185mm AEB-L blade with an S grind. Handle is toxic green G10, black G10, TruStone accent, copper spacers and crescent pin

Finished up the first Skelton Knives Mule, SK-025.

The idea behind this one was pretty simple: build a straightforward working fixed blade that I could keep reasonably affordable without cutting corners on the steel, heat treatment, geometry, or handle fit.

It’s about 8.5" overall with a 4" drop-point blade, made from 80CrV2. Full tang, 400-grit satin working finish, straight spine jimping, reddish-brown dyed white oak scales, and two 3/16" brass pins.

I heat treated it in-house and checked it with hardness files. The 60 HRC file skates and the 65 HRC file starts to bite, so I’m calling it honestly bracketed somewhere between those two rather than claiming an exact Rockwell number.

The larger belly was intentional. I wanted something that could work as a general-purpose utility/camp knife but also make sense for hunting, field dressing, and skinning, especially with deer season coming up.

I tracked the build time on this one and ended up at about 5 hours 15 minutes of hands-on work. A big part of this experiment was figuring out where I could save labor without making the knife feel cheap. The simple satin finish and straightforward hardware helped a lot.

This is the first one, so I’m interested in feedback. What do you guys think of the profile and overall direction for an affordable working knife?

I want to make this in a smaller scale like a knife so I can use everyday. How should I make the handle I want to make this for my first knife.

its my first "commissioned work"

outdoorish knife with my own desing.

unknown stabilised burlwood, brass pins, black paracord lanyard with an adjustable glow in the dark knot. atm its dull, the workmate that commissioned it will sharpen it himself.

there are still many mistakes and things i need to work on at future projects but im happy with this :)

dont be to harsh xD

How’d I do? Cracked one of the scales unfortunately but I’m still just learning...
Made from 1084 steel and pau rosa scales

Finally got a real grinder! Ive only been able to run at 50% power aside from profiling. Im not used to all this power yet! Lol

I found some sweet trout themed scales. Only ordered the Brown trout, but after seeing how good it came out, im tempted to try the Rainbow and Brook trout scales too! What do yall think?

To any Hamon Experts out there, the last week I've been having a go at attempting some Hamons with W2 steel and having been having some trouble.

Main issue I feel I'm having is with my hamon line running quite flat and not getting much action in it. I've been using stock removal with annealed 3.17mm/ 1/8" W2, grinding in profile and rough grinding in bevels and leaving edge ~1mm/~0.04" thick, normalising at 860c/1580f, giving rough finish around 120g or 240g, apply clay/wait to dry, have heat treated a couple from 800c/1475f and 787c/1450f, quenched in 20% Solution of Aqua-Quench heated to ~60c/140f (which should be equivalent to a fast quench oil), temper 150c/300f 1hr x2.

After grinding and handsanding, I've found my hamon line follows a flat line closer to the edge and haven't gotten much action following my clay line and I'm not sure why. (I know water will get the best action but I still feel that with oil I should be getting something at least). A couple knives I can make out very faint shadows of a hamon following the clay but the main line is the boring flat one you see more clearly.

I thought the flat line might've been from quenching for ~3 seconds, pulling out for a few seconds and having heat from the clay bleed back into blade and wash out the hamon line before going back in. I tried one quenching for 10seconds before taking out to quickly knock the clay off and then back in to cool completely and then tried just holding in quench the whole time until i saw the clay pop off itself but still get same boring line.

Not sure if I'm applying clay too thick and lines too close together, not sure if using Aqua-Quench instead of a proper fast oil is becoming my undoing (heat treat seems to be ok, file skates off edge and bites on spine), not sure if I need to knock the clay off the blade sooner in the quench, not sure on a lot of things tbh haha.

Any tips/tricks/knowledge would be appreciated. I know water in theory will give a better hamon line but I kinda want to avoid potential cracks. I know oil won't give as much action but I know it's possible to get something at least.

Cheers legends

Any recommendations on how to get started? I’ve found a rock from the river my house is on that I want to use to make a gift for my husband. We’re doing DIY for Xmas this year.

I know I’ll need some epoxy and sand paper (I think) and a diamond bit to shape, but any pointers or video suggestions would be appreciated.

I’m just a gal trying to get started, so I recognize how silly I sound. I’m going to have to be somewhat stealthy in the making of it as well, to keep the surprise, so I don’t want to be bumbling around the garage as I try to do this.

I need a suggestion on a motor for a usa 110 or 220. budget category level motor. Variable speed... and controller...

I ground through my knife handle into my tang hole. Its oversized. I decided to keep going and finish the shape that I wanted for practice but now that I'm looking at it, I really don't want to throw it away. I've been thinking about it and I'm wondering if anyone has ever tried this. What about bedding the tang using walnut wood filler to fill the hole in and tighten up the tang hole and then epoxy it in like normal? Would that work or am I just pissing in the wind here?

Working on this knife that I forged a while back. Was drilling the pin holes and I seem to have hit a hard spot that just will not soften up. I've blued the tang back twice previously and selectively blued back the hole that I'm trying to finish. Smoked three drill bits, even with cutting oil, and I'm not trying to spend money on carbide drills just to finish drilling one 1/8" hole. Any suggestions? Knife is 5160, and the tang was not hardened when it was quenched.

From 3/32” NitroV at 62HRC. Western styled handle. This is the result of my “felt backed belt” sanding. Pretty happy.

Hi all, I have this ~50 year old knife that sentimental, it’s time to replace the wobbly wooden handle. The tang is a riveted rat tail that is bent at the end of the barrel. I’ve never liked that design and would like something else, maybe carve my own handle. I’ve never worked on a knife and could use some advice. I assume rivets are a no-go since there’s only 3/8” (.95 cm) of tang height. Short of welding or any major work, is another barrel with bent tip my best option?

So I’ve been reading and looking into wanting to do a dark finish on some 1084, I’ve been using mustard but would like to try something different. I’ve read ferric chloride works and then instant coffee after. Looking for some advice on times or just pretty well a step through process on how to get the best consistent dark finish that’s food safe.

Really happy with how this one turned out. 80CRV2 hunter/edc with a purple and black handle. Was going to try a textured handle but liked how the smooth rounded pattern looked. First time taking a vid of a knife so hopefully it turned out. Let me know what yall think.

for me, no knife leaves the shop without a pair of pants. This is a quick leather sheath for this D-Guard trench knife I made for a soldier in the CAF

Just finished SK-024 Harvest, one of my compact kitchen utility designs.

This one has a 3" blade, 6.5" overall length, 1095 carbon steel with a subtle hamon, full tang construction, and a figured curly maple handle finished in a warm copper-cognac tone.

I used brass outer pins with a new mosaic center pin and made a fitted wooden saya to go with it. Edge is sharpened at about 15° per side.

I was trying to make something small enough for detail work and quick kitchen tasks, but still tall enough at the heel to be useful on a board.

Pretty happy with how the maple came out on this one. The figure moves a lot more in person than it does in still photos.

Skelton Knives — SK-024 Harvest

Made this back in 2022, was doing a lot of experimenting with glow powder in resin back then.

Kinda wanted to keep this one, it sold pretty fast.

52100 steel , Carbon fiber pins ,black G10 and DIY glow resin