Alex Middleton

Don't be shy Cory. The whole point of these KITHs is to force yourself outside of your comfort zone and try something you've never done before. It's not necessarily about the blade itself, but more about the journey behind it. My work doesn't hold a candle to some of these guys either, but nobody's ever complained......

I just started a 2021 KITH thread and put Design by Committee as an idea. Even if it doesn't make it as this years theme, I'd totally be up for doing something like that. Reminds me of the "Beginners Challenge" that@Joshua States started.

I saw KITH mentioned on a different thread, and realized that nobody had started a thread for discussing this year's theme. I'm still bummed that I wasn't able to participate last year, and I'm really looking forward to this year. @Alan Longmire, we may need a new forum. I'll kick it off with two suggestions: 1. Shop tools. This has come up the last couple of years, and I really think it could be fun. Could be woodworking, leatherworking, forging, or some other sort of custom made tool. Doesn't necessarily have to be a knife per se, but something that takes some o

Now that sounds like fun!

All that matters. Nice job!

I love the fact that you're willing to completely destroy a completely finished blade. I wish I could say the same. You can't leave us hanging though. Did it pass?

All I can say is WOW! That's a beautiful knife!

Overall I like it. It should be a pretty good general use type of blade. I think Brian is spot on with the handle though. On a fully hidden tang I'd probably also lean toward shortening the tang up a bit and only using 1 pin instead of three. With that thick of starting stock, consider bring the bevels up closer to a full flat grind too. It'll perform a bit better on kitchen tasks that way. Here's an extremely crappy sketch of what I mean :

Great to see you back Gary. This one is going to be sweet!

Nothing wrong with that for your first go. Welcome to the madness!

If you're going to jingle, jingle all the way. Nobody likes a half-assed jingler.

Pretty much. As you're taking it apart pay attention to the wiring. The little one hat I salvaged from the dehumidifier had a separate start capacitor that I had to wire in to get it to fire up. Also, it's kind of a crapshoot as to which side is the draw, and which side is the exhaust. You just have to plug it in to find out.

I've used two salvaged pumps. One from a refrigerator, and one from a dehumidifier. The refrigerator pump has worked much better for me. It doesn't seem to overheat unless there is a vacuum leak in the chamber. I've looked at buying a purpose built unit, but I just can't justify the cost.

I struggled with that same decision for the last few months. After a friend asked me to make some knives to put in his bait shop, I came to the realization that I need to figure out the right way to get the results I want. With that thought in mind I put my hammer and 2x72 builds on hold and booked 2 days with Kevin Cashen towards the end of January. Expensive, but I look at it as an investment in the future that will pay off in the long run.

I absolutely hate it when that happens. More practice on scales in your future!