Hello everyone,

Merry Christmas! I hope everybody is having a good holiday season. Here is a knife that I recently made for my grandfather. He has been very generous in letting me use his shed for all of my hot work, and asked me if I could make him a knife. It was a special project for me.

Here are some specs:

Blade length - 9.5"

Overall length - 14.5"

Blade steel - 1075

Handle material - Brown malle

Fittings - Heat colored mild steel and brass

This is similar to the past couple of knives that I've made, so I had a chance to make some small improvements on the design. I opted for a polished clip and guard edge to contrast with the satin finish of the blade. I also used a 40lpi checkering file to coin the brass spacer. One of my biggest improvements, I think, was to the handle. I received some advice a while back to put my handles on a diet, so this one is much thinner. (Many thanks, Brion Tomberlin!) I have been practicing a lot with my hand sanding and dialing in the plunges how I want them, and I think that practice has paid off.

Now, some things I would like to improve on:

The biggest issue on this blade is that the edge is not perfectly centered. It's a few degrees off, but it really bothers me. I need to spend more time straightening at the forge and remember to use my chalk to help me see what needs to be adjusted. Also, being more careful with my height gauge in scribing my center line will help. One more thing, I blew through the spine on one side as I was grinding the bevels, so I thinned down the ricasso on that side to make it right again. Thus, the edge may have been thrown off center during that operation. Another issue I had was my guard fit. It's the best I've done so far, but it's still not seamless. I need to practice more with filing the shoulders and making sure everything is dead flat.

Thank y'all for looking, and please let me know if you have any additional recommendations. It was a fun knife to make, but I'm getting anxious to try some new designs. The next person who asks me for that same kind of knife will have to wait for a bit until I can indulge my creative inclinations <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />