten it out with my hands AFTER it had been hardened. Well, no need to tell you what happened. SNAP! It broke clean as a whistle. To say I was grief stricken is lacking. I was so proud of my first attempt at the entire process....from an old worn out file, to de-tempering it, shaping it, buffing it to a mirror finish, then building the forge and actually doing my own hardening. But....I'm as stubborn as they come and my learning curve, for most of my life has been a 90 degree angle. I'll try again. Next time, I WILL have a knife to show and tell. And I've put aside a magnificent piece of elk antler for the next one.

Dang it! No....DOUBLE DANG IT....or words to that effect.