Anyone like to build knives?

[keefallan]

I should be working on my crossflow motor. But, its starting to get too close to the holidays. So, over the last weekend, I figured to get some of my Christmas gifts done before I felt rushed.

Building knives is a hobby of mine(I probably have too many hobbies). And I enjoy giving them as gifts.......its a usable gift, and the blanks I use are really good steel. Some in the past have been damascus. But these here are not. I do have one Damascus blade to build for the missus before the 25th though.

These are the blanks. The chefs knives are decent steel. I am using the two utility knives as steak knives for my mom and dad....one of the chefs knives as well.
The wood I chose is Chechen. It is in the Rosewood family and I have some exotic wood blanks in the shop.

Here, I had to relieve the back area of the scales to clear the weld at the back of the knife handle. After I did the first set, I remembered I had a router..........DOH!!




I am laminating a dyed strip of wood to the inside of the scales for the steak knives...........blue for dad and pink for mom. That way they cant argue over who's knife is who's

Btw, 5 min epoxy is my epoxy of choice. I wipe down the scales with Acetone to remove any oil in the rosewood.......like you would do with teak. The blanks get roughed up with course grit paper and then wiped down with Acetone.

I had to fit the scales for the mosaic pins. Its a nice touch and it helps keep them secured. I drilled them out and then it was glue time. I realized this morning that I didnt take any pics of the glue ups. i dont know how that slipped my attention. Sorry about that.



Here is the scales fitted to the chefs knives but before glue ups and drilling for the mosaic pins.

Here is the completed knife handles for mom and dad. I sanded the handles a little too far for the blue knife or not enough for the pink. But either way, they are perfectly smooth and finished, and no one would notice unless sitting side by side like this.


Here's a close up of the finished handles with the mosaic pin installed. They turned out really nice and the grain of the wood is really good as well. They look even better in person.

And this is the finished product. I ended up buffing one of the chefs knives and leaving the other one brushed.

Thanks for looking!!

[CDave]

Nice work on the handles. If I was younger and healthier I'd have a small forge and make knives.

That wood reminds me of Goncalo Alves; a.k.a. Tigerwood. I have a neck made of it on one of my guitars. It's also used for pistol grips.
https://www.cookwoods.com/collections/goncalo-alves
https://www.woodcraft.com/products/g...0-63452584f520

This is the guitar with the Goncalo neck. Fret board is ebony and the body it made of Bubinga. Gotta be the heaviest Strat in the world.

[InjectorService]

Cool hobby and great looking knives, I always dream of doing stuff like this, just don't have the time or patience.

[rock]

I would love to try forging. With my shoulders and no power hammer it's not gonna happen. Good looking knives.

Rock

[keefallan]

Nice work on the handles. If I was younger and healthier I'd have a small forge and make knives.

That wood reminds me of Goncalo Alves; a.k.a. Tigerwood. I have a neck made of it on one of my guitars. It's also used for pistol grips.
https://www.cookwoods.com/collections/goncalo-alves
https://www.woodcraft.com/products/g...0-63452584f520

This is the guitar with the Goncalo neck. Fret board is ebony and the body it made of Bubinga. Gotta be the heaviest Strat in the world.

I almost bought some goncalo alves blanks when I bought the ones I do have. I cant remember why I didnt get it. But your guitar rocks......heavy or not.

[keefallan]

I would love to try forging. With my shoulders and no power hammer it's not gonna happen. Good looking knives.

Rock

I'm with ya on trying forging. I said no to it because, I have too many hobbies, and I decided to draw the line somewhere. The irony is, I know I would love it.

[keefallan]

I go thru seasons with what I like doing at the time.........engine building, woodworking, outboards, and restoring/painting. I havent messed with wood for a good long while(winter). and when I built these last week, it was a relaxing saturday............I forgot how much I loved building with wood.

My next wood project? A wood speed boat....I have a big bore 175 to bolt on or a 77 chrysler 135 that just needs going thru. I am undecided(at this point)which one. I need to decide on the plans etc first.

[gotboostedvr6]

Since I've been laid off I've been grinding like a maniac.

[gotboostedvr6]

I made the blade on the left when I was 11 years old. It was a broken folder welded to a file handle with purple heart scale. It was my first attempt at a knife.

The blade on the right is where I'm at now.

[keefallan]

You'll keep that 11 year old's knife with ya to the grave wont ya? I dont blame ya a bit. You should build an acrylic trophy box for that....

[gotboostedvr6]

Yup. Staying as is. No glue and all. I cut up all kinds of **** that summer. You can see the small, original pivot hole and file grooves in this pic. I even used "mosaic" pins lol.

[rock]

So are these blanks a high quality and at what level of completion. I'm a retired cabinet maker with a lot of extra wood. If you could post a link to a good supplier I would appreciate it.

Rock

[gotboostedvr6]

I use D2
https://www.alphaknifesupply.com/shop/d2-carbon-steel

[gotboostedvr6]

D2 is corrosion resistant, durable, and overly tough but low cost.


What kind of grinding equipment do you have?

[rock]

Right now I have a pedestal grinder with 2 wheels and a couple belt sanders. I have always known you have to have the tools to do the job correctly and in a timely manner. If I don't have what I need I will acquire it. Thanks for the link.

Rock