English Rose - My First Attempt – My First Knife – See It In The Making - TRACY

[Englishrose222]

WOW

That is a gorgeous looking blade you are making there. You must have a great sense of satisfaction knowing the project is drawing to a close and every part of your knife has been made to your design.

It is the utimate custom knife, Going through some of previous posts:

No you haven't over polished it IMO, i like shiney things...mmmm shiney!

Either of those great looking bits of wood would make a fabulous handle (have you decided which to use yet?).

I await the next instalment with anticipation :You_Rock_

Hi Ark,

Yes I am beginning to feel very sad, funny how priorities change, i keep thinking what will i do when i've finished this - and thank you for your very kind words. I wont be using either one of these two sets of scales - i actually have them up for sale at the moment as i have been asked for them so many times, so i do have to decide what to use instead.

Tracy

 

[kb31]

Hi Karl :You_Rock_

Thank you for your concern, it is comforting and reassuring - using power tools with other people around is a good idea, but what do you do when there is no one else around :thinkerg:

folk have died a few feet away from a phone cos they there's no one there to help i was a welder in a fab shop gates n that seen some nasty safey flims at BNFL you won't use an angle grinder but i seen one slip in to someone's arm the handle was lose and it came off cut him to the bone it was like a slasher flim-red all over as well as me he was ok in the end thank god . i just don't what you to come to any harm doing this .not saying ya can't in any way or form. i did'it mean someone standing over you(puting you off) tell next door what your doing ask them to check every half an hour or something that your ok .like i said before i can see a cap in the market go for it tracey :You_Rock_ ..karl

 

[Englishrose222]

tell next door what your doing ask them to check every half an hour or something that your ok .



Hi Karl

Thanks for your concern it is very much appreciated... i don't have anyone who would look after me like that.... ..and hey i don't get on with nextdoor....,but i am all behind with all my posting, so i'll try and catch up now. It makes things worse that i have cut my finger very badly, so my typing is very slow.... but i'll get there, without the neighbour - he's a pig..

Tracy

 

[Englishrose222]

Come and have a look in this corner where i do all my grinding :O - some of my tools were extremely expensive, they are bound to be, they are pretty much industrial tools, but i also buy tools at the cheaper end of the market, a name on the tool never bothers me, if it is not a high tech name. 8) I look at the construction of the tool and how heavily its built, i look to see if it can be adapted in any way so that it can perform any specific needs that i am looking for, take a look at this linisher, we all know where this comes from, i buy tools from whereever tools can be bought from, and if they can be bought through the post - so much the better. This linisher that you see me working with, i bought for 40 quid as a reconditioned tool from the company that would normally sell them, and this tool will last for ages. By the time it breaks down, i will have long since had my £40 worth and then i'll be on the lookout for another tool, just like it. Most companies offer this kind of deal. You will notice i have adapted the table slightly, i have put bracing underneath to stiffen it up and a sliding backstop so that i can rest the blade on the table against the backstop and move the backstop until i achieve the correct angle of one side of the grinding of the blade, then turn it over and do the other side, and then hey guess what,... hey presto... as if by magic, both angles on both sides are equal and most of the hard work has been taken away and to get any curves in the handle part, i turn the linisher on its end and use the roller to form the concave curves and the disc on the side to form the convex shapes, worth every penny don't you think? And takes up no space at all. .......oh and by the way guys - my hair is tied back already....and normally i would be wearing leather gloves for protection as well as a mask and goggles - quite a site you can imagine.... but to take these pictures on a delayed timer i have to compromise, as in the second picture, and not leave the linisher running.

 

[Englishrose222]

Hi Guys

I thought I would show you my blade for the last time before it put the scales on. You’ll notice it is a very different shape, this is because where I’ve dropped it, I’ve ground the edge away and when I held it I found it was too big for me, so I decided to shorten it a little and thin it down a little, but the one thing that has taken me more time to do than anything else was that one operation, honing. I’ve spent hours, days trying to get this right – and I’ve seen guys here making a whole knife in three hours with complicated twists and turns from a piece of square metal bar. I’ve done it with linishers, grinders, and I even bought a very expensive felt wheel and I have found this the most difficult thing to do of all and make it look right when its finished, but I think my determination has paid off at last and I am quite happy with it and it slices through old rags at a stroke, so I’m pleased with it and I hope you have taken a liking to it as well.

