Hi there! Some people here know me as a whistle maker, but I also am starting to make knives. I like it a lot. Here is a photo gallery of my second knife. I am interested in comments.
http://chucktilbury.com/pages/gallery.php?dir24=%2FKnive+Pictures+Mid-November+2010
All the best!
Chuck Tilbury
That knife looks very nice. Why is there masking tape on the blade in some of the pictures? Did you make the brass fittings too?
Two Funny Stories about knives:
We went camping with friends who had young boys at the time. The youngest of the boys kept pestering his Father as to when he could have a pocket knife. His Father kept telling him, “When you have a need for a pocket knife.” One time when he asked, I told him, “My Father-in-Law gave me my first pocket knife.” His eyes got really big because he knew how long a wait that was.
When my Father-in-Law gave me a pocket knife for Christmas, my reply was, “Oh thank you, I’ve never been allowed to have one.” His eyes did a whole lot of stuff too.
In about a week, I will be the cook for my Father-in-Law’s Deer Camp. I have been using kitchen knives since I was a child. I just don’t have much need for a pocket knife. A serrated paring/steak knife will get me through most what I need.
It looks like nice work. I’m hoping you grilled something on those coals after you tempered that blade. I have to carry a knife with a cork screw and pruning saw, never know when I’ll have to open a bottle of wine or rustle some exotic wood from a neighbor’s yard.
Chuck,
Nice job on a stock removal drop point hunter. I assume you did your own heat treatment? How did you determine correct temperature for quench and tempering? It also looks like you hand filed the taper and blade geometry, then hand finished the blade itself. If so, great job, thats something I have had a lot of trouble with.
Please take the following as constructive criticism from another beginning bladesmith (I’ve forged and finished a bare handfull of knives and a pair of ballpeen hatchet/hawks):
Your design appears rather handle heavy, with the large brass bolster and buttplate on a full tang knife with no distal taper on the handle side. Hard to tell without holding it though. I have large hands and favor a more chunky handle as well, but you might consider at least using smaller rivits to give it less of a massive presence. I also like the integral guard on the bolster, but think that it gets a little (visually) thin on the blade side.
Other than that it is a nice little hunter/utility knife. What kind of steel did you use?
Thanks Moot,
The masking tape is to keep the blade from getting scratched up wile I make shape the handle. I had already put a lot of work in it to get it smooth. I cut the brass from bar stock and shaped it from there using a belt grinder and files. I finished it up with 1000 grit sand paper. The wood scales are pecan wood from a tree in my dad’s yard.
Cheers!
-=chuck=-
I did my own heat treat. The steel is a piece of O1 tool that I bought for this purpose. I hardened over the charcoal and I used a magnet to tell when the steel was the “critical” temperature and quenched in motor oil. I tempered the blade in a normal oven at 400F. It seems to have worked perfectly. The blade takes and seems to hold an edge as well as I could hope for. However, I have not done anything like driving it into a 2x4 yet. 
The finish, I mostly did with a sanding drum and progressively finer grit paper, with 1000 grit being the last one. The final finish I did by rubbing white jewelers rouge into a piece of leather and rubbing the blade on that.
This knife is very butt heavy. In fact it is just very heavy. Live and learn. This is only my second attempt. The blade is fine at the spine opposite of the finger notch. It is much stronger than you could force by hand and if someone were to use a leaver on a fine cutting instrument, then they deserve what they get. I like chunky handles. I actually measured my palm and made a handle to match. It could be a little longer, though.
I am planning another one similar to this, but this time it will have a solid aluminum handle and no bolsters. I will attach it with peened 3/8" aluminum pins, since aluminum does not glue very well. This one will be from W1 tool in the form of a worn out file from my tool box. I used the fire that I hardened this blade in to anneal the file. it worked quite well. After that, I will probably do one with a brass front bolster, but no back one. Again, I will use pecan for the scales and 1/4" brass round for the pins.
Cheers!
-=chuck=-
Nice looking knife. Keep at it!
Great job Chuck 
especially seeing it’s only your second knife …
Damascus Steel next ? 
..
cool Chuck! Good start!!
gonna need a bigger barbie soon 
Nice sticker, I’d feel bad playing Mumblety-peg with it.
Tomato. Right now I want to cut a tomato.
It looks great.
Any chance you have any Jedi Light Sabers on the back burner?
Photonsmithing uses very different technology than blacksmithing. I’m still having trouble with blade length, haven’t been able to get it shorter than 20 light-years, a little long for practical use.
What!?!?! All you need is a magnelectrostatic field. You put one on the far end and one on the near end and let the light bounce back and forth. The only -real- problem is aiming the far field to compensate for movement.
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I really like this photo.
Image
De-merits for not cleaning the area of flammable material including a bottle of charcoal lighter fluid which the use of is another de-merit. I’m afraid I going to have to take a corner of his totin’ chip, send it in the mail.
Pre-ordering a Jedi Light Saber. My color choice is Emerald. After that major diss from dwest, if he orders one, make him that one that changes its color (after the warranty expires) to My Little Pony Pink.
I use a CEB(Continuous Electron Beam) rifle, I can shoot the fuzz off a peach at ten miles, why get close enough to have to use a Light Saber. 
If I’m ever that close I’ll use a Ginsu Chikara with a Granton edge and the spiral slicer.
Here, I guess you still need schooled. Again.
“Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”
Some believe it was Sun-tzu Chinese general & military strategist however there is no documented history of this. Was actually first said by “Michael Corleone” in The Godfather Part II
Ever tried to light a cup of charcoal lighter? You can put out matches in it. {
Also, I forgot to mention the 3GJ (gigajoule) power supply for the light saber. We haven’t got that one really figured out yet, either. It’s a little hard to carry it around with a 3cm superconducting power cable connected to a antimatter power plant the size of a small aircraft. Then there is the danger of having the power cable cut, causing a fairly massive explosion. And, of course, the power plant could melt down at any second due to the unreliability of antimatter fusion containment. Other than that, it works perfectly. Oh ya, did I mention that the light saber projector weighs just over 13 kilos?
-=c=-
