My own round knife thread

[Salolan]

I decided I should quit hijacking Brian's post and start my own. My apologies Brian for not doing it sooner.

I finally have my 6 blanks profiled and ready for heat treat. Let me just say it became painfully obvious how much easier a small wheel attachment would have made the task of profiling these.

Now I have the task of grinding 9 other knives to get them ready for heat treat as well. I plan to send all 15 of them off at once, most likely to Peter's. If you add in the 9 blades in 1080 that I need to finish cleaning up and put handles on, I have 24 knives in progress at the moment. It's not quite a Dave Ferry batch but it is huge for me, especially being as I've only finished 66 to date. That and Dave would get all these done tomorrow and I'm still going to be working on them come Labor Day.

Thanks for looking,
Chris

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Chris, did you already talk about the pins? Are they all going to be hidden, if not, which holes correspond with the exposed pins? Also, what are the offset holes near the blade for?

What are your plans for doing the bevel grinding?

Will you go to a zero edge, a secondary, or maybe a convex edge?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm really looking forward to yours and Brian's progress.

 

[Salolan]

Anthony, my intentions for pins are to use the 3, 1/8" holes and no I do not intend to make them hidden. The small offset hole towards the head is for a hidden line up pin if I decide to put bolsters on any of them. I've found in my limited experience that I can keep my bolsters lined up easier this way. Of course I can always add matching 1/8" pins in the larger 3/16" holes if I feel I need to.

As for the grinding, that will be the true test for the project. I thought I'd try both making a jig to grind and also trying free hand. My current intention is to flat grind to near zero and then use the slack portion to convex it down to zero. Unless of course someone has a better idea.

Chris

 

[Horsewright]

Looking really good Chris! Real good. Yep those small wheels really make a diff. I use a 1" all the time not just on round knives. Cool deal on the hidden pin for the bolster. Grinding plan sounds cool. Looking forward to your progress. I've got those skivving knives back from ht so will start a thread on them soon. Got a small batch to whip out first then I'll be able to do them.

 

[Salolan]

Thanks Dave. Small batch, huh... 50 or 60?

Chris

 

[Horsewright]

Come on Chris you exagerrate a little. I've got 29 sheaths I'm putting together today (all the parts are cut out and tooled) so starting with the fitting of the welts. Those knives are done except for the thongs and etching my makers mark. I profiled, drilled and ground 25 blades yesterday and got them off to Peter's this morning. I got another 40 or so on the bench cut out but needed these back quicker so split the batch.

 

[Horsewright]

Question for you Chris. Why the hidden pin on the bolster why not two pins?

 

[Salolan]

LOL sounds as if I went under a little. I can only poke at you in good fun though. Besides, I have well over a 1/3 of what I've ever made total laid out on the bench now myself.

Right or wrong, my thought process was I could then make the knife with or without a bolster this way. I would still have the pin holes lined up in the center if I decided to go without. I want to make a several with bolsters for sure, but I also have several people inquiring about a minimalist approach on this project.

Chris

 

[sheathmaker]

Dave, I've been hiding out back waiting for some word on the skiving knives. I'm really interested in how that project turns out, because my last two good ones are sharpened down to about 50%, then I will be in NEED for sure. Don't want to wait until the last minute.

Paul

 

[Horsewright]

Got em back from ht Paul. They are in the batch after the batch I'm starting in the morning so not too far out. I'm kinda excited about em. They tested at 63 RC. Sorry to hear you hadn't been feeling well.

 

[Salolan]

Here are the others I'm working right now.
This group is all AEB-L that I need to put bevels on to send out for heat treat with the round knives.

These are all 1080 that I heat treated myself and need cleaned up and handles of course.

I had thought about trying a skiving knife too after you talked about them Dave, but decided against it. I have enough to keep me busy at the moment, especially as slow as I am. lol

Chris

 

[Salolan]

Finally got around to grinding on the round knives. I also played with my new stencils and recently built etching machine...

Chris

 

[vilePossum]

cool! really excited to see how they turn out. thanks for posting.

 

[Horsewright]

Good deal Chris. They look great.

 

[Salolan]

Finally got a few of these glued up with handles. Now just to start shaping. How thick/thin should I make the handles and should they flare out into the palm a bit?
This batch is handled in Walnut and Water Buffalo.

Chris

 

[vilePossum]

really nice looking! no clue about the handles as i never used a round knife before.

 

[jdk1]

really nice looking! no clue about the handles as i never used a round knife before.

Those look great! Vilepossum, I was using a utility/razor knife until meeting Paul. His lines were strait as could be and he glided around curves. I was sold immediately. Dragging that razor cannot compare to pushing and rolling a round knife. I highly suggest giving one a try.

 

[vilePossum]

Those look great! Vilepossum, I was using a utility/razor knife until meeting Paul. His lines were strait as could be and he glided around curves. I was sold immediately. Dragging that razor cannot compare to pushing and rolling a round knife. I highly suggest giving one a try.

yeah i know it's just a matter of finances (as most of the time) and i think i don't want to get one of the cheap ones from tandy and buy twice... which then in turn doesn't leave me with a lot of choices over here. basically you have the choice between 50-60€ ivan blades or 250+€ leather wrangler ones or importing... i know i am whining again, but still it sucks. and the ones from ivan are just listed as "carbon steel"... great... or get the al stohlman from tandy eu, don't know about the shipping though...

anyways... yes, it is on my list

 

[Horsewright]

Hey Chris. On mine the handles do swell towards the rear and then taper again last 1/2" or so. I've found this very comfortable. Be careful shaping the handles if you use your grinder, particularly around the front. Those roundknife blades stick out in odd places you aren't use too working on a regular knife. Easy to catch the blade accidently on the belt. Bad things can then happen. On my second batch of roundknives I moved the front of the handle back so that it cleared both points of the blade just for that reason.

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Chris, those are looking stellar!

I find this handle pretty comfy, if a tad long.

Florian, unless I'm mistaken, the Tandy knives are just rebranded Ivan's. I'm pretty certain the damascus ones are anyway. I would stay away from those, and I wouldn't personally consider an Osborne either. I would look at vintage knives and research whatever you find.