My knife builds

[BBob]

The steel is NitroV stainless with cryo treatment as part of the heat treat process

First off another cool knife! On to the question. Do you notice a difference with the cryo treated steel as opposed to non-cryo as far as grinding, forming the blade?

 

[rifletuner]

First off another cool knife! On to the question. Do you notice a difference with the cryo treated steel as opposed to non-cryo as far as grinding, forming the blade?

Thanks mate

I would love to say they I can tell the difference, but the reality is that I cant tell any difference. I started getting the cryo done this year, and it seems to be worth it to get the best out of the stainless steels that I use. But even that is difficult to quantify, aside from differences with Rockwell testing. Much harder to evaluate in performance, but indications are better edge holding which is the theoretical advantage of cryo.

I profile out my blade shapes and drill all the holes pre-heat treat. Then I do all the other work like grinding bevels and tapering tangs post heat treat. I have settled on a grit progression where I do most of my grinding with a ceramic 36 or 50 grit belt, then when the edge is a little under one millimetre, I switch to a ceramic 80 grit belt to start cleaning up the scratches. when I get to .5mm or even .4mm, I switch to a 120 grit ceramic belt. The coarse belt really rips through the steel and I cant really tell anything across the different steels, even the very abrasion resistant steels like Magnacut or 3V feel about the same. I can see it with the super steels in hand sanding, but not grinding.

 

[Davyalabama]

This is a bit of a design tweak on a knife I have made once before. The blade shape gives it a good drop point and also plenty of belly, so hopefully a good all round field prep knife.

The steel is 2.5mm N690 stainless. I have taken the edge down to 0.2mm, and the point has a good taper on it, so it should slice well, and also poke into game easily. The handle is green G10, with orange G10 liners & pins.

Those larger bellies do have a place in the cutting world. I've noticed a lot of your knives, really nice work.

 

[Davyalabama]

These are a couple more willow leaf knives I finished last week. As with the last one I posted, the steel is 2.5mm N690 stainless. As with the last one, I have taken the edge down to 0.2mm, and the point has a good taper on it, so it should slice well, and also be pretty pointy. Both have handles in G10, with G10 liners & pins. One of the last things I did was make kydex sheaths for these right before I went to the show.

Yep, that orange one is a good design from you.

 

[rifletuner]

Those larger bellies do have a place in the cutting world. I've noticed a lot of your knives, really nice work.

Thanks mate

 

[rifletuner]

Yep, that orange one is a good design from you.

Thanks mate

 

[rifletuner]

This is a knife I finished a while ago. Its a bit of an experiment, and Im pretty happy with how it turned out. Its a jumbo sized general purpose kitchen knife, somewhat based on a K tip gyuto. This blade is a bit on the long side, but sometimes I just get an idea in my head and have to see how it turns out when I make it.

The steel is 8Cr14MoV which is a budget Chinese copy of 440C stainless. Its actually a tough steel that takes a good edge. The knife is a full tang with 5.5mm spine at the balance point of the knife, but with a distal taper on the blade and a tapered tang to keep it feeling a bit more lively. Even though its a long knife, its not excessively heavy and should be a very good slicer. The blade is a flat grind down to a zero edge, so very thin at the cutting edge. Ive included a photo that attempts to show the geometry of the bevel down to the edge. The handle is stabilised gidgee with red liners and brass pins.

 

[BBob]

Took a minute but I kinda warmed up to the shape. Sort of cleaver/knife looking I like that thin long taper flat grind to the sharp edge. That probably takes some talent and practice to grind a long tall edge like that.

It needs to be showcased in a serial killer movie

 

[rifletuner]

Took a minute but I kinda warmed up to the shape. Sort of cleaver/knife looking I like that thin long taper flat grind to the sharp edge. That probably takes some talent and practice to grind a long tall edge like that.

It needs to be showcased in a serial killer movie

Thanks mate

Just wait until you see the 57th instalment of "Friday the 13th". It will be featured for sure

 

[rifletuner]

I finished off another boner just before Christmas. The steel is AEBL, with a shallow hollow grind bevel. It has a tapered tang, with black and orange G10 handles, fine G10 liners and G10 pins. Its the first time I have used this handle material - I thought it came up well with the orange and green liners.

