# My First Knife - The Stubby Skinner



## Justturnin (Jul 18, 2012)

Well, I doubt my mistake...er...um......design is anything revolutionary but I'm happy with the final result.

This is my first attempt at a knife.  I cut the blade out of a 10" TS blade.  I think I went through all of the steps to get it right but who knows.  It was more of a test run all the way around.  The blade was about 1" longer but I broke it after I forged it, don't ask.  The handle is Stabilized (by me) Texas Pecan Burl finished w/ BLO.  I filled the cracks as best I could with Crushed Turqouise, I wish I would have filled them w/ instant coffee.  Then there's the Pins.  They are swapped, the one w/ the hole for the leather strap should be in back:blush:.  I didn't have the correct bits for the pins so they are a bit large.  I used Perma-Blu on the steel the darken it.

All and all I am very happy with it and learned so much during this.  I doubt this will be my last knife.  I just need to build a forge now for tempering.

This bad boy is scary sharp right now.  I may go cut some wood to bring it down a notch.

C&C always welcome.


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## longbeard (Jul 18, 2012)

Looks good from where im sittin. Looks like it would be a good skinning knife


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## CHARLES STOPCZYNSKI (Jul 18, 2012)

*Great*

What a buck skinner that would make, respectable size handle, short but stout blade, curved just right.  Not too long to risk cutting your helper unless you work at it.

Charlie


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## The Penguin (Jul 18, 2012)

I like the turquoise.


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## frank123 (Jul 18, 2012)

Nice first.  Looks far better than my first did, I especially like the way you did the handle.

When you get your forge built for heat treating (it's actually fairly easy) I suggest you get some heat treating tool wrap (aka heat treat foil) to wrap the blade in while heat treating it.  You'll save a great deal of scale removal and polishing with it, some steels can be brought to a good polish and retain it if you use the wrap to keep the air off the hot steel with little needed to bring back the polish afterwards.  (be sure to take it off -without burning yourself- prior to quenching if you are using a liquid quench to avoid a potentially dangerous condition)


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## Ruby pen turning (Jul 18, 2012)

I like it. It looks very rustic. I  have not skinned any animals myself (my wife does that) but it looks to be perfect for taking hides off tomorrows dinner.


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## Drstrangefart (Jul 18, 2012)

Looks very nice. I wouldn't have noticed any of the issues you ran into if you hadn't pointed them out. Forging my own sword is on the bucket list. If you wanna temper knives, it's pretty easy. Cut the top off a small helium tank, line it with fire brick, feed propane through a modified turkey fryer nozzle, and make a lid for it. Then you just touch it with a magnet once it's glowing. If it's no longer ferrous, it's at critical temperature and ready to quench.


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## ironman123 (Jul 18, 2012)

Cool looking skinner there Chris.

Ray


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## holmqer (Jul 18, 2012)

Great job, I've made a couple knives from purchased blades, but never my own blade, so I really appreciate the effort involved.


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## rizaydog (Jul 19, 2012)

Wow.  That is very nice!!!


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## paps (Jul 19, 2012)

Good job on your first one!  Be careful though, knifemaking is as addicting as pen turning.
Phil


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## Justturnin (Jul 19, 2012)

paps said:


> Good job on your first one!  Be careful though, knifemaking is as addicting as pen turning.
> Phil



Hey, I don't have a problem!!!!
I can stop anytime.  My life does not revolve arount Pens and Knives:frown::frown:

Ohhh who and I kidding.  I need help......:tongue:

I really enjoyed making this knife.  It got a bit more satisfaction knowing that in a way I made the blade myself, though I did not make the saw blade that I cut it out of.  I already have the next set of scales stabilized and cut ready to go.  Just been so rainy, thank the Lord, that I have not been able to get out and move forward on it.  If it comes out nice it will go to my father-in-law.  Then I have a nice thick antler that I am going to try to make into a handle for a knife for my B-I-L.  Well then there's my nephews and my other B-I-L ohhh crap, I better stop while I can.:bulgy-eyes:


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## lsweeney (Jul 19, 2012)

*knife*

I'd love to learn more about knife making , maybe we could start a forum on something like that...


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## Russianwolf (Jul 19, 2012)

easy fix on the pins. 

drill out the back one and get a brass rod that barely fits in the front, peen it with a hammer/punch and she'll never budge. And it'll look like you intended it to be that way.

Nice skinner.


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## KenV (Jul 27, 2012)

Nice knife --  Gas forges are pretty straight forward and most adequate for heat treat and forging.  

I temper in the electric oven --  simple, accurate and reliable and you get just the loss of brittle you want according to the steel specs.

Keep them coming!!!


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## rherrell (Jul 28, 2012)

Pretty cool!!!:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:


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## Emery (Jul 28, 2012)

Look awesome. I would like to try to make a knife sometime.


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## clapiana (Aug 5, 2012)

so that blade is made out of a used table saw blade?  impressive.  thanks for sharing


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## McBryde (Aug 6, 2012)

That is an impressive looking knife, I hope my first looks that good.

E


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## Justturnin (Aug 7, 2012)

Thanks everyone.  I cant wait to make another.  



clapiana said:


> so that blade is made out of a used table saw blade?  impressive.  thanks for sharing



Yea, I used my grinder to cut it out.  You can see a bit of damage that is because I started w/ what I had which was a 1/4" thick wheel.  I stopped that and ran to the big box and got a thin wheel and it was no problem.

I should get 3-4 more small blades from this.


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## triw51 (Aug 7, 2012)

From one knife maker to another beatiful job looks better than my first.


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## Wright (Aug 28, 2012)

Great first knife!!


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## PaulDoug (Aug 28, 2012)

Look'n good to me.  I like the turquoise fill an think you made a good choice there.  Knives are certainly on my bucket list.  Is there a good forum out there for beginners?


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## philb (Aug 28, 2012)

PaulDoug said:


> Look'n good to me.  I like the turquoise fill an think you made a good choice there.  Knives are certainly on my bucket list.  Is there a good forum out there for beginners?



I'd like to know that too! Haven't got a clue where to start!!


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## Justturnin (Aug 28, 2012)

philb said:


> PaulDoug said:
> 
> 
> > Look'n good to me.  I like the turquoise fill an think you made a good choice there.  Knives are certainly on my bucket list.  Is there a good forum out there for beginners?
> ...




There are many knife forums but I have not really gotten into them.  I learn better in the beginning visually so I start on youtube.  No body really shows every step completely but after you watch a few you will get them all.


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## paps (Aug 29, 2012)

Here's a couple sites where you can learn most everything there is to know about knife making:
www.bladeforums.com
www.knifedogs.com


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