My knife builds

[rifletuner]

Nice work!

Thanks mate

 

[rifletuner]

This is one I finished up a month or so back for a customer that needed to replace a knife that went AWOL. The knife was made to order and they chose the pattern out of some options I showed them, and also chose the handle colours. It was a very straight forward build as the brief gave me a fair bit of latitude.

The blade profile is a Nessmuk style skinner with a thumb ramp. The steel is 3mm Nitro V with a full flat grind. The edge is right on 0.2mm and cuts very well. The handle is a tapered tang with orange G10 material, black G10 liners. brass Loveless bolts & brass lanyard tube. Leather work is by a friend.

 

[rifletuner]

This is a knife I just finished for a customer that bought one of my knives at the Sydney knife show last year. He had the knife in his car and it was stolen in a brake-in. He wanted me to remake the knife like the original, but we changed a few things to suit him since it was being specifically made for him this time round. The original knife was one of my bushcrafter profiles, but he used it mainly for game processing and camp chores, so I modified it a little to suit that role a bit better.

The steel is 3mm Nitro V with cryo treatment. The bevel is a high saber grind, and the edge is ground to 0.2mm to make it quite slicey. I would normally grind the profile to more of a spear point, but this has a bit more drop at point to help with game processing. The handle is a tapered tang with Micarta handles, black G10 liners, brass Loveless bolts and brass lanyard tubes. The liners are difficult to see in the pictures, but that was what the customer requested.

 

[rifletuner]

For a while I have wanted to make my version of the Marbles Woodcraft knife. In 1915 Marbles released the Marbles Woodcraft knife and was awarded a patent on the knife in 1916. I decided to make my version of the Woodcraft, but as a full tang knife. I profiled out and fitted bolster and a set of handle scales. But the balance was off and I wasn't happy with the result. I put it aside for a while, but recently decided to remake it. I ground off the bolsters & handles, tapered the tang, then ground the blade down slightly. This version is much better balanced and should be a good worker.

The steel is 5.5mm S35VN. The tapper on the tang and distal taper on the blade remove a lot of the steel, so only a small section in the centre of the knife are still 5.5mm. The blade has a swedge which really gives it a fine point. The edge is a little under .2mm, so it will cut very well.

The handle is a book match piece of gidgee with some nice figure to it. It has fine red G10 liners, brass Loveless bolts and a brass lanyard tube.

 

[rifletuner]

This is one my son profiled out a couple of years back when he was fairly new to making knives - a classic skinner pattern. He did a few knife profiles at the time, and has done more since then so he had a few on the go. He started grinding the bevels on this one, but cocked it up and put it aside to work on other projects. After seeing it in the workshop for a couple of years, I asked him if he was okay with me finishing it off. He said he was fine with that, so I gave it a go.

The steel was 3mm SF100 stainless, but I had to grind about 1mm off in total to clean up the plunge lines to what I liked, so its about 2mm thick now. I have never fixed this problem with the grind before, so I screwed up the order of operations. I ground the bevels even, then ground the plunge lines down to correct them. But I should have done it the other way around. I had to take a lot of the plunge line off one side, so now the bevels are a bit out-of-whack. The knife is still totally usable, but it annoys me knowing it is something I could have done better.

For the handle, I wanted something a bit reminiscent of the Dexter Russel Green River skinner knife, but with a handle that has a shape that is a bit more modem. I had a care package of timber from a friend a few years ago that included a set of rough cut handle scales marked "maybe blue gum". For this project that we a bit of an oddity, the mystery wood seemed to be the right choice. The handle has black G10 liners and copper Loveless bolts. I think the colour combo worked well with the lighter timber.

 

[rifletuner]

This one is my standard hunter pattern, but with a few changes that I think will work out well - though its a bit of an experiment. The blade is a hollow saber grind with a swedge on the spine to help thin down the tip. The hollow grind gives it a nice slicy edge so it will be good for game processing, but not a great option for bushcrafting.

