Gift for son-file knife final

[Fab1]

After having a great Father's Day lunch it was time to go back in the shed to get this knife finished.

Here I have sawn the log into the rough dimensions of the knifes scales and working on bevelling the cheeks.Here I have a range of materials to use for the pins to hold the scales fastened to the blade,I decided to go the fencing wire which I'll peen later to fasten the scales to the knife.Scales attached to knife ready for Peening.Setting up one of the Peening hammers in the vice and scales now securely peened into position.The long process of removing excess timber from the handle using a chisel and doing the final profiling using various grits of sandpaper.Handle has been finished with a couple of coats of oil to preserve the timber followed by a good coat of wax.Time to do the final honing of the blade.Here I'm using sandpaper with the file as backing and finishing by hand on the stone.The completed photos.The basic hand tools I used,all that's missing is the drill,hacksaw and bbq.And who can forget my supervisor that stuck with me all the way.

I have to say it was a pleasure making this knife for my son and it goes to show that with the most basic of tools and with a little immagination,alot of elbow grease and using what resources are available you can turn something into a very useful item.I'm happy with the results for my first knife and I hope my son enjoys it for many years to come.

Thanks again guys,in the near future I'll have a crack at a filleting knife.

Stay tuned.

[Blackfish]

I've got nothing but admiration on what you have done.

Fantastic.

Supervisor looks tough but fair and I hope he's up to the next job you've got planned.

[Welster]

Well I'm just completely blown away. Amazing

[Bruce the Postie]

I iike to see people do things well for the fun of it ,and Fab you have it in spades.

If your short on old files mate , I've got some vintage Wiltshires you can have just for the pleasure of reading your posts .

Cheers . Bruce .

[fragmeister]

"I'm happy with the results for my first knife"

I thought you must have made dozens of these before!

That is very impressive.

Cheers

Jim

[Fab1]

Thanks for the replies guys.I'll keep those files in mind jim and for the gesture I'll make you a knife if I take them.Bruce,this was my first attempt at ever making a knife.I wanted to give myself the challenge of going back to basics and doing it entirely by hand(No power tools)other than drill for drilling handle pins and am happy with the results.Like I said I may have a crack at a filleting knife from a old handsaw I have here as I really enjoy making things and working with my hands.

Cheers guys.

[deek]

What a Beautiful piece of workmanship. what a credit to you.

[SquidMarks]

Wow!

i have a handful of old files which are just sitting there, i think you have inspired me to have a go!

[abecedarian]

Like I said I may have a crack at a filleting knife from a old handsaw I have here as I really enjoy making things and working with my hands.

Cheers guys.

Another good source of high speed steel for a filleting blade is a power hacksaw blade. Basically like a regular hacksaw blade but thicker gauge and about 2-3 cm across. A bit less work getting the shape set as there's less material to remove. I made a few knives using these as a kid, they came up surprisingly well.