My knife builds

[rifletuner]

Thanks mate

He had a lot of people look at it over the weekend, but it was still on the table Sunday afternoon. He was getting a bit disappointed it hadnt sold, when all of a sudden he got two buyers and sold two of his knives within 5 minutes.

 

[rifletuner]

Despite the Ray Mears Woodlore style knife not being terribly popular in Aus, I still like making them. I love the design and find it challenging to do these well. Freehanding a Scandi grind is the most difficult grind I have tried.

This one is 3.2mm Nitro V steel with a Scandi grind bevel with a cryo treatment during heat treat. The handle is a taperd tang with camo G10 scales, white and orange G10 liners, brass Loveless bolts and a brass lanyard tube. Also includes a shot of the leather sheath.

 

[highcountrymuley]

Nice work! I love those handles

 

[rifletuner]

Nice work! I love those handles

Thanks mate

 

[rifletuner]

I have made a couple of chefs knives from VG10 stainless Damascus this year. I sold one at the outdoor expo in March before I could even get photos of it. I had this one at the Melbourne knife show, but it didnt sell. Its a very light slicey knife, very well balanced and cuts like a laser.

This one is a "K tip" style knife in 2.5mm stainless Damascus. The bevel is a full flat grind with a very slight hollow ground in. Its sort of an "S grind", but very subtle because the hollow cant get ground too far in 2.5mm steel. The handle is a tapered tang, with red G10 scales, red and green G10 liners and G10 pins.

 

[rifletuner]

Some might remember that I made a version of this knife at the beginning of 2023. At the time, it was one of the best knives I hade made, but of course when I look at the original now, its got a lot of problems. So I decided to remake it just to have finished a better quality version of this design. I took this to the Melbourne knife show and it got a bit of attention on the table, but more as a curiosity.

The steel is 5.5mm N690 stainless. The bevel is a full flat grind with a swedge on the spine to taper the tip. The finger choil on the ricasso lets you use a two handed grip if you need to swing the blade for a chopping motion with a bit of leverage. The handle is micarta with a red G10 liner, brass Loveless bolts and a brass lanyard tube.

 

[rifletuner]

For a while now, my son has been experimenting with paracord wrapped knife designs. He has made a few different variations, all 3" or less blades, paracord wrapped handle in a kydex sheath out of stainless steels like AEB-L and NitroV. They make a very light weight, handy knife that you can zip-tie onto a bino harness and always have when you are our bush. These are a few of the designs he has been trying recently:

 

[ALhunter425]

As someone who has tons of experience with different knife steels, what is your favorite steel to sharpen? I much prefer routine sharpening with natural stones over having a tough steel that requires diamond plates to put an edge on them. So, typically if i have a choice I will choose a carbon steel knife over most other options.

 

[rifletuner]

As someone who has tons of experience with different knife steels, what is your favorite steel to sharpen? I much prefer routine sharpening with natural stones over having a tough steel that requires diamond plates to put an edge on them. So, typically if i have a choice I will choose a carbon steel knife over most other options.

Hi mate

As a very generalised statement, high carbon steels are much easier to sharpen with stones vs stainless steels which tend to have higher hardness. I have had good results sharpening knives in 12C27, AEBL and even Elmax with Japanese stones. But it gets much more difficult as you get into steels like S35VN, or Magnacut, etc.

But it also depends on how they are heat treated and whether the steel was cryogenically treated as part of the process. If you get even a lower end stainless that was hardened to a high Rockwell and cryogenically treated, they will be more difficult to hand sharpen. Generally, I just use an electric sharpener and stropping to put an edge on any stainless knife.

 

[rifletuner]

I decided to try something a bit different. I wanted a smaller knife that would do a lot of different jobs, but be small and light to carry. Something unobtrusive. The blade is 3 inches long, and the overall length of the knife is 7.5 inches.

The steel is 3mm Nitro V. The bevel is a high saber grind with a swedge to keep the tip slender. The handle is walnut with liners in red, white & blue, brass Loveless bolts and a brass lanyard tube. For the liners I was thinking Aus flag colours, but of course it could also be USA, France, Russia, or any number of other countries with the same colour combo. The handle is on the smaller side, but still manageable for even fairly big hands (and for reference, my hands are pretty average size). The handle has 7 coats of oil rubbed in. This was a new finish to me, and in hind sight I probably could have added a couple more coats.

 

[rifletuner]

I bought a different pattern of VG10 stainless Damascus to try. Its similar to the random pattern I have used before, but with more contrast with straight lines in the pattern. And I picked up some water buffalo handle material at the Melbourne knife show to try.

As mentioned, the steel is VG 10 Damascus etched in Gator Piss. The bevel is a full flat grind. The handle material is buffalo horn with red G10 liners, brass Loveless bolts and brass lanyard tube. The handle has been hand sanded to 1000 grit, then buffed and waxed. The photos show a lot of reflection on the handle material - its quite shiny.

 

[ahawk116]

Wow, I’m a fan of the buffalo handle. Turned out sharp man.

 

[rifletuner]

Wow, I’m a fan of the buffalo handle. Turned out sharp man.

Thanks mate

 

[Dsiv]

That buffalo handle is slick. The Damascus blade is just beautiful!

 

[rifletuner]

That buffalo handle is slick. The Damascus blade is just beautiful!

Thanks mate