My Humble Beginnings:

[Gary Mulkey]

This is what I would consider my first knife which I had considered  to be long gone until I recently uncovered it in a box of junk, hidden in a back  corner of my shop where it has rested for the last thirty years.  The blade was forged from some high carbon, WWII armor plating.  The handle is from some black  walnut & hickory that I laminated and the fittings brass.  You can see how the hickory has darkened over the years on the back half of  the handle from exposure from the pouch type sheath.  (I  have no idea of what I used for the white handle spacer.)

 

This one is quite crude and the blade geometry poor but it managed to field dress a couple  of deer before I  retired it to a forgotten hiding place in a back corner of my shop.  I think  that it's good to see something like  this once in a while just to  remind you of how you got started and hopefully have progressed over the years.

 

 

Edited April 12, 2019 by Gary Mulkey

[Robert D.]

Anyone else surprised that the Great Gary didnt get his start doing mosaics? 

My first knife is sitting in my dads gunsafe, Once I hit 100 knives I am going to take that knife and compare it to my first and see how far I have gone. I think I am currently at like 27 or 28 finished blades. 

[AndrewB]

@Gary Mulkey another nice one... @Robert D. Everybody's gotta start somewhere.

[Brian Dougherty]

  I guess you are a mortal after all. 

Maybe in another 25 years I'll catch up to where you are today 

I still have my first knife in a kitchen drawer.  It gets used occasionally, but it's an ugly thing.  I made different errors than most.  It has a pretty good level of fit and finish, but has a lot of rather questionable design choices.  A truly polished turd.

[Charles dP]

There’s the shape of a thought in that knife. Pretty ambitious first, Gary. I guess you were never satisfied with ‘simple’ 

[Clifford Brewer]

Great things grow from humble beginnings .............................

[Joël Mercier]

Considering how scarce was info back then it's a very good first knife! My first went ok only because of all the help I got from this place, else it would have been terrible . 

6 hours ago, Brian Dougherty said:

It has a pretty good level of fit and finish, but has a lot of rather questionable design choices

That's exactly how I feel about my past work hehe

[Conner Michaux]

Huh..?   I could have sworn he was trained by the elf blacksmiths of Rivendell....

[Eric Morgan]

So you’re telling me there’s hope for me? 

[Joshua States]

I keep my first "solo attempt" in my desk drawer with the next 2 or 3 of them. My first frame handle. My first dagger. My first file worked piece.

These will never go out the door. I do look at them every once in a while just to remember where I began. It took a really long time for me to grok handle design and shape.

[Jim Pierce]

Thank you for showing us mortals that through hard work and perseverance we can all get better.  

[Gary Mulkey]

7 hours ago, Jim Pierce said:

Thank you for showing us mortals that through hard work and perseverance we can all get better.  

I've always adopted the attitude to try to make each one better than the last.  Hopefully after a couple  of thousand, mine are getting better.

Edited April 15, 2019 by Gary Mulkey

[Gerhard Gerber]

10 hours ago, Gary Mulkey said:

I've always adopted the attitude to try to make each one better than the last.  Hopefully after a couple  of thousand, mine are getting better.

That's a complicated build for a first knife