 

[rifletuner]

This knife is an "American tanto" style knife that I made for a friend from an offcut of VG10 random pattern Damascus. This steel has to be etched to bring the pattern out, and usually I use hydrochloric acid as I have found ferric chloride is pretty useless for etching stainless.

A few years ago, Baker Forge started marketing a bottled etchant under the brand name "Gator Piss" for the Damascus they make. Its had a good reputation with knife makers, and over the last couple of years Gator Piss has been available in most countrys under some sort licensing arrangement. Late in 2024, Gator Piss made its way to Australia, so I decided to give it a try. Wasnt sure what to expect, so just did what the instructions told me. I ended up giving this one 4 cycles of 20 minutes each in the etchant, and am pretty happy with how it came up.

Anyhow, this knife is a small EDC sized knife with a 3" blade. The edge is a compound grind bevel, with a hollow grind on the main edge, and a flat grind on the short edge up to the point. The handle has a tapered tang, with flat dark earth G10 handle material with a textured finish and black G10 liners & pins.

 

[BBob]

this knife is a small EDC sized knife with a 3" blade

That one is super cool! Sounds like a lot of work on that one with the different grinds and the other details. Fantastic looking knife

 

[rifletuner]

That one is super cool! Sounds like a lot of work on that one with the different grinds and the other details. Fantastic looking knife

Thanks mate

One by-product of the different grinds is that it brings out the steel pattern in deferent ways, so works nicely with the Damascus as well as being a useful for the knife style.

 

[rifletuner]

I found another set of luminous handle material that I had to try. This is the third different set of luminous material that I have tried. This one glows very well, but needs to be exposed to a fair bit of light first. The material is a little different to look at and to work with compared to the other luminous material I have used before. It seems to be flakes of luminous material mixed into some sort of resin. The handles are very hard and take a lot of sanding to finish well. They look a bit plain in the day light, but really come to life when they are in the dark.

This knife is a version of my hunter pattern, but with a bit more drop at point than normal. The steel is 3.5mm Nitro V with cryo treatment. The blade is a full flat grind. The handle is a tapered tang, with the luminous resin scales, green G10 liners and stainless Loveless bolts & lanyard tube.

The bottom two pictures show the handle in a dark passageway, then sitting on a bench top in a completely dark room.

 

[Davyalabama]

Yeah baby, come to pappa ----

 

[rifletuner]

Yeah baby, come to pappa ----

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

This one glows very well, but needs to be exposed to a fair bit of light first.

I'd be interesting to see what reaction exposure to a headlamp for a while (like butchering at dusk) would have, does it glow if you set it off to the side? That'd be handy.

 

[rifletuner]

I'd be interesting to see what reaction exposure to a headlamp for a while (like butchering at dusk) would have, does it glow if you set it off to the side? That'd be handy.

That sort of exposure should definitely give it some glow. Its like the luminous markers on a watch dial. Even if I walk outside in bright sun light, then walk into a dark building, I get some glow. Once its been exposed to light and has some glow, it will keep glowing for a while if you put it down.

 

[Bassman]

I finished off another boner just before Christmas. The steel is AEBL, with a shallow hollow grind bevel. It has a tapered tang, with black and orange G10 handles, fine G10 liners and G10 pins. Its the first time I have used this handle material - I thought it came up well with the orange and green liners.

This is a georgous build. I really like the drop of the heel with small bolster, I've been looking for something similar. Would you be able to share some measurements? No worries, if you'd prefer to keep that proprietary.

 

[rifletuner]

I did a bit of reprofiling on this design. I wanted to slim it down a little and make it a good "do it all" field prep knife. Its sort of part boner and part hunter.

The steel is 3mm Nitro V with cryo treatment. The blade is a full flat grind, with a nice distal taper down to the point. The handle is a tapered tang, with Tiffany blue G10 handle scales, black g10 liners and stainless Loveless bolts.