So the boys who have been coming around to my shed on a weekly basis to build stuff decided that they wanted to grind knives for their next project. That forced me into doing some homework on materials and techniques that I could teach them, and meant that I had to be building a knife one week ahead of them so that I could give them some do's and don'ts.
As they say - knife makers don't make mistakes, they just make smaller knives.
So last week I finished making my one, and most of the boys are in the final process of handle shaping.
For simplicity of heat treatment, we chose to use 1075 steel. For my knife, I bought in some green micarta handle material and some mosaic pin in from Aliexpress, and I bought a steel stamp from Esty for my 'makers mark'.
I ground out a drop point from 3mm material, convex grind, finished to about 400 grit and left 'as heat treated'. Did two temper cycles which by the tables should leave the blade at 60HRC plus/minus one or two.
I decided early on that this knife would be for my older brother for Christmas, and since sharpening is a personal thing and you tend to have your own angles I've left the blade unsharpened for him to complete. As an added extra, my younger brother did his first ever leather sheath build, which I think came out bloody well.
The 'blemish' on the blade in the photo is where the hot blade melted the paint on my magnet that I was using during the heat treat. Its not a defect in the blade.
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Close up of the makers mark and the mosaic pin, and the sheath before waxing.
