My First Crooked Knife

Looks like you got a handle on making a nice kinfe! Cool !

-- Tony C , My high school shop teacher said "You can do it"... Now I can't stop!

That looks like it will do a good job, nice knife

-- Martin ....always count the number of fingers you have before, and after using the saw.

Excellent. So much more satisfying to make what you need rather than just throw money at it. Good job!

-- "Man's ingenuity has outrun his intelligence" (Joseph Wood Krutch)

Good job on the knife. You’ll appreciate it more than the boughten one because you made it yourself!! With your talent, you can make all kinds of special carving tools!!

-- Jim Jakosh.....Practical Wood Products...........Learn something new every day!!

Thats very cool! Custom tools are the best.

Lucky driftwood find too!

-- “There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.” ~ JRR Tolkien

You needed it an made it,just like days of old.

-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/

interesting knife, kinda looks like a hoof knife.

-- A thing of beauty is a joy forever...

thanks guys. yeah, jm, it does look like a hoof knife. hoof knives were a specific part of the research i did before starting. i just hope it holds its edge.

-- "Take extra care not to lose what you feel" (Winwood/Capaldi/Wood)

Looks good…how did you temper the steel?

-- Can't never could do anything, to try is to advance.

That looks good! I wonder, did you temper the steel after hardening it?

-- Mike, American in Norway

Great job and hope to see the bowl soon

-- Norman

Google loop blade hoof knives. I’m not a carver but I have made a lot of knives and I think a loop blade would work really well for you carver types.

-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm

i still haven’t used this but the more i think about it and hold it in my hand—- it’s pretty darn big. i may be reworking the blade to be quite a bit smaller.

as for tempering…
i think i tempered it. as stated before, this is a first. i was under the impression that when i heated the blade up “cherry red” and then gave it the dunk, that was the tempering part of the process. let me know if i’m wrong. especially since i’m starting over. more or less.

gfadvm – i have seen those loop blades and they do seem like they’d be worth a closer look. thanks!

-- "Take extra care not to lose what you feel" (Winwood/Capaldi/Wood)

Tempering, especially if you want to carve wood, is more complicated than that.

For starters, you need to have an idea about what steel you are using. You could end up with something so brittle it will shatter if you drop it. There is a difference between hardness and brittleness. You said your steel from from another project- do you know what it is? Some carbon steel will never keep a decent edge, no matter what you do with it.

Typically, you heat it red, oil quench, then heat it again in the oven when momma is cooking the pizza. Controlled, in other words. Than you might even think about tossing it in the deep freeze for a while. I knew one guy that set his blade on a hunk of dry ice.

Don’t believe me, I’m maybe full of crap today, check this-

http://www.ehow.com/how_4550011_harden-temper-mild-steel.html

-- Dan V. in Indy

Warren cutlery has that blade sharp and ready to be installed in a handle. They have them in left and right handed ….best part they are only a couple of bucks.

-- Can't never could do anything, to try is to advance.