rawcustom

I sharpen lots and lots and lots of every kind of edge from axes to my own straight razor. Although I cheat with my belt grinder for some to get things started, I definitely don't have to. This is my setup: 3"x8" DMT Extra Course (full surface diamond coating) 3"x8" DMT Coarse (full surface diamond coating) Spyderco Bench stones (2"x8") Med, Fine, Extra Fine Homemade Strop I have arkies, and japanese waterstones, and each can be effective, but nothing is as easy and fast as my diamond to ceramic method. I don't like to finish on diamond because I feel it is too effective at cutting, even at the fine grits. A properly stoned edge will increase hardness from the work hardening of the sharpening process. I feel diamonds being effective cutters don't work harden as well as the ceramic. The end result is a slightly sharper, slightly longer lasting edge. Regardless of what you decide for your final edge you should at least get an extra coarse DMT. So much of the battle on a dull edge is establishing the bevels to meet, and diamonds cut to it in 1/4 of the time of anything else.

Nice weather this weekend, was able to finish out this wharncliffe EDC and sheath.

Thanks for the compliment. This was my first attempt at an awl blade. I actually ordered one up that should be here tomorrow so I could get a better idea of what angles they are using. I tried my out on some scrap and found just as you noted that it is too wide for my needs, so I've already narrowed it up a bit. Also as you noted for strength I'm going to make my next with a tapered grind leading into the bevels to carry more strength out into the blade. This was more or less a practice run so my next attempt I'll focus more on improvements and notes from this effort. It's also great for the ergonomics as you stated since I can align the blade to the correct angle with my wrist in a neutral position, and unlike a round handle, you won't get it mixed around during use. I think it'll work well enough for now, and I have to switch back to knifemaking to get some fishing knives out for spring. I like the projects of making myself tools, but I can't tie up too much time on them since it takes away from my knives. Once I get a system down for blades, I'll see what I have into them if they are worth offering for sale. As anything they take a bit of time right now, but with experience and establishing a method I may not have quite so much time invested. The handle isn't anything that new for me. I would make those for anyone interested, and price would have a lot to do with materials requested. Thanks

Yes, I started with annealed stock O1, so you must heat treat if you expect it to last.

I'll give a few notes for the above. Started with a piece of Cocobola and cross grain Ipe. Color of these isn't much for offset, but I figured between the grain direction and different color it should look good enough. I got a pin vise in that was a double head, and comes with 2 double sided collets, so 4 sizes from 0-.125". The pin vise has a ridged exterior, so I drilled just undersized so they would have added grip. After wet sanding the wood to 400, I added some gorrila glue and hammered it in. Just before this I took the picture with gun stock wax. I smeared that on the inside of my pin vise and around the top of the wood to help with cleanup after the glue. Gorilla glue expands like crazy and can make a mess if you're not prepared. I made a quick diamond blade from some 1/8" O1 stock I have. This first attempt I think was too narrow, but no biggie, I will make a few more as I see fit. After all the glue was dried, I cleaned everything up and sealed the wood with some CA. Finished sharpening my blade and she's all set. You can see I made this quite a bit smaller than what most Awl handles are sold. I don't have big hands, and I also plan to use this solely for knife sheaths, so I built it according to my own preferences.

Thought I would post some pics if anyone is interested. Finished product.

An old thread, but was searching Google for head knife patterns and stumbled upon it. You can add my name to the list. Materials can be anything you're willing to pay for, and you can drop up to $400 alone on the right mammoth ivory for your handle. I don't recommend pattern welded steel 'damascus' because I'd rather use a high performance powder metallurgy steel. I understand it looks cool, but it's far from your best choice for edge retention. That comment is sure to spark debate, especially with those who make their knives from it or others that drank the kool-aid from them, but it's the truth. You pay more for extra labor, and extra eye candy, not extra performance.

I have to agree with Sona's line of thinking on this. I think most of us try to live thrifty, but a good tool so often redeems itself in the improved quality of results, and joy of use that I'm forced to think of the saying "buy once, cry once". For me personally, I always think of my tools in line with inheritance as well. I plan to teach my boy a few of my hobbies, and someday when I'm old or dead, he'll have some quality tools to use and remember me by, and with any luck will pass on the cycle to the next generation. Nobody is interested in inheriting the Harbor Freight items in the shop.

I thought about the drill bit method since I have plenty of broken 1/8" bits, or even buying a new one for the job. If I didn't have a way to heat treat this would likely be the route I'd go. As is I ordered some 1/8 O1 drill rod stock at something like $1/ft that I will use. Plus I don't have to worry about the constant cooling since I'll heat treat after the majority of grinding is done. If you could post a pic I would be most interested in the profile you have on your blade.

I'm about to go down the road of making my own sewing awl, and I got a little stir crazy waiting for my pin vise to show up. I figured I should divert my attention into a stitching pony since it's likely I'm going to need one. I built it this evening after work, sort of in a mad dash kind of way. Too many of my projects require exacting detail that can't be rushed that sometimes it's fun just to see how fast and how much work I can lay down in a couple hours. Anyway tried some ideas I had on this and I wouldn't be surprised if I rebuild this project at a later point using some of my notes from the first go round. Of course I have to use it enough to assess function before I go back to the drawing board. Some different approaches on this, the big one being a tension mechanism that is both easy and entirely contained in the middle to avoid getting caught up with any thread and workflow happening on the outside. Also I wanted something nice looking without requiring my effort of sanding and staining so I used some flooring I got from HD.

This is exactly how I'm planning to handle the mandrel issue. A decent pin vise is only about $5. I plan to drill out my handle to accept the pin vise and lock it either with a screw or simply epoxy it in.

