Henry Rifle Forums

your work looks great to me .... it should provide good service for generations to come

I'm about to start on knife kits, will cause me to put together a leather working bench and unpack all that stuff as well. We have been very busy and haven't gotten around to it yet. If I make knives, they have to have sheaths, and I'll have to tool or carve them.

I would have to say that at my current level of expertise and equipment putting a handle on a knife is too much work for anything other than a special gift. I guess if I had a couple dozen under my belt, and the right kind of stationary belt sander, it would go quicker and easier.

I'm just grateful I have plenty of sharp hand tools. It would also have gone quicker if I had cleared off the table saw, and used that to prep my blanks. Working off the band saw takes too much work to get the blanks flat and square.

I am not prepared to get into knife or handle making. My wife loves cooking though and is always complaining about dull knives.
I bought her two for Christmas though. They are Japanese Damascus made by 'Shun". I am anxious to see them out of the boxes.
I ordered them online and they were pretty pricey. I love the look of Damascus. Got an 8" Chefs knife, and a small paring knife.
Also got her a 15 degree 'Chefs Choice' electric sharpener.
Will take pics after Christmas in case anyone is interested.

Oh, we are interested.

I bought the rikon 1x30 belt sander for knife making and sharpening. It's due in on monday. Caught it with free shipping. I ordered two packages of belts, ranging from 60 to 400 grit for handle shaping, to 200 to 4000 grit for sharpening and metal polishing.

My grinder has a buffing wheel on it for wax.

The buffing wheels I have that go on my wood lathe come in really handy for polishing the wooden handles, and perhaps just a bit of metal polishing. Although the wheels are a little soft for that. I could easily put a smaller, stiffer wheel on the mandrel made to attach the wheels to my lathe.

I put a handle on the cheaper, small, santoku knife blank I got along with the others. It went a lot quicker, but still a lot of work for just a handle. A good belt sander would make things a lot quicker. I have one of the cheap HF combo 1x30 with a 5" disc. It really helps, but is not the best tool on the bench.

Anyone know if they're still filming Forged in Fire?
It's been a while since I watched one.

markiver54 wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 23, 2020 10:49 am

I am not prepared to get into knife or handle making. My wife loves cooking though and is always complaining about dull knives.
I bought her two for Christmas though. They are Japanese Damascus made by 'Shun". I am anxious to see them out of the boxes.
I ordered them online and they were pretty pricey. I love the look of Damascus. Got an 8" Chefs knife, and a small paring knife.
Also got her a 15 degree 'Chefs Choice' electric sharpener.
Will take pics after Christmas in case anyone is interested.

Here are the knives and the sharpener I got her. I have already tried the sharpener on a VERY dull 12" Chefs' knife and it is now razor sharp!!

impressive .... I'm looking forward to her use impressions and to following your ongoing observations after they have been in use for a while

Well, just got through carving the Butterball I got on sale after thanksgiving. I used the new damascus steel chef's knife.

Wow. Never carved a turkey with a really sharp knife before. I've been using it for a couple weeks now. Still sharp, but decided to give it a little touch up before carving the turkey. A couple swipes on the hard arkansas stone, and then to the strop. The knife just sort of fell through the turkey.