My knife builds

[rifletuner]

You do some great look work tuner! Thank you for sharing!

Thanks mate. Appreciate the feedback

 

[rifletuner]

Made this one as an experiment. Its my first try at making a "Tracker knife". I used cheap Chinese 5.5mm stainless for the blade as it is the first go at a prototype and I wasnt sure how well it would come out. I didnt want to waste hundreds on good steel when it might end up in the scrap bin.

The blade is 8Cr14MoV steel, which is similar to AUS-8 stainless. The grind at the front is a scandi style grind for chopping, with a 50mm hollow grind section at the back of the blade which is for tasks such as shaving down branches or feather sticking, etc. The clip point has a swage ground into it, but its a false edge. The handle is burlap micarta with a 3mm g10 liner & G10 pins. I think the ratio is off with the 3mm liner, so will probably use a 2mm liner next time. I wanted a big handle to balance it, but the handle came out a bit oversize.

It came out decently for a first go, but the design still needs more work. I have a couple other versions of a survival knife coming, and am liking them a little bit better so far.

 

[rifletuner]

This is a bowie made from 5.5mm S35VN steel with a sabre grind bevel and a harpoon grind on the swage. The handle is olive wood given to me by a friend, with black G10 liners brass pins & lanyard tube, with a hand rubbed Aussie Oil finish.

 

[TxxAgg]

That olive wood and black spacer combo looks good!

 

[rifletuner]

That olive wood and black spacer combo looks good!

Thanks mate

 

[rifletuner]

Late last year I made my first chefs knife & gave it to my step mother for Christmas. This year I decided to make chefs knives for my two brothers and sisters in law. I asked each of them for their favourite colours, so ended up with blue and pink for one couple, and orange and green for the other couple.

I like making these knives, but phuk is there some grinding to get them done. I start by getting the the profiled blade in 4mm AEB-L heat treated. To get a nice lively & functional blade, I start off grinding a full flat bevel which also gives the blade a distal taper, then grind in a hollow for the "S" grind which lightens up the blade some more and helps with food release, then taper the tang to balance out the blade. I probably grind away 50% of the steel, though I keep forgetting to weigh one before and after grinding.

Then with their colour preferences I had to work out the best way to incorporate the colours into the handles. I had a piece of stabilised maple with blue and pink die through it that I used for one, though unfortunately a lot of the pink in the wood ended up getting ground out of it during the shaping of the handle. I added pink liners, and really wanted to use pink pins as well, but no one in Australia sells them. I could have got them overseas, but left my run too late form them to arrive in time. For the other handle, I made a segmented handle by cutting & joining orange and green G10 on a fine black liner, then glued them up with contrasting orange & green G10 pins.

The whole process took me a lot longer than I expected and I was a bit worried I wouldnt get them done in time. But I finished them yesterday, and will give them out at a family dinner tonight.

 

[BBob]

As always, awesome work

 

[rifletuner]

As always, awesome work

Thanks mate

 

[rifletuner]

If you dont know the story of Harry Wolhuter and his "lion killer" knife, its definitely worth a read: https://southafrica.co.za/legend-of-harry-wolhuter.html

The knife itself was made by Thomas Williams Butchers Cutler in London and was from a pattern commonly used for slaughtering sheep in the 1800s. I used the template produced by Pops Knife Supply: https://popsknife.supplies/pages/lion-killer to make my knife.

The blade is 3mm SF100 stainless, with a full flat grind and a tapered tang. The handle is gidgee scales with thin red G10 liners, brass pins & a brass mosaic lanyard tube. Handle finish is hand rubbed Aussie oil.

 

[BBob]

I like that shape. Very cool, keep them coming

Btw the Wolhuter link is listed twice in a row back to back so it fails.

https://southafrica.co.za/legend-of-harry-wolhuter.html

 

[rifletuner]

I like that shape. Very cool, keep them coming

Btw the Wolhuter link is listed twice in a row back to back so it fails.

https://southafrica.co.za/legend-of-harry-wolhuter.html

Thanks mate. And thanks for the heads-up about the screwed up link

 

[rifletuner]

I just finished the handle and put and edge on this yesterday, though really did most of the work last year. I guess you call it a "survival knife". I made it as an attempt at a "one tool knife" for the bush.

