I finally completed my first knife! Took me forever to complete it but I don't do anything fast in life! I have always wanted to make knives and after a friend and fellow knife maker helped give me a push I bought a Northridge Grinder, a drill press and some other tools and finally got started. This one is 1084 and I ground, heat treated, tempered and did the G10 handle my self. Working with the G10 scared the s*** out of me ha ha ha! Turned out better then I thought it would. She is a fat over weight pig at only a 3" blade and 1/4" thick hahaha!!!
After heat treating it, it seemed extremely hard. Got it to nonmagnetic and about 5-7 seconds longer and quenched in Canola oil. I tempered it twice for 2 hours at 420 degreese trying for around 59 Rockwell. A good sharp Nicholson file wont touch it and skates right off the steel. I tested by chopping and buttoning through some old, dried seasoned red oak logs/branches. Also hammered into a board and snapped out sideways to test tip strength. All seems well and the steel/edge did not chip, roll or crack. It was still shaving sharp after the tests.
It is far from prefect but I'm happy with how it turned out! The other knives are the next few I have ground and are waiting for a G10 handle. Thanks!

Cool. What did you use for forge? Did not read.

I bought an Atlas mini forge, you can see it just past the red hot knife. I think it was $300 or so and works great! Very solid little unit. Gets to 2,300 F I think but I could be remembering that wrong. Plan to forge with it eventually. Just do stock removal for now while I'm learning.

Nice work!

Was it everything you expected it to be, or better or worse? 

Nice first knife! 

It was awesome and I cant wait to get better and finish more!

Good job.  I like your blade.  I want to become a bladesmith but it is not in the cards right now.  It is good to read stories of guys like you that are starting out.

That is awesome! Now how much for one!

I'm not sure. Non-knife people don't understand what goes into a knife and they think it should cost $25-30 because that is what Walmart sells a knife for. After talking to other knife makers it seems once I fine tune my overall quality a bit, a knife like this should cost some where in the $120-150 range given the quality materials and hand craftmenship.
I'm going to try and keep my prices low. Just hope I can figure out how to make them faster. 17 hours in this one i'll go broke if I don't get much faster LOL! I also spent over $3000 on the grinder in about $2000 for some other specialized tools. I still need to buy a $1400 he treating furnace. Going to take me a while to make my money back!!! Eventually I hope to make enough money to make enough income and possibly quit my day job.

My boss who's a good friend jokingly said to me that knife cost me $5000 to make but he's actually right LOL!!! He said I need to sell it for a minimum of $2000

Nice work!

Nice work...  Go with thinner stock next time.  You won't have to grind so much off, and it will make a better cutter.  Why were you scared of the G10?  I have been making knives for 12 years and I don't have a $3000 grinder.  That is taking the plunge...  

If you intend on setting up a business, do so from the get-go and save all receipts related to business expenses.

I'm going down the same path and my CPA was one of the first people in the loop.

What grinder did you get?

Was worried about the G10 because I have read about how toxic it can be when grinding it. I have a half face respirator with P100 filters and it seemed just fine. I had the money and wanted a grinder that I could grow with. The Northridge seems like a versatile  machine that I can adapt as I become better. I thought it was well worth the investment.

I bought the Northridge pro package because I know I'll eventually need most of what it offers as I get better. Super slick design and the customer service is truly great. Chuck at Northridge has spend hours on the phone with me helping me out and has sent me some free stuff I needed to get an off brand wheel to work properly. I tried to pay but he insisted and took care of me!!!! Highly recommend Northridge!

what made you nervous about working with g-10?  i have no experience with the stuff, but figured it wasn't too difficult to work with.

I guess it can be very toxic while working with it. The dust particles can kill you if you breath it.  Also heard some people claim it lets off fumes  that can make you sick or even kill you.  Makes the best handles though!

interesting, i didn't know that about g-10, but i'm glad to now.

You should not breath in any dust, but I have never gotten sick from G10 and I have been using it for over a decade.  Nor do I know anyone who has gotten sick from it.  It is one of my favorite handle materials.  I always wear a respirator and I have my shop vac set up with a micro filter to collect the dust as I grind.

Thanks for the info! So how do you set up your shop vac to act as a suction device to catch the dust coming off your grinder from the G10? Do you have a picture of the set up by any chance? Many thanks!

Nice job!!  Good clean lines. 

Here is the best I got right now.  I cut one of the extensions down the middle about 3" and mounted it horizontal under my grinder.  I have it pushed back a bit in this pic, because Ti sparks can catch stuff on fire real quick...  I have burned up two vacs already...  Now I either don't run it when I grind Ti or I will turn it so the sparks don't go directly into it.  I am moving my shop this summer and I will be putting in a real vac system in the grinding room.