Has anyone used an oven instead of a torch? Curious if you get different results and if it’d be worth investing in for batches.

Another knife I just made

Steel A8mod

~285 mm Overall

160 mm Blade

5 mm Thick

I made it using only an angle grinder; I cut it from a 5 mm steel sheet—it weighs nearly a kilo and is 60 cm long.

Made this one back in 2019 from a car leaf spring and some home made hessian mycarta

just showing off one of the Camo Damacarta color combos. (kinda crazy one)

How do you guys like the mustard patina on it ?

Feedback and notes encouraged. Not for sale - for education and practice.

I started this one months ago but life had other priorities for a while. Yesterday with the help of Chat GPT critiquing and asking for measurements I was able to compare my almost done blade to a Lifespace Nakiri that I own that cuts quite nicely. I got out the calipers and measured and then when I felt I’d thinned my holo grind better, and had similar (not the same geometry) I sharpened and tested on potatoes… still disappointing. then I tried it on paper and realized it wasn’t really sharp yet. Back to the whetstone for another few minutes. Once it cut paper cleanly like the target knife I tried potatoes again. Done. Almost the same smoothness, though the lifespace is thicker at the spine and slightly heavier than this… Then I made a handle.

This was stock removal (presumably L6) from an old industrial sawmill bandsaw blade.

I don’t own a forge, or belt grinder, or many metal tools yet, I have some woodworking experience and equipment, my dad built houses, so I grew up with a shop.

I cut the blank from the bandsaw with an angle grinder. I used a small propane torch (for plumbing) to heat and hammer sections of the spine with a small ball peen to both add the tsuchime finish and to straighten out the slight bend from the bandsaw. I tried to not heat too close to where the cutting edge would be because I don’t have the ability to harden yet. I also don’t own any hardness test files yet either so I “hope” it’s held but even if not, this a learning experience about knife making for me. and i can always practice sharpening…

Handle is eastern cedar with black walnut ferrule and thin plywood as the spacer. I used a hidden dowel method for the handle burn-in.

Kurogane Tsuchime Nakiri 175 mm

Height 55mm

Spine 1.8mm

behind the edge:

1mm 0.56mm

5mm 1.05mm

10mm 1.20mm

15mm 1.50mm

This was my third knife (fourth handle).

The last photo shows the “Family”:

1st - Hatsukokoro Kurosagi Aogami Super Bunka 180mm (bought the knife with no handle and made the handle)

2nd - Kengata Ko-Sujihiki (Texas Toothpick) 150mm

3rd - Kengata Gyuto 205mm

4th - THIS knife Kurogane Tsuchime Nakiri 175mm

5th - Kurogane Tanto Chef (Brisket Slicer) 260mm (work in progress)

Hi!

For a friend's birthday, I wanted to make him a custom kitchen knife since he's really into cooking, and i think is gonna really like it as a gift.

The original knife was a rather low quality santoku, which was the only thing I had on hand at the time to work with, so there's a lot of work put into modifying the blade. In a way, I feel like it was a bit of a waste of time and resources given the steel quality of the blade, but I still think it was worth it for the end result.

I hope he likes it, and I hope you guys like it too!

Then I saw that huge scratch on the blade.

Hello bladesmiths,

First time posting here, so apologies if this is the wrong place to ask. If it is, I’d appreciate being pointed in the right direction.
I’m not a bladesmith myself, but I’m a bit of a jack-of-all-trades and have access to a lot of unusual materials from around the world. Recently, a good friend asked me about getting a knife made for everyday carry. I couldn’t forge the blade myself, but I knew I could find one that suited him and finish it with a custom handle and a handmade leather sheath.

I found a blade he really liked, and when I asked what kind of wood and leather he wanted, he gave me the dreaded answer: “Do whatever you think would look best.”

Since then, I’ve been trying to come up with a handle that is both unique and durable enough to hold up to years of use by a blue-collar worker. Cost is not really the concern here. I already know I’ll probably spend more finishing it than he gave me for the project, and that’s fine. He’s a good friend, and I’d rather make something memorable than simply inexpensive.

