This Week iHuv Mosly bin filein

[FGYT]

Im my search for a knife ive made a couple more prototype blades
first was the Woodlore clone posed earlier which even with a Distal taper was still a bit of a lump

I was making one based on British Reds PFK and have a blank out of 4mm stock waiting to finish
however I always inended making a Nessmuk not that i thought it was for me but out if curiosity having never seen or hearsd of one untill i came here. A couple have been made and posted on here recently which brought it to the front. Also i was looking for the right shape. After looking at lots of interpretations i decided to use the little picture in the Book of the original (its avalible to download on this site ) page 8

I made 2 blades one to 10" overall scale which i think is close to the right size but its handle is a little to short for my hands so i scaled the second up to 12" over all this one ive finished with a plywood handle to the shape of the antler one in the book (prototype remember )
other blade im looking for a piece of antler the right shape
both are made from 3mm flat stock an have a variable scandi Grind starting at 3mm high at the handle to 9mm at the tip giving 53 to 19 deg following the line that shows on the original drawing ( IMO had to try it )

I also made a 3/4 scale of the PFK style knife whick is a good size for Kids and actually a nice 3 finger knife for me
from the PFK ive smoothed off the Hump and slightly changes the handle profile mainly to suit the Diameters of my sanding drums. The main changes are in the other direction.
Made from 3mm stock ( scaled from My 4mm size)
Taper tang to 0.75mm.
Full length Distal Taper blade to 1.5mm
25deg scandi Grind top half is then convexed back still leaving a 3-4mm flat for ease of sharpening and woodworking (thought this up a while back and wanted to try it then saw SMC do it nothing original in this world)
Plywood handle
2.5mm Alu pins
6mm Alu Lanyard hole
6mm Alu Tube center pin

now ive worked out the order of grinding i hope to get easier better finishing

the large Nessy chops very well
the Scale knife im hoping will make a good carver and camp knife for veg etc


ATB

Duncan

PS taking photos of shiny things wit hflash is a pain

 

[Asa Samuel]

Those are nice looking blades, I like the wood on the handles.

 

[stanley lake]

Hi Duncan some nice looking knifes how long is it taking you to make one. can i make a suggestion if you use a couple of different finer rubbing down paper and some thin oil
maybe 3 in 1 oil used rapped around a surplus peace of ground flat stock say 4 mm by 4 inches long and a little longer on your finishing you will have some very hansom knifes. but it depends what you whant out of your knifes stanley

 

[British Red]

I do like the "Nessie Monster" though I think the smaller will be more useful.

We must compare the originals with the "plywood offspring" on day

ickle PFK is cute too

 

[Native Justice]

Very nice work! Looks like a fine group of user protos. You've obviously put alot of work into refining those edge grinds which should make them great cutters. I like the plywood look alot, great idea!

 

[FGYT]

Stanley Thanks fo the advice I would be interested in a photo and info on your Bevel jig ive seen a few but its always usfull to look at different ways of doing it.

not sure on the times ive been fitting them in during the day around family and messing about with differnt methods etc but i can get a blank cut and ground to line 220grit in about 20mins using a Angle grinder. off hand grinder and a drill mounted drum sander. Bevels take the time at the moment as i can ruff of with the off hand grinder but file and sand to finish by hand to the lines probably 1hr (faster with more practice hopfully) distal taper and taper tang etc all add time but glue up and finish the handle probably another 1hr less depending on finish probably a lot more for posh wood that needs fine sanding etc


As these are prototypes to help me learn and find the ideal knife for me ive had a few changes etc thro the build process so a shiny finished knife can be hit with a 80 grit belt sander to change some thing i dont like or dosnt do what i wanted i keep thinking of redoing the Woodlore to try and like it
plus ive been trying out a few methods and machines and have had a few accidents resulting in a Dink or gouge now ive a better idea what i want and how to do it in the right order hoepfully and how far you can jump grades of wet n dry
Ive been draw filing with wet and dry but also use full sheets pulled over a bit of 4"x2" wit ha trued edge this is clamped in the Work mate which holds the paper tight you then move over to the next section as it wears out gives a big flat surface and little waste o nthe paper tho ive little skin on several fingers

i also think the old Egg polisher with original loose buffing wheel ive had for 25 years with a bit of un known compound i got at collage need upgrading

Ive left the pitting on the Nessy and even soaked it in Onion pulp which gives an older look this didnt work as well as id hoped

im also really happy with the Plywood as a handle its not smooth n shiny but it does grip well and can be sort of pretty if you have had a few plus ar £25 ish for nearly 3 square meters its economical (Briza do Birch laminate scales looks similer but expect it is a better job. any body want an off cut ) though i expect i will make a few with posh handles eventually.

next is a full size PFK esk with all the grinds i want


ATB

Duncan

 

[stanley lake]

Stanley Thanks fo the advice I would be interested in a photo and info on your Bevel jig ive seen a few but its always usfull to look at different ways of doing it.

not sure on the times ive been fitting them in during the day around family and messing about with differnt methods etc but i can get a blank cut and ground to line 220grit in about 20mins using a Angle grinder. off hand grinder and a drill mounted drum sander. Bevels take the time at the moment as i can ruff of with the off hand grinder but file and sand to finish by hand to the lines probably 1hr (faster with more practice hopfully) distal taper and taper tang etc all add time but glue up and finish the handle probably another 1hr less depending on finish probably a lot more for posh wood that needs fine sanding etc


