First blade -- total newbie

[grepper]

Huh.  I had never really thought of wood being toxic.  But then again, I guess that making something from a large chuck of poison ivy vine would be problematic!

I looked it up too.  Wiki said, "The high natural oil content of the wood makes it difficult to achieve a strong glue joint and can inhibit the curing of some varnishes, particularly oil-based finishes."

Maybe your chunk was old enough so that won't be an issue.  I guess only long term use will tell if it's an issue with the epoxy.  I noticed right away the handle was very clean looking with no rivets.

Nonetheless, a very nice looking knife!  Just looking at it kinda makes me want to chop some stuff.

[Mark Reich]

First of all, that's a damn nice little nikiri, Wade! I like the gentle curve of the handle. 

I think flowing lines on inanimate objects can give an air of femininity to anything. Even a bad ass battleship, to say nothing of knives!

Hope she cuts as well as she looks! 

Enough heat generally weakens epoxy. If you put the handle in a pot of boiling water it might just pop right off. 

It's rarely a good idea to harden tangs imo. I always end up drilling them for mechanical fasteners, even though I use the very best adhesives. It would still be possible to put corby bolts in Wade's handle if the tang isn't hardened.

I would be extremely remiss to not caution everyone about the dangers of inhaling any fumes of anything, but some things are toxic. Maybe you'll get by on natural immunities for some time, but it's not worth the risk! 

Almost all exotic wood is bad for you, but the Rosewood family (including cocobolo) is flippin dangerous. Another very common material these days is G10. Dust like this can kill you! Even dust you wouldn't consider, like metal dust that you can't see, can send you to the ER. 

Be smart, be safe.

[wadebevan]

Thanks for the kind words on the knife.
She is sharp, and so far seems to have pretty good edge retention.

I tempered the tang pretty well, but it did go into the kiln with the rest of the blade.
I noticed that I did have to be careful when grinding because there was a lot more bite on the tang.
My expectations on the handle over time are somewhat low.
I was in a hurry to get a handle on it and play with the feel and balance for its intended use in the kitchen of making big vegetables into small ones.

But for many reasons, this isn't a knife that is allowed in the dishwasher.

+1 on being safe.
Kind of strange that I never came across the toxicity of the rosewood family in woodworking circles.
I've made quite a few things out of it over the years, and just got lucky.

It is difficult to get a glue to hold it, but a high quality slow set epoxy has held up pretty well on other projects.

If it falls off, I get to play with the next material

[wadebevan]

Well guys, I guess I have to learn how to grind a blade proper now... My 2"x72" Kally just arrived!
It wasn't inexpensive, but, it seemed to be the best bang for the buck.
Now I just have to figure out a way to trick my girlfriend into spending the weekend at the shop

Any suggestions on practice material?
Would cold rolled flat stock be 'close enough'?

Off to watch youtube vids on making blades!

[Soxx]

Hello Gents. I've been following along on this thread for several days now and have finally decided to register and throw my hat in the ring. Let's get this out on the table first though.  Mike and Bernie know who I am. Bernie invited me to be on the BESS board and I have been there almost from the inception. So there is my admission. When I see discussion like the discussion I see in this column It reminds me of why I signed on to the BESS board in the first place. Knowledge is a wonderful thing. A willingness to pass on knowledge is  admirable. A willingness to bare one's chest and ask for help is the most admirable of all. I just want you all to know that you all make an old guy like me very proud and a little prouder to be called a human being.  If you're lucky Mr. wadebevan, I'll show you a picture of the knife that Mike and I cooperated on making and you'll feel like a real  Naifumēkā of the first order. I'll be back. I'm having too much fun now.

 

[grepper]

Welcome Mr. Soxx!  Really cool to have a founding BESS board member here, and I am looking FW to your posts.

Ummm... Could you please translate Naifumēkā?  Even Google translate fails me on that one.  

BTW, I'd love to see a pic of Mike's (and yours) knife making effort!

[Mark Reich]

Welcome to the BESSEXchange forums, Soxx, great to have you here!

Looking forward to hearing and learning from you as well

Have fun!
-Mark

[Soxx]

Well thank you very much for the warm welcome but wouldn't have expected anything different from you guys. I'm glad to see that you are not holding my association with Mike and Bernie against me.  I just put up a pretty windy message over in the edge retention column so I'll make this one shorter.
Naifumeka is my understanding of the Japanese term for knife maker. I picked up that information in 2006 on a trip to Japan from a Japanese knife maker.  Just checked my notes from the trip and I spelled it right. You don't suppose he was pulling my leg do you?
I think Mike has the knife pictures. I'll make him hand them over and then put them up.
 

[Bud]

This is the best thread that I have ever seen on knife making because it is done from the perspective of a relative novice. I'm interested in making my own knives as well and thinking about getting started. wadebevans success has encouraged me. Part of getting started is just working up the courage like wadebevan did to start asking questions of people who know the answers. So here's my first question and I hope you don't laugh me out of the forum. The title of this section is "Knife making and blade smithing". So what's the difference between "making knives" and "smithing knives".

[wadebevan]

Hey Bud,
Thanks for the interest.
I didn't much know the difference myself, but, according to the google:
"Bladesmithing is the art of making knives, swords, daggers and other blades using a forge, hammer, anvil, and other smithing tools."
Knife Making would be the more generalized term regardless of which tools got you there.
At the end, same result of having made a knife.

The Pro's might have some more context.

TW.