My First Knife

[RickAf]

Hi Guys

Thank you for the compliments and for your feedback, it's nice to know I was able to impress some of you guys who have been doing this a while. I really enjoyed making it, and will definitely be making more, the bug has bitten. I have enjoyed making my grinder, and learned a lot while doing that too, now I need to get down to learning how to hollow grind etc.

@ Megalift - Thanks - don't worry I wont be selling it, I have already been advised to keep it by every knifemaker I have met - they all tell me I will regret it in future if I sell it. "You will only ever have one First Knife"
@ JimiW - Hi, yes I did make the sheath, although that was really a quick one I threw together to protect the knife (took about an hour). I did do a fair amount of leatherwork in the past. When I was still shooting competitively I made many belts, holsters, magazine pouches etc, as well as one or two knife sheathes, I still have all of my old leatherworking tools etc. I will still put together a nice sheath for this one, sometime soon.
@ Gizmo - Thanks. How did I inspire you to clean out your shed?

@ Chris - Thanks - I will definitely be continuing, the bug has certainly bitten hard. I attended one knife show last year, and I was blown away by the helpfulness, and willingness to teach, of the guys I spoke to. I spent about two hours talking to one of the guys - he explained how to color titanium, how to do filework etc - and these were really in depth explanations, he drew diagrams, showed me photos etc. I have never experienced this sort of thing in any other sphere. Without exception all of the Knifemakers I have met are really nice, really helpful people!!!!
(BTW - How did you end up in Portugal? Interested since my family is Portuguese)

[case]

very nice,i wish my first knife was that good.you got that guard fitting just right.

[Pegasus]

Hi Guys

Thank you for the compliments and for your feedback, it's nice to know I was able to impress some of you guys who have been doing this a while. I really enjoyed making it, and will definitely be making more, the bug has bitten. I have enjoyed making my grinder, and learned a lot while doing that too, now I need to get down to learning how to hollow grind etc.

@ Megalift - Thanks - don't worry I wont be selling it, I have already been advised to keep it by every knifemaker I have met - they all tell me I will regret it in future if I sell it. "You will only ever have one First Knife"
@ JimiW - Hi, yes I did make the sheath, although that was really a quick one I threw together to protect the knife (took about an hour). I did do a fair amount of leatherwork in the past. When I was still shooting competitively I made many belts, holsters, magazine pouches etc, as well as one or two knife sheathes, I still have all of my old leatherworking tools etc. I will still put together a nice sheath for this one, sometime soon.
@ Gizmo - Thanks. How did I inspire you to clean out your shed?

@ Chris - Thanks - I will definitely be continuing, the bug has certainly bitten hard. I attended one knife show last year, and I was blown away by the helpfulness, and willingness to teach, of the guys I spoke to. I spent about two hours talking to one of the guys - he explained how to color titanium, how to do filework etc - and these were really in depth explanations, he drew diagrams, showed me photos etc. I have never experienced this sort of thing in any other sphere. Without exception all of the Knifemakers I have met are really nice, really helpful people!!!!
(BTW - How did you end up in Portugal? Interested since my family is Portuguese)

Hox Rick

PM sent.

Chris

[pieinthesky]

Can you explain a bit more about how you fitted the guard. Most full tangs I have seen have bolsters which give more scope for pinning, yours is more like a guard/bolster on a stick tang. They must have been carefully fitted and thin pins. Could it come loose with use?

I ask as I have been trying to work out a way of doing something similar.

Great knife - you cant beat a bit of brass

[nicknohair]

Excellent. You should be chuffed. I'm yet to make my first - well done for getting out of the starting blocks. Impressed that you chose to add a guard to your first knife.

[RickAf]

Hi Pieinthesky

No problem, the guard was actually fitted really simply. I cut a rectangular piece of brass (4.5mm thick) from an old brass sliding door gasp. After filing the rectangle to shape, i marked the rear edge, and then marked a centerline from the rear edge inwards, the width of the blade.

Next I marked two lines parallel to and equal distances from the centerline. The gap between the two lines was about 0.2mm less than the thickness of the blade steel (3.5mm). I marked the end of the slot with a perpendicular line. At the end of the marked slot, I drilled a 3.5mm hole on the centerline. Then I clamped the brass vertically in my vice and cut both sides of the slot using a junior hacksaw down to the drilled hole. I now had a slot with a rounded end. Using a set of needle files I squared off the end of the slot and carefully filed the slot until I was able to slide it onto the blade from the front. Once i had the guard fitting tightly and neatly. I superglued it to the blade, then marked and centre punched the location of the two 3mm pin holes, then drilled the two (3mm) holes through the guard and blade. I marked the left side of the blade and guard and removed the guard with acetone and a tap of the hammer. I scraped the dried superglue off the blade and out of the slot with a razor blade

After i got the blade back from heat treating, i sanded it clean on a glass surface block, this reduced the thickness of the blade fractionally, making the guard fit slightly looser, although it was still a fairly neat close fit. After fitting the handle scales and waiting for the epoxy to dry, i drilled out the first 1mm or so of the holes in the guard slightly larger (3.2mm) then mixed up some JB Weld expoxy, I applied the epoxy to the blade and guard, fitted the guard (a tight fit with the epoxy on), using the pins to ensure that the holes were lined up, after which I pushed the guard pins through (3mm brass brazing rod), I left the JB weld to dry for a couple of days to be on the safe side. After this I cut the pins off with about 0.5 to 1mm excess length either side, then peened the pins flat. I used needle files to smooth the peened pins flat then sanded the guard to match the handle scales profile and until the pins were no longer visible.

The guard is mounted pretty solidly, and feels very strong, I doubt it would come loose with use.