another carving knife

[forginhill]

I felt the urge to make another carving knife, one with more scandi-ish bevels. Grabbed a small scrap piece of my favorite mystery salvaged steel and started forging. Ended up using mesquite for the handle. Pic below shows new knife with my regular carver which also has a mesquite handle. The mesquite seems to be working very well for handles.

Broke it in making a mesquite spoon, and I'm quite happy with it.

 

[Nativewood]

Looks like a fantastic blade shape to me. Just what I'd like to use. Nice job on the spoon too.

 

[ateallthepies]

Wow, that something like that can be hammered out of a tiny lump of metal!

 

[David LaFerney]

What do you use to scoop out the tang pocket?

 

[forginhill]

Thanks. David, I drilled a little pilot hole, then heated up the tang and burned in the tang slot carefully. I do it in several heats, taking it slowly.

 

[Robson Valley]

Your bladesmithing skills are wonderful to behold.
Now, for "real" carving knives, take a look at the top quality products from the best of the PacNW bladesmiths.
Double edged, many sweeps and several sizes. These are real carving knives.

http://kestreltool.com/index.html

 

[David LaFerney]

Thanks. David, I drilled a little pilot hole, then heated up the tang and burned in the tang slot carefully. I do it in several heats, taking it slowly.

Simple enough. Cool. I would have thought that the char from that would mess with the blade retention, but apparently not. That really simplifies the whole project. Now I know what I can do with those little chunks of 1084... Thanks.

 

[BogdanS]

Well done mate! Simple and usefull.

 

[Macaroon]

Great work, simple and very elegant, a very useful tool. And the spoon looks cool, too.

 

[Dreadhead]

very nice!

 

[forginhill]

I would have thought that the char from that would mess with the blade retention, but apparently not.

Couple of things. I usually don't burn the tang all the way in. Burn it in most of the way, clean up the char in the slot, file the tang down a mite, then you get a nice fit. Sometimes I also make a dummy tang that's a bit smaller and use that to burn in the hole. This method seems to work well for me.

Now, for "real" carving knives, take a look at the top quality products from the best of the PacNW bladesmiths.
Double edged, many sweeps and several sizes. These are real carving knives.

Love your passion for this tradition. I tried a double edged knife but I love the versatility of choking up on the blade. I still cut myself with a single edged blade. :/

I won't deny that in trained hands those knives are very effective.

 

[Robson Valley]

I've got both double edged (6) and single edged blades (8+ modified farrier's knives.)
Quite frankly, I like the singles better. They are made in Left & Right pairs. One in each hand makes sense.
Then, you can turn them around and push on the dull back edge for control. The scorp in the end is a bonus.
I'm always afraid, switching hands with a DE blade, that in a momentary lapse in focus, I'll cut myself again,
even worse than the first time (to the bone.)

Have you considered making one with a sweep, a bend in the blade? Something between a farrier's knife (eg Mora 171) and maybe a Mora 162, 163 or 164?
I'll bet you can do it. I'll bet it will be a real dandy for spoon and/or bowl void carving. No more than a 2" length blade.