Finished my fourth knife

[Hogan Baker]

Finished my fourth knife, a trailing point skinner

 

 

I hope everyone had a very good Christmas! Despite the torrential rains we had a very nice Holiday season down here in South Carolina.

 

Here is the picture of the finished knife! I believe it is my best yet. The handle is red oak stained with homemade wood stain and finished with poly urethane. The blade is forged from a large coil spring. Taking pictures of knives is hard, but I have found that photographing them outside on a cloudy day helps a lot! The blade was made without the use of any power tools.

 

I made the wood stain out of iron filings and some white vinegar. I made it by mixing about one Tablespoon of iron filings in one cup of vinegar and letting it sit for several days. After that you just need to filter it through a coffee filter. I used a paint brush to apply two coats of the stuff. I was happy with how well it worked.

I know that I made some mistakes with the recasso area. I would appreciate any critique you could give me.

 

Thanks,

Hogan Baker

[shoemaker]

i like it looks like you are doing great espesially on your fourth knife i havent even started doing bolsters on mine yet!

[Will E. (RassilonMonk)]

wow nice job Hogan, I hope by my fourth knife it looks so good! Sadly I can't offer any critique as a result but I think it looks good! Keep at it!

 

Cheers,

 

-W.

[Bryan Bondurant]

Your fittings and finish both look great for just getting started. About the only thing that I see you could improve on is precurving your blade in the process of forging. I cant say how anyone else does it but when I forge with tongs the first thing I do is start the tang, then make a point, then pre curve, then work the blade. I screwed up about twenty blanks because I had to teach myself, then I got this working for me.

[Pete Dirksen]

Wow--I wouldn't be ashamed if that was number 24 B Finnigan makes a great file guide for the ricasso--or you can clamp a piece of steel on the blade to guide your file. Also, you can grind the edge of your file that rides against the guard smooth--that helps too. from the pictures though I suspect you know some of this already--your ricasso's not bad.

[Ben C.]

that's fantastic! keep up the good work

[Dee]

tis a nice knife

 

no wonder you are proud.

 

i would agree with the possible pre-bending of the blade before you set the bevels ... unless you fully intended a blade that was so swoopy (technical term)

 

the only other thing is a personal thing - i wouldnt have gone with the urethane.

but, if thats the coating you wanted .. then thats fine.

[Hogan Baker]

Thanks everyone for the encouragement and advise. Originally I was just going to trash this blade and start another one. I really didn't like the "swoopy" ness. My cousin said that I should finished it because even if I didn't like the blade I would gain valuable finishing experience.

 

Normally I just forge in the bevels and then straighten it by laying the spine of the knife on the anvil and then striking it with a piece of wood. Thinking back, I am not sure why I didn't do that with this knife. I also had been planing on using either linseed oil or tongue oil to seal, but this one was going to a friend so I needed to hurry up and finish it with what I had on hand.

 

Hogan Baker

[C Craft]

Well I like it, upturn and all! Kind of thought you were shooting for one of these styles with it!

 

http://www.crazycrow.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=CCTP&Product_Code=5426-040-500&Category_Code=841-200-010

 

http://www.crazycrow.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=CCTP&Product_Code=5426-070-525&Category_Code=841-200-010

 

Never have figured out the purpose of the big hump on the back side of the first blade, unless it is for more steel when constantly sharpend like this one.

 

 

These knives belonged to my wife's Grandfather he was a half blood Creek indian. He ranched back when they had open range in Florida, and tended all of his own meat processing. As you can tell these knives have been well used and almost all have his initials on them. It was common for a bunch of the ranchers to get together and do the butchering for several families at one time, thus the initials on the knife handles.

I rescued them from an old box in a shed on my wife's family farm, where they had been stored for many years. Alot of these knives are homemade from what ever was on hand. I think #5 from the left may have been made from a handsaw. Note the hole at the point and it is thin material.

From the left check out #2 and #6 for the profile of the knife. #6 is probably a Green River skinner like the first link I posted. It has seen it's way to a water wheel many a time!

 

Keep up the good work and sometimes that curve is supposed to be there. It all just depends on what you are shooting for.

Edited January 7, 2010 by C Craft