I have made several knives over the years but they have never reached that “Finished” look I wanted. Below are a few pictures of the first knife I have ever finished. It was to be a simple knife that could be used for a variety of uses.

I began with a piece of L6 steel from an old sawmill sawblade. I did not have a band saw at the time (I did by the end of working on the blade), so I forged out the shape.

After forging the basic shape I took it to the grinder and finished up the shaping. L6 Steel is a flexible steel and high in Chromium so it polishes up nicely. I worked the tang to the shape I wanted and then sanded smooth.

I drew out on paper how I wanted the knife to look in the final stage so I could have a goal to work for. I drilled the holes for the brass handle pins. I took a piece of walnut that I cut from a standing dead tree and I made a general shape of the handle. I also took a piece of ebony wood that came from an old fiddle fingerboard and shaped it to fill in the gap around the tang. I drilled the holes in the handle before hardening. I purchased a band saw to cut the brass bolster and with some practice I got a piece that fit the knife blade snugly. I reheated the blade after reaching the shape and thickness I wanted (or close to it) and put my makers mark on it. I didnt have a stamp so the mark is not the best. I placed a 00 serial number indicating its the first knife under the mark.

After reheating blade to a bright orange, I let the blade anneal in dry sand until cold to touch. This realigns the molicules before hardening. I then reheated blade to bright orange again then dipped tip into oil and rolled back towards the back of the blade being sure not to dip the spine or the tang of the blade into the oil. This creates two distinct hardened regions. Then I placed in the oven at 350 degrees to temper the blade for 2 hours. Once the blade began to turn to a Straw color I turned the oven off. I sanded the blade with the belt sander then smoothed with a fine grit sandpaper. I then buffed the blade before mounting to handle.

Next I took the blade and handle and mixed a two part epoxy and glued the pieces together.  After clamping the handle and letting set for 24 hours, I began the final shaping on the belt sander. Unfortunately I did not get any pictures of this process but most of you all know what I am talking about anyway.

After sanding the handle to the shape I wanted I worked on the bolster to get it to the shape I wanted. I have a flapper wheel and buffer combo so I used the flapper wheel to finish up the bolster and to smooth the handle to the final shape then did a light sanding on the handle by hand with a fine grit sand paper. I re-buffed the blade and the handle using Rouge buffing compound. Below are the final pictures.