The makings of a spoon knife

[punkrockcaveman]

Phase one complete! My favourite part of knife making. Feels like your giving the metal life. And I'm rubbish at 'polishing' up so the rest of knife making is a bit of a back burner for me! I've never owned a spoon knife so this is all very new and exciting! I've made a kinda crappy mocotaugan type thing before, so I've bent metal before but I'm really liking the curves on this so far. Next phase will be cutting the tang then hardening/tempering.

 

[Robson Valley]

I would carve with that knife. No reason on earth to "cut" the tang.
Surface mount the blade in typical Pacific Northwest First Nations style.
The blades do not work themselves loose. I carve with dozens of them, many I assembled.

The next one you make, hook the tip maybe 7/16" and put the bevels on the inside of the curve.

If you need any inspiration, these bladesmiths have good pictures.

Kestrel tool

Northwest Coast hand carving tools, adzes, crooked knives, sculptors supplies

www.kestreltool.com

North Bay Forge Bent Knives for spoon carving and more

North Bay Forge on Waldron Island in the San Juan Islands, Washington. Jim Wester is a full time Blacksmith, making hand forged wood carving knives, kitchen cutlery and decorative ironwork. A full line of wood carving tools is in stock and ready for purchase.

northbayforge.com

Wood Carving Knives by Jamie Sharp

High Quality Wood Carving Knives made in Canada. Free shipping to USA and Canada for orders over $90. Native West coast Hook and Straight carving knives.

www.jamie-sharp.com

Cariboo Blades Tools & Knives

Custom handmade knives. Custom wood carving knives & tools. Forged carbon steel blades. Powered by the sun. Up cycled premium quality materials since 1997.

www.caribooblades.com

 

[punkrockcaveman]

cheers Robson! Those kestrel tools look the absolute bomb, amazing. There's a lot of food for thought there, I think I may bend it back the other way to get the bevels the other way round and put more curve in the tip more akin to those of the north bay forge. I'm well up for surface mounting it. I still have to cut it though, the pic doesn't show it but the tang is about 25cm long currently!

 

[Robson Valley]

Don't change the sweep at all. Make another knife instead. You will find that having a variety of sweeps
from strait to half-circle with some with J-shapes and hooked tips all have their uses.

I learned by starting with both new and used farrier's hoof-trimming crooked knives.
Mostly bash off the factory handles and surface haft the blades. Good wood carving tools.
I needed to do my damnedest to avoid getting tangled up in the bladesmithing world.
I'll just sit and watch you slave over a hot forge.

 

[Nice65]

Definitely keep it as it is and try it out. It looks good so far. No carver has just the one knife or chisel, the best have a few tools that only come out of the box for a specific task, better to make more than overwork that one.

 

[Robson Valley]

There's one more point which comes up and I believe it's significant.

You would never buy a pair of shoes 4 or 5 sizes too small and wear them.
Likewise, you have to make the knife handle of a size to fit your hands.
I understand that the handles of tennis rackets are to be judged in the same way.

Scattered here and there in a variety of literatures published by Kestrel Tool (aka Gregg Blomberg).
is what I have come to call the "Kestrel Constant."

"Palm up and fist grip on the knife handle,
the tips of your second and third fingers should just touch the ball of your thumb."

After some experiments carving prototype handles in easy wood,
I learned that I need a starting handle blank of 7/8" x 7/8". Even applies to adzes.
I learned that I can hold as big as 1" and as small as 3/4" relaxed, not with a death-grip.
My old hands are showing a touch of arthritis.
Tool handles bigger or smaller than my size range actually hurt to hold after a while.

Anyway, anything out of that size range is something that I really notice.

 

[punkrockcaveman]

There's one more point which comes up and I believe it's significant.

You would never buy a pair of shoes 4 or 5 sizes too small and wear them.
Likewise, you have to make the knife handle of a size to fit your hands.
I understand that the handles of tennis rackets are to be judged in the same way.

Scattered here and there in a variety of literatures published by Kestrel Tool (aka Gregg Blomberg).
is what I have come to call the "Kestrel Constant."

"Palm up and fist grip on the knife handle,
the tips of your second and third fingers should just touch the ball of your thumb."

After some experiments carving prototype handles in easy wood,
I learned that I need a starting handle blank of 7/8" x 7/8". Even applies to adzes.
I learned that I can hold as big as 1" and as small as 3/4" relaxed, not with a death-grip.
My old hands are showing a touch of arthritis.
Tool handles bigger or smaller than my size range actually hurt to hold after a while.

Anyway, anything out of that size range is something that I really notice.

yet another reason I like making my own knives. I like the leverage of extra long handles but also have pretty short stubby fingers so I need something slim to grip properly