My knife builds

[NRA4LIFE]

Jesus man, this thread is knife porn at its best. Beautiful work.

 

[rifletuner]

Jesus man, this thread is knife porn at its best. Beautiful work.

Thanks mate

 

[GARLICSALT]

No new knives in this post, but pretty happy to have achieved a goal around 10 days ago. For the last 18 months I have been working towards becoming a member of the Australian Knifemakers Guild. The Guild has two categories of knife makers, a Probationary Member and a Full Member. There is a third category Life Member if selected & voted for by the membership, but there are only a handful of these. At a high level, you can think of it in terms of a Probationary Member being an entry level knife maker, and a full member is an advanced knife maker. Thats not a perfect description, but its near enough.

To advance to these levels, there is a formal checklist of requirements (see here if interested https://akg.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/FULL-DOC-Assessment-Checklist-for-Guild-Membership.pdf). To get to Probationary membership, you need to present 3 knives for assessment and achieve a mark of 10 out of 20 for each knife. Once you are a Probationary Member, you can sit for Full Member a minimum of 12 months later and need to achieve a minimum of 18 out of 20 for each of the 3 knives, but there are also specific things you need on the assessment knives that are not required for the probationary test.

I have been working for a while to get 3 knives to have assessed, but I keep on picking some fault and deciding its not at the standard required. Occasionally I have a really fantastic knife finished that I am super happy with, but its promised to someone with a very close deadline, so I cant hang onto it until I have the other knives I need to make up the set of three for assessment.

Anyhow, I finally booked a date to go see Adam Parker, one of 2 Guild assessors in Victoris, and a guy with over 30 years of knife making experience. Adam is between Geelong and Ballarat, and with the traffic on Wednesday, it took me 3 hours each way to go see him.

I had a couple of knives that I recently finished, plus I was planning to use a kitchen knife I just finished a day before the appointment. But I found a few scratches on the blade that I wasn't happy with, so at the last minute I took a survival knife I finished a few months ago to make up the required knives.

At the end of the assessment process, I ended up scoring 16 out of 20 for the survival knife, 18 out of 20 for the bushcrafter, and 20 out of 20 for the hunter. So as of Wednesday, I am a Probationary Member of the Australian Knifemakers Guild!

16/18/20 out of 20 you crushed it, congratulations!!! From the looks of the work, well deserved. Keep em coming. As you can see the guys love looking at great custom knives.

 

[rifletuner]

16/18/20 out of 20 you crushed it, congratulations!!! From the looks of the work, well deserved. Keep em coming. As you can see the guys love looking at great custom knives.

Thanks mate

 

[long hunter]

Congrats.

 

[rifletuner]

Congrats.

Thanks mate

 

[rifletuner]

After the last boner I made, I was asked to make a very similar knife for someone else. It worked out well as I had one profiled and heat treated ready to grind. They also wanted a kydex sheath that wasnt grey or black, so I went high viz which I think is pretty practical for a knife that will get used like this one will.

The blade is NitroV steel, with the same very shallow hollow grind as the last one. The edge is ground down to .25 of a mm, so should slice well. The handles are black Richlite with orange G10 liners and pins. The sheath is orange Kydex.

 

[jolson]

These all look great. I’ve been building for a couple years now as well. Not sure they look as professional as yours.
Just finished these three this weekend

 

[BBob]

The blade is NitroV steel, with the same very shallow hollow grind as the last one. The edge is ground down to .25 of a mm, so should slice well. The handles are black Richlite with orange G10 liners and pins. The sheath is orange Kydex.

I love that shape. Utilitarian but at the same time very svelte and beautiful! All the curves just work together. I'd love to have one like it.

 

[rifletuner]

These all look great. I’ve been building for a couple years now as well. Not sure they look as professional as yours.
Just finished these three this weekend
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Mate, they are going well Just keep going. For me, its just been time doing it and a desire to get better.

 

[rifletuner]

I love that shape. Utilitarian but at the same time very svelte and beautiful! All the curves just work together. I'd love to have one like it.

Thanks mate