The blade is 5.5mm 8Cr14MoV which is a cheap Chinese stainless steel that I used for the prototype. Its ground with a saber grind to keep a lot of strength in the blade. The finger choil helps with controlling the blade in a choke grip for finer tasks like cutting up an animal. The jimping on the clip also help with holding the blade near the tip for fine cuts. The centred point lets you do wood working tasks like drilling a divot in a bit of wood for a bow drill. The handle is slightly tapered to help balance up the knife.

The handle is black / green layered G10 with fine orange G10 liners. The fasteners are Loveless bolts and the handle is finished with Danish oil.

 

[lhbackcountry]

I have posted a few of my knives in the past, but thought I would start a thread to keep all my builds together.

This one is pretty different design to anything I have done before. Its inspired by a guy on another forum who had something like this custom made for slicing ribs of pig carcases. The design intrigued me, so I decided to make a version of it for myself. Its designed to be gripped with both hands if required, but I can easily work with it in one hand.

Towards the end of 2020, covid related shortages were starting to hit and some knife steels were in pretty short supply here in Australia and I grabbed a length of what was available at the time, thinking it might be my only chance for a while. So I ended up with a meter of 5.25mm CPM 3V. Then I realised the knife I was planning to make was a bit beyond me at that point, and the steel sat around unused for around 18 months.

To use some of the 3V up, I thought this project might be just the thing. I have never used 3V before, and boy was this build an experience. Its extremely abrasion resistant, and it really shows in several steps in the making process. I assumed it would be similar to the stainless steels I normally work with, but in hind sight, I should have done a lot more finishing work pre heat treat. Because once this was hardened, I found it has been VERY difficult hand sand.

The blade is a full flat grind, with the normal distal taper on the blade. Since the steel is so thick, I tapered the tang to take a bit of weight out of the back end and help the balance of the knife. That leaves just a small section towards the centre of the knife where the handle meets the blade which is the full 5.25mm thickness. It worked out pretty well I think, as the balance feels good. Handle material is black micarta with red G10 liners and brass Corby bolts, so it should be pretty solid. Because it is intended to chop through bone in processing animals, I only took the edge down to 1mm thickness which should be pretty durable.

The last photo shows the sanded finish on the blade which has the scratches much more visible than would normally be the case when I finish a knife. I tried for 2 days to sand the bevel to an 800 grit finish, but in the end I conceded defeat and just gave up. Even when I put an edge on the knife it was harder than normal. I will usually start grinding the secondary bevel with either 240 grit, or 400 grit. For this one, I started with a 120 grit belt, but after 20 passes on each side, it was barely making an impact. I had to go to a 60 grit ceramic belt just to get the edge started. But that did the job, and its come up with a pretty nice edge.

You might need change your name to knifetuner. These look good

 

[rifletuner]

You might need change your name to knifetuner. These look good

Thanks mate

 

[rifletuner]

Had another go at a woodlore bushcrafter knife. The steel is NitroV with a saber grind. The tang is tapered down to under 1mm which is the thinnest I have ever gone. Handle is micarta with a .5mm orange and .5mm white G10 liner with Loveless bolts.

 

[rifletuner]

At the end of 2022, I gave my step mother the first chefs knife I ever made for Christmas. Since then she has told me she loves the knife, and when I went over for the 2023 family Christmas dinner she asked me to make her a smaller knife as a companion knife to go with the big chefs knife.

This one is a Japanese style "Petty" knife from VG10 San Mai random pattern stainless Damascus. Its a hidden tang reverse tanto shape with an S grind. The hollow grind through the centre-line changes the Damascus pattern from what you see on the straight spin and at the edge of the blade.

The handle is a Europeanised version of a "Wa" handle (wa handle translates to Japanese handle). Its Hairy Oak with white and green G10 spacers and a black G10 knife ferrule.

 

[Jason Snyder]

Wow. Great work. Love the HFB model.

 

[rifletuner]

Wow. Great work. Love the HFB model.

Thanks mate

 

[TrendyRendy]

I like it!

 

[rifletuner]

I like it!

Thanks mate