Ron Benson

I wish I could "like" it more than once.

As some of you know, I took a stock removal class in March at Join or Die Knives. The owner, Brent Stubblefield told us at that time that he was gearing up to open a shop for people who don't want to make knives at home to come and make knives. The shop is now open and I thought some here might be interested in the idea. Basically, he has the equipment set up for people to use. He will also offer supplies. There is not a lot of detail yet, but here is a link: https://www.hardwayworkshop.com/ Ron Edit to clarify that I thought this might be another revenue source for someone trying to make a living as a knife maker.

My 'puter sez this site is unsafe again...

As a rank newbie, I hesitate to comment, but my thought was also about the flow, but going in the opposite direction of Geoff's idea - drop the point. We came to the same conclusion, but with a different solution...

Zeb - not convex. It's a flat grind, but I eased the the edge where the bevel meets the flat grind. John - Thanx. I have already discovered that the extension makes sharpening harder...

Thanx for the comments Zeb and Chris. Zeb - I agree that the handle goes to far out on the blade, and the sanding on the blade looks crappy. I'm not following your comment about "convex edge". Would you mind giving a little more detail? Chris - You are correct that I added a different wood to the tip. I had planned on using walnut, but didn't have enough in a usable condition, so I subbed the closest wood I had. It is too light in color. The blade did look much better before I tried to remove a scratch. I wanted a satin finish, so I guess I should have gone to a higher grit on the blade.

Some time ago I put a handle on a finished blade I bought to make a handle for. This knife was for practice. The story and the first knife are here. For this knife I used the full tang blade I made in the stock removal class I took in March. The scales are Bubinga and a wood similar to walnut that I have had close to forty years and can't remember the name. This knife was also practice, but I am also trying to do the best I can, and just get practice. I was also looking for more "gotchas", and boy, did I find them... The blade I used was about 8", and I would have preferred 9" to 9.5". That left me with two choices - either make the blade or the handle too short. I chose to make the blade too short since this is an ongoing process and I also need to work on handles. I would appreciate honest critiques - you will not hurt my feeling, (probably ). Here is what I found either wrong, or not to my liking. As mentioned, the blade is too short, but my choice of extending the bolster onto the blade made the blade look even shorter. And I wish the transition between the bolster and the scales was smoother, plus I somehow managed to put a few dings in the bolster. The scales follow the shape of the blade, but I did not do any shaping from side to side for ergonomics. The mosaic pins are off center because I took a bit off the bottom of the blade although I suspect they were a bit off when I drilled them. I also managed to scratch the blade at some point, so I messed up the finish on the blade trying to remove that scratch. Now, what did I learn? First, epoxy is very slippery and very messy. I did not make the first set of scales big enough, and wound up having to make a second set. When drilling holes in scales, clamp them to the drill press because if the bit catches and racks the scales, you wind up with out of round holes, (I forgot to mention that above...). Tape the blade as soon as you finish sanding or you may wind up scratching it. There is probably more, but I can't think of anything else except that I thoroughly enjoyed making the knife, and will make more. Sorry for the crappy cell phone photos:

Another option would be a small dado plane. You could set the depth to 1/2 the thickness of the tang and clear out each scale. Maybe make a final pass down the center a bit deeper to make room for epoxy. https://smile.amazon.com/Cowryman-Router-Plane-Handheld-Woodworking/dp/B077TYNG38/ref=sr_1_38?keywords=dado+plane&qid=1556508824&s=gateway&sr=8-38

A bit of constructive criticism Andrew. Although I am very new to knife making, I have had a number of hobbies over the last 50 years, and I have made many of the "mistakes" you are making. You are trying to make knives, but you are not concentrating on making them. You are looking for things to make it easier. Please stop. Get a piece of steel, heat it up, and bang on it. I agree on planning what you want to do, but the process itself is very simple. Studying the craft will help, but will not substitute for practice. Since you are not happy with your progress, I wouldn't even worry about completing a knife until you can forge a bevel and a point, and a tang, etc. Then put the various parts together in a knife.

Thanx Brian and Joel. I have extra holes in the tang, and I used an angle grinder to put some groves in the tang too. I will do the same to the scales before gluing ~ Ron

I've been watching a ton of you tube videos on making knives - especially how to handle scales, (pun intended). As a woodworker, I've always used just enough pressure to make sure that there is full contact between the pieces, but not squeeze out the glue, and that's what I was planning to do with wood scales glued to a steel knife. However, there is a difference in wood glue versus epoxy, but is it enough of a difference to change how I glue? The reason I am questioning my technique is that pressure used in the videos I have watched varies from what I would consider vtoo light to very heavy. One guy uses his vise and adds a long pipe to really crank up the pressure. I'm probably over thinking, so I thought I'd ask what people here do...

Are they male or female hammers, 'cause what ya dress them with is different and female hammers like nice bright colors...

Thanx Joshua. No metal bolster would have been more accurate. And thanx for posting the wip - lots of good info in that post. I really want to work on this project, but have commitments that will keep me out of the shop for a while... Ron

Thanx Doug, but too late for this knife. The holes are already drilled. I do like the idea of gluing one scale on, drilling, and then adding the other scale. Trying to get both scales lined up to drill the second scale was a pain. ( I should have cut the scales larger because I had no room to spare..)

So you are saying size doesn't matter??