My knife builds

[rifletuner]

So this is another version of the knife I made last year. I wanted to see what I could do with the profile.

I bought a set of Chinesium handle scale material that is supposed to glow in the dark, so thought it might make a a handy knife for breaking down animals if you are taking a shot on twilight, or spotlighting, thermalling, whatever. It turned out okay, but its not nearly as visible in the dark as I had expected. The photo below is deceiving as it makes the handles look very visible, but to the naked eye it doesnt look anywhere near as visible..

Anyhow, the blade is NitroV with a full flat grind and tapered tang. The handles have a .5mm black G10 liner and Loveless bolts.

 

[rifletuner]

Another variation on a knife I have made a few times now. I am going to have to come up with a name because I think I will be making a few more soon.

Second time working with VG10 Damascus steel. The layers are slightly off centre which is a bit of a pain. Luckily it has enough core steel to sharpen up with a good edge. Last time I etched Damascus, I left it a bit too long and it etched pretty deep. This time I etched it for much shorter periods. Its probably a little under done this time. I will maybe split the difference next time. The blade is a full flat grind with a tapered tang. Handle is African ebony with thin red G10 liners, mosaic pins and a hand rubbed oil finish.

 

[BBob]

Very nice!

 

[rifletuner]

Very nice!

Thanks mate

 

[rifletuner]

Another version of my small bowie. Its intended to be a good general duty knife - good for carcass breakdown, but still get you through general chores, basic bush crafting, etc. One knife to carry in the pack and do it all, or most anyway.

The blade is 3mm NitroV steel with a full flat grind. The tang is tapered and the handle is gidgee with 1mm G10 red liners, brass Loveless bolts and brass lanyard tube & a 10 coat hand rubbed oil finish.

 

[rifletuner]

So after making my last attempt at a night visible knife, I was asked by someone to make the same knife for them. I wasn't entirely happy with the last handle material, so did some some more searching online and found what seemed like a good alternative and ordered a set to try.

This new handle material has decent luminosity - the best I have found so far. I would rate it similar to good luminosity on a watch. The material is a little softer than I would like. Its fine for use on a knife, but I have to watch it when I grind the shape on the handle as the belt rips material off quicker than I am used to.

The blade is 3mm NitroV with a tapered tang and a distal taper to a pretty sharp point. The handle is luminous Chinesium with an orange G10 liner and Loveless bolts. I was also asked to make a Kydex belt sheath, so did it in orange in keeping with the high viz theme. It was only at the last minute while I was taking photos that I realised I got a bit ahead of myself at glue-up of the handles and forgot to engrave my logo on the blade. I will get a friend to laser etch my mark because I dont like to electro etch the blade once the handles are on.

Very happy with the edge on this one. Should be a great user knife for the hunter its going to.

 

[rifletuner]

I had another go at making a boner pattern. The steel on this one is 2.5mm NitroV. I bought a radius platen that replicates a 72" wheel, so this has a very subtle hollow grind. It actually looks like a flat grind, but I am hoping the minimal radius gives it an extra sharp edge while still keeping the edge fairly strong. The edge seems to have come up fairly sharp, so hopefully its very slicey on game. The handle is black micarta with a thick orange G10 liner and orange G10 pins.

 

[rifletuner]

I wanted to do this bushcrafter as a scandi grind this time around, but I find them very hard to freehand grind. I screwed it up by taking the grind down too far, so took it to a high saber grind instead. It also the first of this pattern bushcrafter that I have done that doesnt have a wood handle. As much as I like wood, I wanted to see how it would come up with synthetic handles this time. I also go a bit ahead of my self at glue up and forgot to etch my makers mark. I will get it lazered on by a friend as I dont like etching a finished knife.

The blade is 4mm N690 steel, with a tapered tang. Handle is camo G10 with a tin white liner and an orange liner, with brass Corby bolts and brass layard tube.

 

[JF_Idaho]

I had another go at making a boner pattern.

Your blades are definitely giving me a boner pattern.

Great work!

 

[rifletuner]

Your blades are definitely giving me a boner pattern.

Great work!

