Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Menees Knife #6 (Final)
I finished knife #6 this weekend. The pics were shot on my workbench, and the lighting isn't very good. It's really tough to take good knife pictures.
This was an experimental knife made with some 1/8" stainless steel I got from Home Depot. It's not knife-quality steel, but it's good enough to practice on. It cost $12 for 4 feet of 2" wide by 1/8" thick steel, so I've got a lot to play around with for very little cost. That much knife-quality steel would cost at least $50. Of course, you get what you pay for. Now I have a decent looking knife that will never hold an edge. :-(
The handles are made from the cocobolo wood that I got from Amy's grandfather. I wanted to try it out, but now I wish I hadn't wasted it on a practice knife. I have lots more left, but great wood shouldn't be wasted on practice knives. It's a beautiful wood, and it's incredibly dense! Its dust is also toxic, which makes it especially fun to work with. :-)
I made the sheath from two 1/4" pieces of oak that I carved out and then glued together. After it set up, I did the final shaping on my belt sander. Then I tried to apply a really dark "Antique Walnut" stain that would have been a close match to the cocobolo wood's color. Unfortunately, the stain wouldn't penetrate the oak. I tried it on some pine, and it darkened up nicely. But the oak was stubborn, and it didn't darken even with two coats of stain on it. Maybe my stain is old and worn out (I got it in 1999), or maybe I just don't know what I'm doing. I'm going to go by the Unfinished Furniture store and ask them how they stain oak. I didn't think it would be that difficult, but I've only done natural or light stains on oak before.
This knife was a good learning experience, but I wish I'd used better steel and heat treated it, so I'd actually have a useful knife. I mostly just feel bad about wasting the cocobolo. Other than that, I'm kind of pleased with how this knife turned out. There's still plenty of room for improvement though.
Material: Random stainless steel with cocobolo handles with 1/8" brass pins. Oak sheath.
Blade Length: 4 3/4"
Overall Length: 9 3/4"
Started: October 1, 2006
Finished: November 12, 2006
Labels: Knifemaking
# posted by Bill Menees @ 7:53 PM 
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Those are cool looking knives...and you made those yourself?!? That's really neat. Do you make matching knife sets also? I know knives are among the most important tool one needs in the kitchen. They are definately near the top of the list. I'm not a professional cook by any means, but even I noticed the difference after I upgraded to a more sturdy set of cooking knives. I had for years simply used the various collection of odd knives inside my silverware drawer for most all cooking tasks. Then about 4 Christmas's ago, my cousin gave me a very nice set with a block sheath for a present. They stay much sharper, and I now have the luxury of having different knives designed specifically for different kinds of jobs. If I want to Julien some vegetables, I now have a knife made especially for that. If I want to filet a fish or hollow out a tomato, I have individual knives for that. Since I didn't buy my own set, and don't know for sure how nice it is compared to others, I'm not sure what kind of prices the top of line sets might run. I have seen sets that appeared to be similar to mine going for reasonable prices in most department and kitchenware stores. There are probably even better deals available online. Here is a good article that touches on some of the basics in what to look for when purchasing a set of knives. Hopefully it will be of use to anyone out there reading this. Happy carving lol!
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