Knives, handmade

[spressomon]

So...after we were discussing handmade knives one day a while back our own Jason Reeves aka reevesci sent me a samples of a couple knives he fabbed (a little horse trading going on ). As told to me by J the Damascus blade was welded and forged by him at a buddy of his' shop in TX. Final grind lapping, sharpening, wood cutting & fitting and 'put-together' on both knives was done by Jason himself. And a buddy of his stitched up the very nice leather sheaths.

Its an honor to have these in my possession...hopefully I'll get a chance to skin out a filled tag one of these years with the drop point (I'm sure the Damascus knife is more than capable...but its too purdy ).

Any other knife builders here?

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Glad you like them Dan. I hope that the Damascus "holds".. I had one other that sprung open at the point on that billet. Was my first go with welding Damascus.. Blades patterns turn out pretty cool. There are different names to the patterns, but I'm not too sure on them.

I have to say they are "pretty", but I personally prefer the solid single material blades overall.

Here are 2 more that came from that same billet.. Skinner went to my son in law to be.. The bushcraft/utility style I kept for myself. You've seen the Damascus blades I got from a true blademaker... Worlds of difference in mine and his... (COST A LOT MORE TOO!)

J

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

The next one on my list is to find a XL bastard file and make a fighter style like this one. This guy did an awesome job on his.

J

 

[myquestoyota]

Nice work reevesci! I have made a couple of camp knives from saws I get here at work but nothing and I mean NOTHING like that stuff you made. Wow!

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Thanks, I had a lot of help from my buddy and his dad. (the dad has been making knives for 35+ years, lots of tips from him) I thoroughly enjoyed using a BIG coal forge and hydraulic hammer.. I will be putting a propane 3 burner forge in the shop.

Easiest thing to use for a blade is an old file.. They are hard and stay sharp for a long time.

J

 

[myquestoyota]

Probably the best place to find a big file for that fighter would be from a local farrier. Those horse hoof files are almost that big.

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

I have been looking on ebay and the local pawn shops, but no luck so far.. Good idea on the farrier.. This fighter is 1/4" thick.. I don't think you could "fight" too long with it... HA!

J

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Looking for some mid-thickness VG-10 stock to make a few custom kitchen knives.. in particular a Nakiri and Santoku, two of my favorites in the "Grub Pub" as I call it.

Oh and Dan already called dibs on one of the first ones I make...

J

 

[spressomon]

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Probably the best place to find a big file for that fighter would be from a local farrier. Those horse hoof files are almost that big.

Just bought 6- 2" x 16" used farrier files for $32.00... Thanks for the idea.. never even crossed my mind..

J

 

[JohnVee]

Looking good, JR. I haven't bought a knife in 6 months and don't own anything Damascus. Fighting the urge to visit knifeworks.com now. To keep it Campfire Cuisine, I also enjoy my 8" Santoku. And the 3"-4" Victorinox paring knives are $5 of awesomeness.

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Looking good, JR. I haven't bought a knife in 6 months and don't own anything Damascus. Fighting the urge to visit knifeworks.com now. To keep it Campfire Cuisine, I also enjoy my 8" Santoku. And the 3"-4" Victorinox paring knives are $5 of awesomeness.

Several of the .com sites offer blanks at reasonable prices. I bought a few blanks from a couple places a few years back, but the quality was sub-par at best. Most are mass produced in China, Taiwan, Pakistan etc.. I buy mosaic pins, micarta, custom metal stock, and epoxies from them, but that's about it anymore.

Texasknife.com
Usaknifemaker.com

These are the two I buy quite a bit from and have had the best experiences with (service and quality)

J

 

[JohnVee]

Several of the .com sites offer blanks at reasonable prices. I bought a few blanks from a couple places a few years back, but the quality was sub-par at best. Most are mass produced in China, Taiwan, Pakistan etc.. I buy mosaic pins, micarta, custom metal stock, and epoxies from them, but that's about it anymore.

