I think this blade has been hardened, so I figured I'd stuff a length of cotton boot lace through the holes, and see what it looked like.
Front:
Back:
There may be some convention about which side of a chisel-ground knife is the "front" and the "back", but I don't care.
I want to carry it for EDC, but I'll have to clean it up, figure out what to do with the "tail", make a carry sheath for it, and maybe do something more clean looking with the wrap.
I removed the cord wrap, because I will be re-doing it, anyway. In the meantime, I decided to force a patina, and get that out of the way all at once.
Some comparison photos, first a stonewash, and whatever they do to the aluminum to get it to look like that. Second picture is the satin-ish finish on my Ripple. I tried a couple other photos, to help illustrate the difference between various metal finishes, but these are the only two that were worth posting.
Soaking in vinegar most of the day didn't do as much as I wanted. This is O1 steel, hardly any chromium, and it should have gotten darker.
I've been squeezing as much as I can from the same half gallon of vinegar for three or four years though, so it is probably past it's shelf life.
If I have time tomorrow, I'll buy some ferric chloride, and re-etch it.
Last Edit: Jan 8, 2015 19:27:23 GMT -8 by Shorttime
I don't think I can boil vinegar, because the distance between the stove and the living room would make for a lot more bitching than I want to deal with.
I'm going to step up to Ferric Chloride, because I have some stainless I want to etch. That should do a faster job on the O1, as well.
Last Edit: Feb 25, 2015 16:07:19 GMT -8 by Shorttime
I got pissed off at knifemaking for a while. Grind, grind, file, file, sandsandsandsandsandsandsandsand, from 80 grit to 100, to 150, to 220, whereupon I would find a file mark that I had missed, and have to remind myself, yet again, that the contest between the wall and my fist never ends well for me.
At the same time as I was sick and tired of trying to get an even 220 satin finish on everything, I was also tired of making knives with very complex handle profiles, and I was looking for the smallest possible size that 2 3/4" of cutting edge could be put into.
So what you see in the pictures is what happened when all those things crashed together. I love kiridashis because they short-circuit the conventional expectations for knife shape.
The flats are 80 grit, then 150, then a wire brush. I liked the way it looked, so I stopped there.
For the rest of it, I went from grinder to 150, leaving some of the chatter marks from the fine wheel on the spine.
The bottom of the handle needed some extra work, so that was files, 80, 150.
The bevel is right-hand this time (for Mighty Max), moving right from mill files to 150 grit paper.
I'm going to drill some holes in it so it can be paracord wrapped, then it's off to HT. No more sanding, polishing, or fucking around with parts of the process that piss me off.
Last Edit: Feb 25, 2015 16:11:20 GMT -8 by Shorttime
I've been playing with this basic shape for years, now. I'm mostly happy with it, but this is a subtle modification to make it easier for me to put some kind of finish on the narrow sides.
Steel is 3/16, 440C (for my own reference later), same as the kiri'. I'm proud of myself for putting the spine against the top of the steel, too. I can grab that edge with the bar clamp, and throw sparks without ever having to stop and re-grip.
If things go well, I'll start on this Friday night, and post some photos, maybe.
If things don't go well, I'll throw it in the box with all the other half-finished shit that I have distant intentions of trying to salvage, someday.
I bought a lot of Mtech knives, before I realized there was a difference. They were cheap, so if I saw a feature I liked, I could buy it and try it.
This knife is one of them, and it has been rattling around with me for twenty some years. For whatever reason, i never knew quite what to do with it, but I never wanted to sell it, either.
Until a while ago, when I was looking at bushcraft knives, and realized that it would make a good one, if I ground off the useless thumb ramp.
I had some tan G10, and the nickel silver for the pins actually cost more to ship than it did to buy. And it still came out looking like brass. Oh well.
I started by trying to copy the same general shape as Daniel Koster uses for his bushcraft knives, since he knows what he's doing, and I don't. The extra notch in the handle dictated some things about the front there, and I decided I didn't need to round the profile as much as he does with his.
I'm pretty happy with it, but now I have a problem. The knife itself was labeled "440C China". I probably paid less than $20 dollars for it. Now, I've sunk something like twelve hours of work into a knife that I can't reasonably charge more than $25 for.
I was trying to do something simple, with nice curves. It looked fine on paper, and now it kind of looks like a fish.
I've been interested in trying some Neo-Tribal stuff, because it ties in well with Wabi-Sabi. I want to throw some cord wrapping on it, and that will help break up the outline.
I like the idea of making knives which are slightly imperfect in their details. Not sloppy, but, imperfect enough to remind the user that nothing made by man is able to transcend our own flawed nature.
Well, modified wharncliffe. From what I've seen, that's a thing, now. Although there's not much room to modify a wharncliffe profile before you end up with a Nessmuk.
My tendonitis doesn't like regular drop points sometimes, so I've become a fan of the wharncliffe blade. They're hard to find, so I figure I can contribute something meaningful to knifemaking by making them a little easier to get.