The steel is 3mm Nitro V with a cryo heat treat. The blade is four inches long. The handle has a tapered tang, with orange G10, orange and green G10 liners, stainless Loveless bolts & a stainless lanyard tube.

 

[rifletuner]

December this year marks 35 years that my wife and I have been together, so I decided to make her an anniversary knife. Maybe a bit random, but just something I decided to make for her. The handle colours are some of her favourites, and I tried out some mosaic pins too. She is a keen home cook, so not someone who is going to get upset with her husband for giving her a tool for "housework".

The steel is 3mm Nitro V with a shallow hollow grind. I usually grind a culinary knives very close to a zero edge, but with the hollow I was worried it might be too fragile, so took the edge to 0.2mm. It came up very sharp, so pretty happy with how it turned out. The handle is a tapered tang with G10 handle material, G10 liners and mosaic pins. I played with the handle shaping a lot because I wanted to be sure it would suit a woman's hands. She used it for dinner last night and was happy with the handle and how it cut.

I am in the process of moving all my knife making equipment and dont have my normal photo set up, so apologies if the pictures are a bit sub-par. The lighting wasn't great when I took these.

 

[rifletuner]

I finished the metal work on this knife last year, but had to move all my knife making equipment into a new building in November, so only just got my gear back up and running in the last couple of weeks. Part of the reason for the long transition is that I built a grinding room at the new building. Grinding knives is a messy process and I got dust everywhere at the old site. The new set up is a bit cramped, but at least it catches the dust.

This one is a chefs knife with a 200 mm blade, 50mm deep (at heal) and a euro style handle. I tried to facet the handle, but it didnt come out as pronounced as I wanted. Its okay for a first try, but I think the next time will come out a lot better because I learned a lot doing this one.

The steal is 2.5mm NitroV with a full flat grind which gives a nice distal taper to a fine point. The handle is a tapered tang, stabilised & died birch wood, black G10 liners and nickel silver Corby bolts.

 

[rifletuner]

This is the first knife made entirely in the new workshop since I moved out of the old building last November.

This is a Nesmuk profile skinner pattern, but should be a pretty versatile blade. Steel is 3.5mm NitroV with a full flat grind. Handle is a tapered tang with stabilised gidgee, G10 liners and brass Loveless bolts & lanyard tube.

 

[BBob]

This is the first knife made entirely in the new workshop since I moved out of the old building last November.

It’s about time you got back to work

 

[rifletuner]

It’s about time you got back to work

Hey, Ive been working. I just dont have much to show for it

 

[MightyMatt]

That's an absolutely gorgeous knife bud! You are getting it down to an art these days

 

[MightyMatt]

Looks like it would be at home in a kitchen too

 

[rifletuner]

That's an absolutely gorgeous knife bud! You are getting it down to an art these days

Thanks mate Ive been working to get the handle shape nailed down for a while. Im pretty happy with how it came up.

Looks like it would be at home in a kitchen too

Yeah, I reckon it would be. I think it will do a lot of things well. The edge is pretty thin, so very slicey.

 

[dasblanc]

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.

Beautiful and quality builds for sure. I played around with dolling up a couple cheap blades to practice on to give away to friends certainly not high caliber like yours.

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.

Beautiful and high quality builds for sure. Im always inspired by the knife makers like yourself so last year I played around with dolling up a couple cheap blades to give away to friends.

 

[rifletuner]

Beautiful and quality builds for sure. I played around with dolling up a couple cheap blades to practice on to give away to friends certainly not high caliber like yours.

Beautiful and high quality builds for sure. Im always inspired by the knife makers like yourself so last year I played around with dolling up a couple cheap blades to give away to friends.View attachment 1042258View attachment 1042270View attachment 1042270View attachment 1042258View attachment 1042261

Thanks mate

Its definitely just a matter of making a start and then trying to improve on each one. My first knives were pretty bad. But I have learned a lot over time. Thats the most enjoyable part for me - just seeing the improvement over time and getting feedback from people using them.