On the subject of safety, I know I can hear the groans, but safety was talked about here on my thread and whilst putting the final touches to the blade I cut my finger very badly and the way I did it sounds so silly – I was in my shed, with my linisher running and I simply stumbled, just very tired I guess and I put my hand out to break my fall, and my hand went straight on to the edge of the disc pad on the side of the linisher which was fitted slightly off centre to the wheel, which had a repeated slicing motion as it was going round. Fortunately, I had some very thick riggers gloves on which I always wear even when I’m gardening and the disc just sliced straight through and went very deep into my finger. - makes you think, you can never be too careful.

Final picture tomorrow night of the finished knife and a sheath which a member was kind enough to make for me as a gift.

Tracy

 

[Zammo]

Ouch that sounds like it was horrible, still it could have been a lot worse!

Nice looking knife though.

 

[Englishrose222]

I hope you enjoy looking at my finished knife and i would very much appreciate any comments you would like to make.


MY KNIFE

Specifications:-

Overall length: 195mm
Longest part of handle: 123mm
Longest part of blade: 94mm
Widest part of blade: 30mm
O1 Carbon Steel 3mm thick
Outside edge of blade in a brushed finish
Sides of blade polished to mirror finish
Cutting edge scary sharp
Heat treated and tempered 3 times
2 x 6mm Mosaic pins
1 x 6mm lanyard hole
Handle: English Walnut Trunk
Integral finger guard
Vulcanised fibre liners in brick red
Finished with 2 coats of sanding sealer
And 3 coats of friction polish





Sheath:

A beautiful gift from a wonderful member of this forum
But slightly changed by me – I hope he’ll forgive me
And hope you’ll forgive me my terminology.

The bottom of the sheath was squashed at an angle to
take the shape of the knife.
The top half was formed around a template plug
with bark impressions applied and finished with several coats of
Brown/oxblood coloured polish




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[kb31]

top job tracy bet your well cuffed :You_Rock_

 

[baggins]

cool, well worth all that effort. I love the slightly different design.
What you got planned next?

 

[morch]

Looks fantastic Trace, i love the handle material and shape. Congratulations hun on a job very very well done.

Dave

 

[Shinken]

Very Very nice Tracy!

Its a lovely shiney thing!!!

 

[Englishrose222]

cool, well worth all that effort. I love the slightly different design

Thank you, you are very kind.

What you got planned next?

Having an early night ........ I'm exhausted after all this, but i've enjoyed every minute of it. .... After that? ..... I've already started making some more full tang blades ( i think they're called), that are in various stages, which i am really quite excited about and also going dizzy thinking of all the different kinds of wood i would like to attach to them.

 

[ArkAngel]

ding ding.....

that is gorgeous!!!

 

[Shinken]

Her newest knives are even nicer, check out her shop on Evilbay

 

[ArkAngel]

Her newest knives are even nicer, check out her shop on Evilbay

You got a link to the shop Shinken/anybody?

 

[Shinken]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HANDMADE-BUSH...DVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item280078873035

 

[Silverback]

I have read through this thread in absolute awe and admiration. What a talented lady :You_Rock_ . I would thoroughly recommend reading through the question and answer at the bottom of the ebaY listing posted in Shinken's link to English Rose's Bainite Knife it is an absolute peach of a response and very much 'Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!'

English Rose you have rep

 

[Bushcraft4life]

Yeah i saw that question/answer thing at the bottom of the evilbay page. What a response.

You have some serious talent Tracy and reading through this thread has been brilliant.

Have some rep and keep it up it we want to see more of your beautiful knives.

Jay

 

[dwardo]

Thats lovely !

Nice one and i cant honestly say i have seen something like it which makes it ace in my book

 

[Simon E]

Brava! I love the mirror polish too, can't stand 'Patina' that the heathens seem to love