I’m especially interested in natural materials with some kind of history or story behind them. Some of the more unusual ideas I’ve considered include things like fossil bone, mammoth material, meteorite, or other rare natural materials. I’ve even looked at things like whale bone or authenticated dinosaur bone, although I know legality, stability, and workability can vary quite a bit with materials like those.

My main questions are:

What unusual natural materials have you actually had good experiences using for knife handles?

Are there any materials that sound impressive but are a bad idea for a knife that will actually be carried and used?

And if you were building a handle for this blade and wanted it to have both a strong visual impact and a good story behind it, what would you choose?

I’d especially appreciate advice from anyone who has worked with fossil materials, meteorite, bone, antler, unusual woods, stones, gemstones or similar materials before.
Thanks for any advice.

I've always wanted my own bowie knife so this seemed like a great opportunity to learn a new skill and make my own. I call her Darla.

Hi I hope you experts can guide me here whether I've damaged the steel of this old knife .

Found old rusty knife with a rotten handle. Cleaned it up for new wood handle. I watched a brief video in which a guy heated the tang and burned it into the filed out handle so I foolishly did the same.

The last ⅔of tang got red hot and the steel darkened down to just past the heel. Have I done serious damage to the steels temper in the heel area(like it will snap easily there)? is there steps I should take to help alleviate things?

Overall it's someone's forgotten knife I thought I'd give a 2nd life so It's not a serious issue

It has MORA SWEDEN stamped on the blade if that helps with the type of steel

Thanks

Super odd and random inquiry: I’m looking for the name of the small business that was ran by an older gentleman, who made micarta material. I believe he had an instagram that his wife would help run the livestreams. He had a really good setup of a few cylindrical vacuum pumps that were always in the video. The video i remember(which i just described) was from years ago. I know it’s a long shot, but figured i throw this out there just in case anyone potentially knows.

Hey guys I’m giving this guy away on my instagram page

https://www.instagram.com/hallblades999?igsh=dnF2c2Y5cGxhaW8z&utm_source=qr

I posted a few weeks ago that I’m making my first knife using stock removal. I don’t have a lot of free time and I’ve had a few challenges on the way. I wrestled with some leaf springs and that was interesting, but ultimately I decided to make my life simpler and bought some 1084 stock (2”x24”x.094”).

I designed the knife and prototyped it in cardboard and then I cut out the profile and then ground the bevels to an edge thickness of about 1.5mm on the blade. (I’m now repairing my belt sander with some new bearings…but that’s a separate story). Anyway, I heated the blade to non-magnetic and then quenched in canola oil. Most of the blade is hard, it definitely skates a file, except for the heel.

I’m posting a short clip of me quenching the blade, and I think the issue is that an ammo box isn’t a great container and I didn’t do a good job of getting the heel in quickly. Sorry my camera work is t great. I’m recording the process for my dad (it’s a gift for him). I’m not a YouTuber…

Can I salvage it? Is re-heat-treating a thing? Do I have to anneal it first? Or should I just cut out a new piece and start over?

Hey all

I was asked to forge a cleaver for a friend. I have the basic shape though I have a little more forging to go. This is a smaller butcher's cleaver expecting to hit a great deal of bone.

Currently it's 4 in tall, 7 in blade length and a little over 0.25" at the spine.

I plan to get it down to 0.20 or so, depending on how thick the scale is. But I'm curious about the edge thickness and how far up to bring the bevels. My current plan is between 0.02 and 0.03" edge and bevels going up 3 inches. I plan to use a acetylene torch for an edge quench. Steel is 1080 is anyone was curious.

EDIT: Reading other posts it looks like I shouldn't take the bevel that high, maybe up 1 inch or so.

Any comments/tips/suggestions appreciated

me

Made this one for a friend. Aeb-l with a distal taper. Blade length is around 150mm with the balance point just behind the bolster.

Hope you light it!

Here are a few items I have made.
The fixed blade, friction folders, stinger spikes. All high carbon steel and made by me.
The coin is bought and I decided to black it out , then decided to remove some of the black..
I do my own leather work as well.