The Sam Cade Thread of Knifey Goodness

[Deltaboy1984]

The machine will utterly wear out a 1/4" piece of sandpaper in just a couple minutes. Once worn out I just move up to the next grit.

In less than 15 minutes I went from nasty belt finish to this:

I'd say that is more than adequate for a working knife. It would be easy to move up to a true mirror finish from here if a person was so inclined.





Dig the tailhook on this little guy.

Sweet. I really admire your blade work.

 

[Sam Cade]

Quick and ugly drop point tanto fighter made from a file.

Didn't bother with any finish work since I've been using it as a thrower.

 

[JShirley]

While I object on general principle to "American tantos", that ain't bad.

 

[Sam Cade]

Gotta do something different every so often y'know.

 

[Sam Cade]

Getting the 'merican tantos out of my system.

Ground this out from a section of annealed sawmill blade this morning.

Approx. 1/8" thick.

Getting ready to do heat treat on it . I don't know what the steel is so I'm going to give it a soak before getting down to business.

 

[JShirley]

Darn it. If you just had a belly instead of that abrupt transition, I'd love it.

 

[Sam Cade]

There is always tomorrow.


Or maybe later tonight, depending on how my cake turns out.

 

[JShirley]

To give appropriate credit, continued thanks for sharing your work.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

I like both versions of those American tantos Sam. (If I want to see some belly I'll just look down..)
And I appreciate you showing us your work. Thanks.

 

[Double_J]

Darn you for making me want to build/buy a custom knife. I have to buy too many other things first, now I have the desire to get a small "work knife" and an american tanto. I have wanted the tanto for a number of years but never scratched the itch due to not finding the right one. Keep up the good work, and thanks for showing your methods/techniques.

 

[blarby]

You know, you ever need somewhere to put one of those american tantos.... you lemme know....

That sawmill blade one looks fabulous.


See, John and I are different, I like that abrupt transition.


I didn't know you could use sawblades for that. I got a buddy works at a mill, they blow head rig blades every day- I'll see if I can get some scraps.

 

[Sam Cade]

I didn't know you could use sawblades for that.

Yup. Most of the steels used for the blades on big industrial saws are great cutlery steels, with the caveat that they have to be annealed before use and you might not know exactly what you have.

 

[Sam Cade]

Sibling knife to the small 'merican tanto, profiled out. Same steel.

I'll go grind it out after supper.

 

[JShirley]

Ooh!


Yes. Incidentally, Larry "might" trade good lead bullets for knives...

 

[blarby]

And if its in something i'm working on right now, you might be able to get away with powdercoated ones

Just happens to be casting season, you know

 

[hso]

Good to see someone using the upside down sander trick. It is a big improvement over hand sanding and is much safer/cheaper than using belts (and far more portable).

If you mod it down to metal, epoxy a piece of float glass on it, and then use spray adhesive to stick grinder belt pieces on it you'll be amazed at the performance and you can get a wide range of grits/material for abrasive to play with that aren't available for the sander itself.

Like John I'm not a fan of "broken" tantos, but I do like your Tailhook knife! Very practical.

 

[Sam Cade]

Thanks Mike!


Now it is back to the shop for me!

 

[9mmforMe]

I chimed in earlier and have been following along...great thread and great work Sam. That file tanto sure looks good.

Geoffry

 

[Sam Cade]

...and ground, quenched and ready for the first tempering cycle.

I've got half a dozen knives to put scales on and/or sharpen tomorrow. I don't enjoy that nearly so much.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

Wonderful work Sam.

 

[JShirley]

Sam,

I want that knife.

 

[Sam Cade]

I want that knife.

You want a similar knife with a slightly higher grind.

In my mind I was envisioning a sort of pocket fighter/kwiken with a western scaled tang. I was aiming for a robust grind but may have overdone it a bit and ended up with something that is a bit obtuse for anything other than shanking malcontents.

I like the high ratio of blade to tang, it is definitely more teeth than tail.
I like the overall profile...but that grind just isn't working.

 

[JShirley]

Saber grind is fine, bro.

I like strong knives.

 

[hso]

I see Sam's "point" and agree. Grind just looks off to me, but there's only one way to find out and that's to put it to the test.

 

[Sam Cade]

So, some vegetable mashing lets me know that for general utility grind needs no move back to about the midpoint of the blade. Still would be a saber grind, just one a bit higher.


Hey Mike,
I'm at 81% of skill mastery.