First Knife, DIY Micarta, DIY sheath

[John Schinigoi 0]

So I wanted to do it all for my first knife. I made the Micarta myself, and did the kydex work as well. It is just a small neck knife, with a mustard patina. Never done this before but I'm happy with the turn out and I can see areas I need to improve in, but want to know what you all think. Thanks for all comments and critiques! 

 

[Vern Wimmer 488]

Getting a lot of first time experiences out of the way in one swell foop. 

As far as critique goes from the pic, and knowing nothing about the steel and treatment my comments are based on personal preference in design.

I see where you were going with it but I prefer a more uniform "natural" curve on the spine and generally treat what would be the "bolster" area in the opposite manner, that is, the handle is thinner behind and thickens before the ricasso to "remind the hand that the blade is coming up.". I realize that with your blade design that isn't needed as a safety factor but I like to do it for indexing/physical referencing. I have an old Schrade caping knife with similar lines and a flat handle. I wished it had a bit more "memory guides" at the bolster when I used it.

[John Schinigoi 0]

Thank you Vern, It's made from an old saw mill blade, so normal tool steel. I am going to add a ricasso on the next one. Also going to work on the shape a bit more, not as useful as it seemed in on paper

[Doug Lester 408]

That's why we tell people to make their knives and use the heck out of them.  I made two choppers that I thought had some pretty neat handles until I tried clearing brush with them and found that the handles were too small to offer control of the knives.

Doug

[Vern Wimmer 488]

I wish I had a couple of bucks for every one I made that didn't work like I planned. I think that I went through a number of "phases"  (so far). First I tried to copy knives I already had, which was good experience but obviously not really creating something I didn't have, then I decided to go off the page with my own ideas. That phase left me with more experience and a box full of, well..."not quites". The next step for me was looking at existing knives and figuring what I liked and didn't like and importantly why I did or didn't. That led to a couple of "Frankenknives" as I tried to combine features of different knives. It took me a while to learn to analyze a design and really understand how each feature plays a role in the whole knife. It is a constant growth process. That is part of the attraction to the craft. There is always room to get better, if there wasn't it would get pretty boring.

(You should have seen my wooden model phase. People thought I was regressing to childhood playing with wooden knives)