Thanks mate. Cant complain about a boner

 

[gdfr9]

Good looking knives you got there. Classics.

 

[rifletuner]

Good looking knives you got there. Classics.

Thanks mate. Appreciate the feedback

 

[rifletuner]

This one is 3mm NitroV steel, with a full flat grind and a tapered tang. Handles are an Australian native timber called Spotted Gum, with red G10 liners, brass Loveless bolts & brass lanyard tube. The pattern of this knife draws very heavily from the Bark River Gunny Hunter.

I had some Auctioneers Promise red oil and gun stock oil sitting here and have been thinking about trying it on a knife handle for a while. I had been a bit nervous about the red oil in particular as I didnt want it to dominate the colour of the handle timber by darkening it too much. I was initially a bit underwhelmed with the spotted gum after I hand sanded it, as it just looked like a very plain piece of light wood. I hit it with one coat of red oil and it was amazing how it brought the figure out in the wood. I stopped after a second coat of red oil, then gave it 14 coats of the gun stock oil and think it came up great.

 

[Huntndog]

Beautiful knife! Would love to buy one . Do you have a website yet?

 

[rifletuner]

Beautiful knife! Would love to buy one . Do you have a website yet?

Thanks mate. No, I have been a bit slow and haven't gotten a site on line as yet. I will hopefully get one online sometime later this year.

 

[Jason Snyder]

I love that spotted gum handle.

 

[WBrim]

Thanks mate. No, I have been a bit slow and haven't gotten a site on line as yet. I will hopefully get one online sometime later this year.

I’ll be keeping an eye out for that! This fall, my oldest son has his first tag, and I would love to buy him one of your knives.

 

[rifletuner]

I love that spotted gum handle.

Thanks mate. I appreciate the feedback. It helps me understand what people like. It can be surprising to me sometimes what people like and dont like. It all helps me anyhow

 

[Jason Snyder]

Thanks mate. I appreciate the feedback. It helps me understand what people like. It can be surprising to me sometimes what people like and dont like. It all helps me anyhow

You bet. Let me know when you’re set up to sell in the US. Or if you need a beta tester

 

[rifletuner]

No new knives in this post, but pretty happy to have achieved a goal around 10 days ago. For the last 18 months I have been working towards becoming a member of the Australian Knifemakers Guild. The Guild has two categories of knife makers, a Probationary Member and a Full Member. There is a third category Life Member if selected & voted for by the membership, but there are only a handful of these. At a high level, you can think of it in terms of a Probationary Member being an entry level knife maker, and a full member is an advanced knife maker. Thats not a perfect description, but its near enough.

To advance to these levels, there is a formal checklist of requirements (see here if interested https://akg.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/FULL-DOC-Assessment-Checklist-for-Guild-Membership.pdf). To get to Probationary membership, you need to present 3 knives for assessment and achieve a mark of 10 out of 20 for each knife. Once you are a Probationary Member, you can sit for Full Member a minimum of 12 months later and need to achieve a minimum of 18 out of 20 for each of the 3 knives, but there are also specific things you need on the assessment knives that are not required for the probationary test.

I have been working for a while to get 3 knives to have assessed, but I keep on picking some fault and deciding its not at the standard required. Occasionally I have a really fantastic knife finished that I am super happy with, but its promised to someone with a very close deadline, so I cant hang onto it until I have the other knives I need to make up the set of three for assessment.

Anyhow, I finally booked a date to go see Adam Parker, one of 2 Guild assessors in Victoria, and a guy with over 30 years of knife making experience. Adam is between Geelong and Ballarat, and with the traffic on Wednesday, it took me 3 hours each way to go see him.

I had a couple of knives that I recently finished, plus I was planning to use a kitchen knife I just finished a day before the appointment. But I found a few scratches on the blade that I wasn't happy with, so at the last minute I took a survival knife I finished a few months ago to make up the required knives.

At the end of the assessment process, I ended up scoring 16 out of 20 for the survival knife, 18 out of 20 for the bushcrafter, and 20 out of 20 for the hunter. So as of Wednesday, I am a Probationary Member of the Australian Knifemakers Guild!