I made a knife (Picture heavy)

[Jayhawk]

So I wanted to take on a little project.  I bought a piece of steel and went to work.  I'm pretty happy with my first try, and am looking forward to my next one.  As you can see, I kept the design simple, but it still works.

[gyrene81]

very nice jayhawk. 

[curry1]

Very Cool.  I built a handle like that for a knife once.  Never did the blade though.  My sister is in to that though.

[oakranger]

Good craftsmanship, sir.   

[ap1102]

very impressive. did u properly temper the blade by reheating after the initial quench?

[mthrockmor]

Amazing! You make it look easy.

Boo

[mbailey]

I'd buy one 
Very nice job Jayhawk

[RTR]

That is very cool Jayhawk.

RTR

[zack1234]

fantastic

[W7LPNRICK]

COOL! My dad worked in an Arizona copper mine machine shop & during his down time he had researched collected old files and ground them into knives. They had some really cool epoxies of different colors, and some alloy metals. He gave my Brother & I each a knife for my 14th Christmas. I kept mine until someone stole it out of my military home transfer household crate. Thanks for the memories...

[Jayhawk]

Thanks everyone!    I'm already looking forward to the next one.

very impressive. did u properly temper the blade by reheating after the initial quench?

I tempered it, time will tell if I did it properly. 

[Wiley]

I am by no means an expert but with the little bit I've done and read up on, tempering is tricky, as different steels require different procedures/temperatures etc.  If it was already tempered, by heating it you'd have likely taken the temper out to a certain degree.  Doing it precisely generally requires use of a kiln to get the right temperature for the right duration, then whatever quench is called for.

Still, great work, nice craftsmanship.  The even color on the blade coming out of the fire tells you it's very smooth and straight.  Varying thicknesses produce different colors.

Wiley.

[ink]

looks great....the next one you do, take that rebar, flatten then fold it about 8 times and make a knife out of that billet you make......

one of these days I will have a forge

[morfiend]

Thanks everyone!    I'm already looking forward to the next one.

I tempered it, time will tell if I did it properly. 

  Jay,

  very nice,I saw the charcoal pit and knew that's how you were going to temper it!
     
    You forgot a tang guard,you can easily slip your hand up to the cutting edge so be careful with it. Remember to make 1 on the next knife!

  Do you have a compressor? you can use it to blow air into the charcoal to make it real hot! Of course you need a regulator to reduce the air pressure but it sure beats a bellows and does the same thing.Just make up a fitting with a quick connect and you'll have a steady supply of air to raise the temps.

  Next you'll want to read about differential tempering and the benefits it gives you.

   There's nothing quite like a hand made knife!   Yours is a fine example!



   

[Jayhawk]

  Jay,

  very nice,I saw the charcoal pit and knew that's how you were going to temper it!
     
    You forgot a tang guard,you can easily slip your hand up to the cutting edge so be careful with it. Remember to make 1 on the next knife!

  Do you have a compressor? you can use it to blow air into the charcoal to make it real hot! Of course you need a regulator to reduce the air pressure but it sure beats a bellows and does the same thing.Just make up a fitting with a quick connect and you'll have a steady supply of air to raise the temps.

  Next you'll want to read about differential tempering and the benefits it gives you.

   There's nothing quite like a hand made knife!   Yours is a fine example!



   

Thanks for the tips.  I didn't so much forget the guard as just left it out to keep it simple.  I'm aware it's a more dangerous, and will be careful with how I use it.

There actually is an air compressor hooked up to that.  I used a air blower connection and used a hose clamp to adjust the flow.  It worked great.