As these are prototypes to help me learn and find the ideal knife for me ive had a few changes etc thro the build process so a shiny finished knife can be hit with a 80 grit belt sander to change some thing i dont like or dosnt do what i wanted i keep thinking of redoing the Woodlore to try and like it
plus ive been trying out a few methods and machines and have had a few accidents resulting in a Dink or gouge now ive a better idea what i want and how to do it in the right order hoepfully and how far you can jump grades of wet n dry
Ive been draw filing with wet and dry but also use full sheets pulled over a bit of 4"x2" wit ha trued edge this is clamped in the Work mate which holds the paper tight you then move over to the next section as it wears out gives a big flat surface and little waste o nthe paper tho ive little skin on several fingers

i also think the old Egg polisher with original loose buffing wheel ive had for 25 years with a bit of un known compound i got at collage need upgrading

Ive left the pitting on the Nessy and even soaked it in Onion pulp which gives an older look this didnt work as well as id hoped

im also really happy with the Plywood as a handle its not smooth n shiny but it does grip well and can be sort of pretty if you have had a few plus ar £25 ish for nearly 3 square meters its economical (Briza do Birch laminate scales looks similer but expect it is a better job. any body want an off cut ) though i expect i will make a few with posh handles eventually.

next is a full size PFK esk with all the grinds i want


ATB

Duncan

Hi Duncan that's your problem your to keen to get them finished! slow down and take your time you'll be much more rewarded. once Ive cut my blank i can spend between 4 to 6 hours even more putting different grinds on my blades mostly by hand file in a jig then another 2/3 hours finishing of .after that i can spend another 2 or 3 days at most fitting handles shaping finishing etc . so 4/5 days work to achieve a good finished knife.i try to send some Pict's of my home made jig in a pm to you cheers stanley

 

[FGYT]

your quite right Stanley time will make a great differnce and deffinatly something i will do on finished knives.

I started the first proper tests today on the Little Knife it is intended if used by an adult as a Small camp knife for food prep and Whittling/carving
one of my usual tests is to just use it in the kitchen on the veg ( you may have seen a similer test using Ceggas Axe )

I sharpened it with my prefered kitchen edge which is 600grit Diamond (well used) and a few strokes of 1200grit diamond this gives a fairly fine edge which cuts Veg well (IMO )
Well its very good slices nicely the small 3 finger handle was fine and i even found myself using some differnt but very usfull grips.
Although ive done a fair bit to thin down the blade but retain strength it worked well better than my std Mora Clipper.
I would like it a bit thinner tho will wait to see how it carves before removing more metal. all these things are a compromise and i will still be happy if it remains as it is

I will put a proper wood carving sharpen to it first a bit of light battoning to split out a spoon block then see how it goes.

ATB

Duncan

 

[British Red]

When you say thinner dunc, why not keep it at 3mm and raise the grind height? Then you will achieve the same angle and hence sharpness. The original PFK is 3mm but 20 degree to give that "scalpel sharp" effect - it will chip if youagressively baton at that sharpness though

Red

 

[FGYT]

Cos i like to be different and im trying not to make a direct copy of the PFK tho its very difficult to make meaningful changes, guess we have very similer Knife Ideas and my heat treatment isnt quite as accurate as Stus (Lidel's Veg oil and i havent calibrated the oven yet )

Im trying 25deg which is little differnt over a couple of mm than your 20 deg (CAD see )

but with the Convexing behind it it quickly reduces the angle but still retains some body other wise a full flat grind would do. The distal tapering also removes bulk at the tip the convexing is reduced on the fwd end. On the full size it tapers from 4mm to 2mm on the smaller one its 3mm to 1.5mm also a 9mm grind hight on the small knife would be a little high
For thinner i mean raising the hight of the Convexing to give a thinner slicing/wedging angle the spine taper thickness will remain The compromise is a weaker blade and less effective battoning due to less wedge .

im trying not to rush out and do the full size version yet

ATB

Duncan

 

[stanley lake]

Hi Duncan as promised go to page 21 on this thread look up my name stanley lake there's 2 threads 1 with my home made jig and the second thread done is one off the knifes i made on this jig this shows what you can achieve hope it gives you some inspiration thanks stanley

 

[FGYT]

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37382

Got it this one Cheers its definatly differnt than the others ive seen will see what i can do


Thanks for that

though tonight i Have mosly been making a Spoon knife

ATB

Duncan

 

[FGYT]

I wanted to do the little knife as a set with a spoon knife. I was going to do a handle based on a spoon knife i have which is very good to hold and use

But after i made the Proto Blade last night i found the second handle blank i cut out for the little Whittler and thought it would be nice to match the 2 this would give a smaller flatter handle as well gain its a prototype and i will change the tang to a 3/4 hidden its a short tang currently badly cut into the handle
I was conserned the handle wouldnt be good for this type but its actually not to bad

the blade is 10mm wide and 1.5mm thick shaped like a half round file only sharp on one side (though you could do both )

I have tryed to give a variable radius so you have a few options im always borrowing my mates spoon knife that has a much tighter curve than mine.

need a bit of Spoon wood now

ATB

Duncan

 

[FGYT]

finaly found a bit of time and wood and they work quite well

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41859


oh and this week ive mostly bin building a workshop and bevel grinder
sure takes the pain out of knife making

ATB

Duncan

 

[caliban]

These are cool! I was originally going to say that your obvious skills warrant better raw materials, but after looking for a while there's just something eccentrically appealing about them as they are. Good work mate!