Resolute 5" - First knife I've finished in nearly 5 months!

Well, I'm impressed Aaron. I like the contour handles, I like the drop point and blade shape, I like that it's A2 and that you proved your design through testing, and I like the cerakote. Actually I love all that stuff. This knife is one of my favorite fixed blades out there right now. I will be checking prices and availability later today!
 
A Justice said:
Well, I'm impressed Aaron. I like the contour handles, I like the drop point and blade shape, I like that it's A2 and that you proved your design through testing, and I like the cerakote. Actually I love all that stuff. This knife is one of my favorite fixed blades out there right now. I will be checking prices and availability later today!
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Thanks mate! I've worked really hard to make a knife that is super practical while still being quite pretty. Those two goals can be kind of hard to reconcile! I really like the look of the Cerakote, but given that it's not food safe I think that I'll also start offering stonewash finishes soon. That will probably be my recommendation for most people, and then the Cerakote will be recommended for military guys or people that need extra corrosion protection...

Unfortunately I've had to close my orders for the time being as I'm totally swamped. Hopefully I will be taking orders again by mid 2014.
 
A nice, functional, clean knife, Aaron. Well done. How does the blade finish stand up to usage? I had an old Ka-Bar with cerakoat
, it showed some scratches, but was tough stuff.
 
Outstanding design Aaron... simple and functional. IMHO exactly what a knife designed to be used should be. you nailed it man!
 
David Stifle said:
A nice, functional, clean knife, Aaron. Well done. How does the blade finish stand up to usage? I had an old Ka-Bar with cerakoat
, it showed some scratches, but was tough stuff.
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I've put my personal knife (the one pictured above) through quite a lot of use. The thing that was hardest on the coating was opening cans and carving wooden spoons... I'm mean to my knives because I want them to fail in my hands before they fail in a customers hands. That said the finish has help up fairly well:

Here's a link to a full size image of the knife as it is now so you can see how the Cerakote has held up: http://i.imgur.com/MxXnxDO.jpg

I'm looking to move to stonewash finishes in the near term as I think they'll hold up better under hard use than pretty much anything else.

rustyrazor said:
Outstanding design Aaron... simple and functional. IMHO exactly what a knife designed to be used should be. you nailed it man!
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Thanks mate! I'm continuing to refine the design (mainly finishing and materials) to make it even better as a user, but I've been very happy with it so far!
 
Hey Aaron Ive learned some things from reading your posts and generally just looking at your pictures. First I need to upgrade my steel i am using the stuff i have isnt even stainless. second use my grandpas belt grinder. thirdly remember for me to drill the pin holes just right because i have messed them up before as well too lol.

Now i noticed someone had said they watched some of your videos? can you give me a link so I can also watch too? I would greatly appreciate it and im sure i would learn even more!

Thanks,
Tyler Jacobs
 
jacobs said:
Hey Aaron Ive learned some things from reading your posts and generally just looking at your pictures. First I need to upgrade my steel i am using the stuff i have isnt even stainless. second use my grandpas belt grinder. thirdly remember for me to drill the pin holes just right because i have messed them up before as well too lol.

Now i noticed someone had said they watched some of your videos? can you give me a link so I can also watch too? I would greatly appreciate it and im sure i would learn even more!

Thanks,
Tyler Jacobs
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Hey Tyler!
In general you'll find that steels that aren't stainless are actually tougher and therefore more suited to hard use knives. The steel I use is not stainless, it's called A2 tool steel. It's great stuff, but you need a kiln to heat treat it unfortunately.

Here is a link to my YouTube channel, will have a new video coming out soon! https://www.youtube.com/user/aaronmarkgough/videos

-Aaron
 
aarongough said:
No secrets on my end mate! I learnt a lot from people online, so I make a point of sharing everything I learn if I can!

I actually use a jig to do my grinding. Took me about 3 days to make, but it really only required a drill press and some patience, biggest issue for someone trying to replicate it would be the bearing block. I'm keeping that in the back of my head to see if I can come up with a simpler way of doing it. You can see it here: http://imgur.com/a/ffxVM

The technique for the plunge lines is nothing too revolutionary but I believe it's different from what a lot of makers do.

First thing is I use a file guide clamped to the blade to make sure the plunge lines are equal left to right. Then I make sure my platen is dead square in both directions to my work table.

Basically I run the belt exactly at the edge of the platen, using an old file to test when the alignment is right, then I knock the grit off the corners of the belt using the same file. I start with a 36 grit blaze belt, move up to an 80 grit blaze belt, then 120 grit blaze, then 220 grit a/o, then A20 trizact. Every belt is setup the same way, right at the edge of the platen.

Each pass I do actually starts in the middle of the blade, then I work back and touch the plunge, then head back toward the tip.

This seems to work well, I get plunge lines that are identical left to right. Each plunge line is mostly square (which helps it to look crisp) but has a gentle radius right at the corner to make sure that's not a stress riser.

Here is a photo of a blade with the file guide attached, and clamped in the jig:
IBaTy9Xl.jpg


And the large work table I made for my KMG:
zlbLyMvl.jpg


Here are some more results! (Don't mind the wobbly swedge, first one I had done...)
GpfK0ibl.jpg


I'll make sure to do a video of the process at some point too!
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Hi Aaron
I've just signed up to the forum and have watched a couple of your videos. My question is when using the grinding jig, how do you set the angle for grinding the blade from the blank stage. Also what angle do you grind the Resolute at and finally is the fine cutting edge ground/ sharpened at a different angle. Excuse my ignorance as I'm only starting to look at getting into knife making.

Cheers
Adam
 
Hey Adam!
The angle is set by the simple expedient of starting obtuse (wide) and then adjusting shallower as needed until the bevel reaches the spine. I never had any luck setting an explicit angle as there will always be some error in the setup that makes the measured angle 'not quite right', you're better off just working toward the spine the same way I show with my filing jig!

The final cutting edge is sharpened at a different angle. This is called a 'secondary bevel' and is very common on most knives. The angle of the cutting edge is determined by what kind of cutting performance you're looking for. The shallower the angle that makes up the cutting edge, the better the cutting performance. But shallower angles are also less tough, so you have to find a compromise for your intended use-case.

I grind the blades on my knives quite thin (about 0.015" thickness at the edge before sharpening) and then sharpen at a fairly wide angle (25º per side) which gives me a good combination of cutting performance and toughness. The combination of steel choice, heat-treatment, blade geometry and edge geometry combine to give the final results in terms of cutting performance, edge retention and toughness so it is certainly worth doing some experimentation on all these fronts to find a combination you like.

To sidestep all these questions when getting started here are my recommendations for a hunting/outdoors knife: O1 tool steel stock that is 5/32" (4mm thick). Grind bevel to 0.015" (0.4mm) thick at the edge. Heat-treat to around 60HRC and sharpen at 20-25º. This will yield a good general purpose knife without too much experimentation needed!

Best of luck mate! Happy to answer any other questions you might have!
-Aaron
 
A late reply, see you posted this a month ago, but I'm stuck at the Seattle airport with a 7 hr layover with the laptop handy! I like that you are constantly experimenting and testing. One comment on your handle rivet issue. I fasten roughed out grips to the handle first, before drilling b both the handle and the steels so the drilling is at the same time and exact fit. Depends how you harden maybe. I harden only the blade so the handle still can be drilled. Over 62 hardness! Impressive, curious if as you say, it can go harder and still hold together.
 
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