Texasknife.com
Usaknifemaker.com

These are the two I buy quite a bit from and have had the best experiences with (service and quality)

J

Ummmm, yeah... I meant I buy my knives pre-made . Haven't ever ventured into building one, but I've wanted to since I was about 12. Long ago. Maybe I'll take the easy way out and just buy a blank and handle parts to say I've done it.

Really digging the top knife in post #2. Ever make that fighter you mentioned in post #3?

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

John, I got started building knives from a kit and it progressed into more. It gets very addicting, almost as bad as cruisers. I have everything waiting for me when I get off my and get to work on one or two of the fighters. Here are the files I'll be using for them. Should make a pretty neat blade, IMO

J

 

[IRIEOB1]

John, I got started building knives from a kit and it progressed into more. It gets very addicting, almost as bad as cruisers. I have everything waiting for me when I get off my and get to work on one or two of the fighters. Here are the files I'll be using for them. Should make a pretty neat blade, IMO

J

View attachment 932723 View attachment 932724 View attachment 932725

Way cool. I deal with a guy in Texas, he has made a few for me.
Tomahawk made out of a 26oz. ball peen hammer.

Some of his work

...via IH8MUD app

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Way cool. I deal with a guy in Texas, he has made a few for me.
Tomahawk made out of a 26oz. ball peen hammer.
View attachment 932839
Some of his work
View attachment 932840


...via IH8MUD app

I'm nowhere near that skilled. I make a pretty simple design. I've always wanted to try and make a tomahawk. Maybe one day, thanks for posting these up Sean.

J

 

[bigbrowndog]

Pleasure to look at for sure. very easy on the eye. Great to see the pride you take in your work.
Best regards gaz

 

[spressomon]

Just an update: Finally got to use Jason's knife in the field apart of a black powder deer and elk hunt! Although its a drop point, IMHO the most versatile blade style for in field use, and not a skinner it did a super job while using it for skinning and butchering an elk a couple days ago apart of our hunt.

Although I forgot my sticks/stone for in-field touch up the D2 steel Jason used for this knife held up very, very well for this elk: Start to finish. For compare the Eastman, maybe slightly sharper comparing new blade to new blade (dunno as they were very, very close in blade sharpness/smoothness), required 3-blade swaps for approximately 1/2 the elk. We were very impressed to say the least!

For those that have skinned and butchered larger animals you know getting through a large specimen without touching up the knife edge and/or swapping blades/knives is difficult if you expect surgical precision from the edges.

The wood handles unfortunately suffered...but a little wood colored epoxy will render it solid for the next hunt

Thanks buddy!

 

[Mace]

That's awesome!

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Just an update: Finally got to use Jason's knife in the field apart of a black powder deer and elk hunt! Although its a drop point, IMHO the most versatile blade style for in field use, and not a skinner it did a super job while using it for skinning and butchering an elk a couple days ago apart of our hunt.

Although I forgot my sticks/stone for in-field touch up the D2 steel Jason used for this knife held up very, very well for this elk: Start to finish. For compare the Eastman, maybe slightly sharper comparing new blade to new blade (dunno as they were very, very close in blade sharpness/smoothness), required 3-blade swaps for approximately 1/2 the elk. We were very impressed to say the least!

For those that have skinned and butchered larger animals you know getting through a large specimen without touching up the knife edge and/or swapping blades/knives is difficult if you expect surgical precision from the edges.

The wood handles unfortunately suffered...but a little wood colored epoxy will render it solid for the next hunt

Thanks buddy!

View attachment 945736

Glad the blade held up well Dan. That D2 is hard as HELL!... It took awhile to get the edge ground in on those blades and ALOT of fine diamond honing. I plan on using Micarta for the next round of handles. If time allows over the next week or two I want to get the files above cut, drilled and ground.

I need to buy a stabilizer unit for the wood handles, if I want to continue making them.

J