Made My First Knife

cohunter14

cohunter14

Administrator
Jul 10, 2017
5,378
After picking Bill's brain (>>>---WW---->) about making a knife a few months back, I set out to build my first knife. At first the idea was to create a knife with an antler as the handle like Bill has done, but unfortunately I realized that all of the sheds I have are sun bleached and completely dried out, so I think they would have been too brittle to use.

After doing some research, I found this kit online: http://www.rockler.com/drop-point-knife-kit?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=&utm_content=pla&utm_campaign=PL&sid=V9146&gclid=Cj0KEQiA4JnCBRDQ5be3nKCPhpwBEiQAjwN1bmXC-cdjHF4mzSZk-WJOQ1k14Wo3iA0xHriX-kvOlCAaAv3A8P8HAQ. For $20, I figured what the heck. I also ordered the Maple Burl knife scales from them for another $9.

Here is a picture of everything needed to do the project outside of a few tools and some sandpaper:

 
Looks like a good winter project to pass some time. I can\'t wait to se the finished product.

Are you don yet? Are you done yet? :lol:
 
The first step is to get the knife scales cut down to fit. The first thing I did was figure out which side of the knife scales I wanted facing out. After that, I laid the knife on top of the scale where I wanted it, clamped it down, and drilled each of the holes in the scale with a 5/32? drill bit. Once a hole was drilled, I?d place a pin in it to guarantee the hole would stay lined up with the knife.

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After drilling all three holes and having the pins in place, I traced the outline of the handle and began cutting the design out. I initially started doing this with a jigsaw and clamping the scale down to my workbench. This worked on the first scale, but unfortunately the second scale snapped in half as I was cutting it. The vibration from the jigsaw was just a little too much for the soft wood. Lesson #1 learned. Another set of scales was ordered.
 
\"bowhunter\" said:
Looks like a good winter project to pass some time. I can\'t wait to se the finished product.

Are you don yet? Are you done yet?  :lol:
Click to expand...
It?s coming! Hold tight  :D
 
As I waited for the new set of scales to show up, I began sanding the scales to fit. Here is the scale before doing much sanding at all.

I simply hand sanded everything using 120 grit sandpaper. This surprisingly didn?t take all that long. If you had a belt sander, you could fly doing this part. The finishes were done with 400 grit, but I was really able to form the knife and round the edges with that 120 grit.
 
Once the new scales arrived, I set out to do the other side of the knife. I placed the first scale on the knife to make sure the front edges of the scales would line up and I clamped them together. I then drilled the first hole in the new scale through the first scale and knife to ensure everything lined up right. Again, I would put a pin in there after each hole was drilled.

Going back to the jigsaw, the first scale broke right through the middle hole that I had drilled. My initial thought was that maybe I should wait to drill the third hole because that made the wood weak. I tried this on the first new scale, but again the wood broke. So that was not the issue, the issue was using the jigsaw.

So, back to another scale. Drilled the holes, traced it, and then this time I simply decided to use a hand saw and cut it out the best I could. I didn?t want to split another scale and have to wait longer to finish this thing!  :D

The hand saw actually worked okay. Not ideal, but I could get cuts close enough to where I wanted them and then got to sanding the jagged edges. What would probably work perfect for doing this would be a dremmel, which I have, but didn?t think of using.

Once both scales were cut, I continued forming both of them and trying to get them to match as best as I could. I would throw them onto the knife and pop the pins in to see how the knife felt in my hands. Once I was satisfied with the feel, I put the pins in once more and marked where the pins needed to be cut (they come pretty long). Out came the dremmel and I lopped off each pin to fit.
 
From this point, all that was left was finishing the handles, which was honestly the most time consuming part of the whole process as I waited for things to dry. The first thing that was done was to wipe the handles with the linseed oil from the first picture. After that was dried, multiple coats of polyurethane were added. Once I was satisfied with how the handles looked and felt, it was ready for final assembly. A little Gorilla Glue and everything was put together. I clamped the knife down for about a half hour and continued to wipe away the excess glue as Gorilla Glue expands once it's put in place.

Here is the final product. Initially I wanted to do more of a skinnier, rounded handle but this really feels good in my hands at this larger size (I have bigger hands). My thumb also sits perfect on the top part of the knife in between the scales. I can't wait to actually try this thing out now!
 
As you can see, the two scales definitely look a little different. I think this was because I used scales from two different sets. I didn't notice this until I applied the linseed oil and at that point, I wasn't going to wait and order another set of scales and start all over  :D  So lesson two, use scales from the same set.

Here are two more pictures. As you can see, I still have a little clean-up to do of the glue on some of the edges. I also plan on grabbing some boot polish for the sheath to add a little protection.

All in all, this was not an overly difficult project. I would encourage anyone to give it a try. You really don't even need much for tools outside of a clamp, a drill, and a wood saw and hack saw or a dremmel.

Let me know if you have any questions!
 
Looks mighty cool! Glad to see you finally got your first one done. I\'m sure there will be more to come. Get yourself a 1 inch belt sander. I think Harbor Freight has them for around $30.

I have never done a full tang blade. What type of steel and hardness is your knife?
 
I just looked at the link Derek posted...

\"The blade is made from 440C, a high-chromium stainless steel\"
 
Here are some final pictures. Got the excess glue scraped off. A flathead screwdriver works perfect for that. Also used some Kiwi Tan shoe polish on the sheath.

 
Looks good Derek!! I ordered a couple of the bottle opener kits and a piece of zebrawood to give it a try. Will start another thread once it\'s here. Good time to go start looking for a Dremel and possibly a sander!
 
That looks good Derek. I enjoy messing with stuff like that. I\'m no expert by any means but something you could try to make the scales a little more durable is using stabilized wood. I\'m not sure where you get it, I have just noticed a lot of call makers use it to make keep wood from cracking or breaking during the turning process.
 
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