How to make a professional looking knife?

Here's a picture of the knife I'm making now...
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There is a lot of good advice in here. One thing I will say is if you haven't read it look at the "how to make a knife" instructions in the sticky. There is a lot of good info in there about what to do at the different steps. The thing to really keep in mind which I think helps me is to not settle for "good enough". Whatever step you are on make it to the best of your ability before you move onto the next especially when getting scratches out of a blade from sanding. Don't move up to the next grit till every scratch from the previous one is gone. Also It kind of looks like the front of your handles might be shaped while on the blade. Try doing that part before you get them bolted on. Tape them together and taper the fronts down it'll allow you to get them a lot closer to the steel and especially without scratching the knife after they are mounted. Your current knife is missing a plunge line which isn't mandatory. But you should have a primary and secondary bevel, which is the knife tapering from the spine down the blade and then where the actual cutting edge is. You're just putting a cutting edge on it from what it seems. But if you look at basically any knife it forms a "wedge" from the spine to the edge.
 
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Don't know if you do this, but make sure to do a test fit of your pins before you glue up the handles. I forgot to do that and so when I needed to make the pins flush I had to sand some of the finish away, causing me to have to sand down and restain and poly the handles.
 
Picture your grind looking something like this and you tell us? Wouldn't you think that has a better look to it?

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Keep working on it until it looks like a blade you like!

It took me a while to get this through my head... I thought I didn't have the natural talent when I realized I just needed to work on them more. I put about 50 hours into my first completed knife because of this.

Draw file a wavy grind line to straight. Sand out every scratch at every grit... accept no less. The only sharp edge should be the blade.

You are doing great by way, I like that cleaver! I see massive improvement in the recent one too, nice! Keep at it and you will get better with each one.

Tools aren't the key... I made my first knives on my porch rail wit a file and c-clamps. (OK a kiln was involved and much more) Fit and finish is just a matter of time and process so keep at it hard! :D
 
You might take a look at the North Carolina Custom Knifemakers Guild. Lots of good people that will be willing to help a new maker learn. Most of them are in the eastern part of NC, so might be easier for you to make contact. I know they sponsor basic and advanced classes at a community college.
 
Thanks a lot, Mr. Lowe. By the way, did you get the knives I sent for heat treatment? They're 1084 by the way.
 
If like me you don't have a good rotary tool, I also draw file the entire profile with various shaped files. That was honestly the biggest boost to my fit and finish quality. That and going back over the spine and handle profile with sand paper wrapped around a file after the handles are almost finished. Cleans up those nasty lil spots where the epoxy gets into the dips.
 
I thought I recognized the cleaver! You've made a few changes on it that I like. I plan to fire up the oven this afternoon and get your next two heat treated and back to you by Monday. In respect to this thread, I can see much improvement on what is here. You have done more work to form true bevels to the edge and some distal taper as well. All the thoughts expressed in this thread will help you continue to improve. Look at a lot of knives and then look at yours. That will help you determine where to concentrate your efforts. Again, try to find a way to spend time in a makers shop, classes, or hammerins.
 
As it sits, the blade has that, "Sharpened Bar of Steel" look. This is a common beginner look, as is the "Blocky Handle Syndrome". These are normal mistakes, and can be compensated for by changings some things now. Sometimes the improvements are going to have to wait for the next knife.

The knife will get sharp, and look more "knifelike" when you raise the bevels. Go at least as far as Fletch suggested. As it is right now, it won't cut very well at all.

I can't tell if there is any distal taper, but there should be a smooth taper from the beginning of the handle to the tip. File this taper in first, and then do the below changes.

The tip drops far too much, and not much can be done about that this time. Perhaps you can make the clip a bit cleaner when you file the new bevels. It should be two dead flat facets, not a curved surface.

The handle looks a bit big in the butt, and may not be comfortable to use for extended time ( called "Hot in the Hand"). I would try and take some of the roundness out of the heel, curving more smoothly up into the finger area. The butt does not need to drop as far as the guard does. In a well shaped handle the top curvature and bottom curvature match to create a handle that is a bit wider at the butt, but has no real large differences other than an even taper. The top of the handle is the next item to deal with.

The top of the blade has that straight bar of steel look. A tiny curve made by dropping the butt a bit from to topside, and curving the spine down more into the tip of the blade will make the knife have more "flow". You have plenty of metal to spare for doing this. The knife should have a smooth curve from butt to tip. The jimping is up to you, but I have seen it ruin the look and feel of more knives than it helps.

The edge looks like it has a little belly on it ( could be the camera angle). It should go forward from the ricasso or choil ( neither of which you put on this blade) and gently curve up to the tip. I don't know that you can do a lot with the blade shape beyond evening out the edge to be straighter ( removing the belly) and maybe curving/raising up the tip a bit. All this can be done while shaping the bevels. It may shorten the blade a tiny bit to bring up the edge more ( raise the tip), but I think it will greatly improve the looks of the knife overall.
If you want to try and add a choil, use a 1/4" chain saw file and file a semi-circular indent just in front of the guard. Then file in the bevels.

Final note.
Look at a bunch of knife photos, and/or take out some of your favorite knives, and look at the various features I mentioned. See where this knife differs and try to work on those areas on the next blade you make. Posting drawings and sketches here in Shop Talk first will make it far better to get the shape right than just starting with the steel.
 
+1 on draw filing. Learn to do this... it will help you. :thumbup:
Best wishes. I look forward to seeing your future work.

Erin
 
I am very new to this blade making hobby, but the one thing I can contribute from my many previous learning experiences with other hobbies (guitar making, furniture making, bicycle frame building etc.) is take your time at each step. If you are impatient like me and want to move on to the next step, before you are sure its ready, put it down, work on a different project, and look at it the next day. I can guarantee you will be thankful you did. The only thing power tools give you is the ability to make mistakes faster. I learned that from a very smart shop teacher in high school in 1988, and it has stuck with me since. To keep your bevels even, cover the blade with a sharpie marker. As you file, you will see the low spots. File the high spots down, don't try to blend the low spots. You will only make the lows worse. Its easier to remove a bump than fill a hole.
 
Theknifeaddict said:
Any ideas where I can learn to do draw filing? I can't seem to find any information on it.
Click to expand...

Video I posted on first page teaches it. Just skip the gun disassembly at the beginning, after that he teaches you to draw file an octagon barrel, same procedure as a knife.
 
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