What's going on in your shop? Show us whats going on, and talk a bit about your work!

Enjoyed making knife #1 so much, started working on #2! This one is from a precut and heat treated blank of N690 from OBM. I can't fit a blade like this in my small oven. I nipped a little off the butt of the handle, and tweaked the tip shape more to my liking. I guess it's a westernized Santoku'ish style? Have the hand polish to the 400 grit stage, and pondering if I'll go to 600. This stainless is noticeably more difficult to sand, than the 1095 used on the first knife. Scales will again be black Micarta, and Loveless bolts this time, just to try something different.
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Relined my second heat treat oven. New caowool, new electronics. Made in 1978, rescued from scrapyard. 220V, 3kW. First one to reline was really painful work, to get around frame, not to leave open pockets, this time I took angle grinder and just went to town. As I redid wire part too, I could just pick oven part up, lay necessary amount of caowool and then place oven atop of that. Then restore support frame and go around that. Then restore sides (weld back in place), top it up, cover and done. It's a shame my knife making now is in off season, return to it in late autumn.
https://imgur.com/6csf5tY
https://imgur.com/RsQfb78
 
Let the epoxy cure overnight and finished up this morning. Hand wet sanded to 400, and then grey Scotch-Brite. Took a nice edge and feels great in hand. It's a little on the heavy side for my wife, so darn, I have to make another one! While I like the look of the Loveless bolts, I don't like that the fish eye will never be perfectly round in the center, due to the threads.
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ak650 said:
Let the epoxy cure overnight and finished up this morning. Hand wet sanded to 400, and then grey Scotch-Brite. Took a nice edge and feels great in hand. It's a little on the heavy side for my wife, so darn, I have to make another one! While I like the look of the Loveless bolts, I don't like that the fish eye will never be perfectly round in the center, due to the threads.
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Looks nice! I like that scotchbrite finish on the blade.
 
Jak Epp said:
Looks nice! I like that scotchbrite finish on the blade.
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Thanks. I use it a lot on motorcycle parts, and shop tooling, so I thought I'd give it a try. When it's just metal, I use WD-40 for "cutting compound", but once the scales were on, it was Dawn dish soap & water. Windex works as well.
 
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I stuck with it and worked through the blisters.
My anvil is a twin beak, but the round beak is broken off leaving the flat one, I could have done with the round one. I learned a couple of things that I need to make, a hot chisel, a half round chisel, and two different radii. I will be chopping up my fork lift truck forks sooner than I thought. I know you guys would have done better, but there is something immensely satisfying about taking an old bit of spring and turning it into a knife, a usable shaving sharp tool.
Second forged.jpg
 
Decided to do a bit of testing,
Chopped a couple of small hardwood branches and it still shaved.
Cut through the 3mm brass pin and left a bit of brass on the edge.
Shaved the nail ok.
30-40 chops into the nail and a bit of edge deformation, no chips.
Chopped through the nail and left a couple of rolls.
Can I do anything to improve that?
Second forged1.jpg
 
Sean Yaw said:
I finished up my February project (started in late January!) today. I'd like to figure out a better way to incorporate the pivot pin. It looks a bit "loud" as is.
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Way-Barney said:
I.......
My anvil is a twin beak, but the round beak is broken off leaving the flat one, I could have done with the round one. .........l.
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Make a round hardie tool. Get a 5" piece of square stock the size of your hardie. Cut two 4" pieces of 1" round stock and weld on each side of the square bar leaving 3" sticking past the round bars. It should look like a straight "Fork". Drop it in the hardie and use it for turning things you want a curve in and doing things like the loop on the knife. You can make several with different size round bars to turn various radii. I have them from 3/4" to 3". Look around for "found" items to use for the round stock.

Another useful tool is a hardie "drawing" tool. Find a piece of 3" round stock and weld the square bar in the middle of the curved side making a "T". This will give a round surface for drawing steel out and curving tasks. Again, making several gives different amounts of curvature and drawing force.

Final hardie tool build. Get a block of 4140 about 3X3X4". Drill a hole just a little smaller than the diagonal of the square hardie bar about 1" deep in the center of a rectangular side. Take a piece of the hardie square bar and grind one end a bit to make a tap-fit in the hole. Weld the stub in place in the open areas. Sand the sides to 120 grit and the top to 220 grit. Harden the tool at 1500°F with a 30-minute soak, quench in 10 gallons of water/brine, and temper twice at 600°F. The smooth and flat surface and straight edges will make a nice drop in anvil for small projects.
 
Thanks Stacy,
You have reminded me of some of the jigs I used to make for scroll work on wrought iron gates when I was an apprentice and doing favours for relatives. Of course it was not wrought iron only 12mm square bar. Sometimes I feel as if I have forgot more than I currently know. Another good one I used to make was a steel tube with a slot cut vertically into it just wide enough for the end of the bar to go in. jam the end in and then bend it round for a perfect circle and that nice little kink at the end, going further back the first twists I did were on a "fireside set" of poker, toasting fork and coal tongues when I was about 12 at school. it was all heating things up with a gas axe though, no forges. the tap holders made a lovely bar for twisting.

I will try to sort out that flipping kitchen knife with the demic grinds today I think.
 
I think the hardest thing with knife making is knowing when I'm done at various stages.
With more experience I'm starting to get it....but I'll still grind, sharpen, grind, sharpen...etc.
woodysone woodysone



I also sand, finish, sand, finish, over and over again with my handle scales.

I would just like a little bit more confidence.

Haha....I keep sending progress pictures, and they probably all look the Same.... Ugh. 😅

*Edit....the edge keeps getting thinner and thinner.
 
Way-Barney said:
Decided to do a bit of testing,
Chopped a couple of small hardwood branches and it still shaved.
Cut through the 3mm brass pin and left a bit of brass on the edge.
Shaved the nail ok.
30-40 chops into the nail and a bit of edge deformation, no chips.
Chopped through the nail and left a couple of rolls.
Can I do anything to improve that?
Click to expand...

Yes. Chop wood instead! 🤣
 
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