Knife is gone. If Admin, please remove. Thanks

I built a custom belt grinder for my knifemaking, it will do the heavy lifting. I'll probably use O1 so I can heat treat myself. I'll probably take a couple shots at free-handing, and if it's doesn't work I'll fix up a jig for it.

Great, thanks!

So a flat side will be part of my design for sure. The process of making a blade is not an issue, I'm a knifemaker. I am more concerned with the right dimensions. If you can post pics and/or measurements I would appreciate it.

Thanks for the compliments and interest. Troy, I guess it's relative to who I'm compared with. I've done my research on what's out there before I started. I will say that compared to what I found to be the more popular brand, I'm using better steel and offering for less and I would put my craftsmanship against theirs anyday (not saying that others are making junk, but I know mine are equal if not better). My skiver is for sale in the classifieds here for $200 with free shipping (the one pictured on the rock) the other was already sold. I use a few different steels. The skiver above is made from Elmax which is a third generation powder metallurgy stainless steel from Bohler Uddeholm of Austria. I have my high performance steels heat treated by Peters Heat Treat in Pennsylvania. Peters is one of the best names for this in the custom knife industry, and they include a cryogenic treatment and Rockwell test of each individual blade. The skiver was set to 62 Rc and will hold an edge 2-3x over most any standard or pattern welded ("damascus") blades. It is what I classify as a high performance stainless steel. The handle is nothing too exotic, just spalted hackberry. It does have an increased expense since I had it professionally stabilized. I wouldn't say that it's making it fancy, more so than making it durable. Unstabilized wood will expand, contract, split, and can work it's way off your handle in time. It may cost a bit more, but I build my knives to outlive myself and I want them something a man can pass down through the generations. My brother inherited a head knife from my grandma's estate, with a cracked handle and brass handle pin bent to nearly a 45 angle on each side from the cracked wood handle pressing into it. It required a fair amount of repair and when finished still didn't keep a very good edge. That won't be an issue with one made from me. Eccho, It all depends on material. If i use 1080+, the only simple steel I use anymore, than I can heat treat myself. So a 8" (4" blade) EDC 1080+ with something simple such as micarta or some plain stabilized wood you could expect to be around $175 without a sheath. But this is a simple steel, so no chromium and it will rust. 1080+ has a dash of vanadium so it's edge holding will be decent. If you want Elmax, CPM-M4, K110 (which is an improved D2) then I have added expense of paying for outside heat treating. The steel costs me up to five times as much as a simple steel, and it eats up more abrasives and times to get it made. So starting price without a sheath on something like that would be $300. Without me making you a sheath I'm discounting about $50 for my time and material. I know I'm not the cheapest, but in the custom world I'm far from the asking price of many. Plus I fully stand behind every knife I make. You ever have an issue or need it sharpened, I maintain them for free. It's my lifetime warranty. I'll service my knives as long as I'm alive, of course when I'm dead you're on your own.

So I've been reviewing awl designs until my head spins and since I have to be stubborn on things, I'm thinking I will just make my own. This will be for sewing my knife sheaths so typically 3 layers of 10oz leather. Would a diamond design be best for this? And how big of rod should I start with, 1/8"? 1/8" seems a bit big, but I imagine it will need some mass to be sturdy enough for the task ahead. Any notes on blade length and dimensions, and handle length dimension are well appreciated. Sounds like at least 1 flat on a handle is useful for not having your awl roll of a bench if nothing else. Thanks

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I guess I should have started with a post here when I signed up, but I haven't added much yet, so better late than never. My main interest in leather is making sheaths for my knives, although I have taken a few other tack jobs on the side. My knife business is my user name RAW Custom, (nothing creative, just my initials). Since my leatherworking is more than just for my knives, I consider it a second business that I have christened Headstone Leatherworks. I just happen to be friends with a sexton, so all my leather tooling is done atop a marble military tombstone, hence the name. For about the past year I have been focusing more attention on my sheaths and leatherworking skills. Part of this process has been acquiring leatherworking specifics tools. Even though I make knives, I began my search expecting to buy a couple leatherworking knives such as a head knife, trim knife, skiver, etc. It didn't take long for me to realize selection was rather poor. Seemed like there were plenty of cheap options, some vintage options and a select few custom makers, but I was unable to find the right combo of style and materials for the job. So I have developed my own designs with my preferred steels into what I consider the best option out there. (Of course this is a bias view, it's my opinion, but it's also what drives me to do what I do. If I figured someone else was doing it better I'd save myself a lot of time and money and buy it from them.) So anyway I have been learning a lot on here reading old posts and applying it to my projects, and I've been making some knives for the leather trade in the background as well. I hope someday to be a pro at my carving and tooling skills and that my knives will find their way to the benches of some of the real pros in the industry. Attached are a few of my leather knives, plus some of my sheaths. I try to keep an active stream of photos to my facebook page. Check it out, and give me some likes. Thanks

I love the carving. I may have to steal some of that skull design, excellent.

Very nice. I like your attention to detail on the iron mounts.

Reviving an old thread but I'm at the same junction of needing to pick up a modeler and want to start with the most useful. Based on the above would it be this one: http://springfieldleather.com/29153/Modeler%2CFine%2CSm-Round-Spoon/ ???

Just finished up a knife this past weekend and got the sheath done tonight. Not fun working in an unheated garage shop this time of year, but progress none the less.

Tree Reaper, I figured that view would come up. In my application of sewing a knife welt that is glued, stitched (and then I glue the stitching), I highly doubt there is a loss of strength in the joint. I also groove before stitching which again is removing material hence weaker, but will make my stitching last longer by shielding it from abrasive rubbing. Not disagreeing that an awl would be better, but depending on the application it may not be required.

Also add that I'm looking for a good maul and possibly some stamps or other tooling that I would consider trade on.