First Knife

My first attempt at making a knife. It is a bit Orcish. Ran out of time before I could grind it down. Now I don’t think I will so I can see some progress down the line. I started out with a piece of mild steel one and a half inches wide by two and a half feet long. Leaving it long lets you use your hands instead of tongs. I began by making the end into a point. Fun fact, you make it into a point on the opposite side, see Pointy End diagram. That’s why most knives have that curve away from the cutting edge, because as the metal pushes out it curves back. The next step was to taper down the edge of the blade. I overdid it a bit and it curled over, but grinding can fix this I am told. Then I used the horn of the anvil as a fuller to thin out the handle. I cut the knife to length and evened it out. “Beat the daylights out of it” actually comes from blacksmithing when you are trying to make something flat so no light comes through. I’m told a lot of anecdotes come from blacksmithing. Heating up the handle with tongs, I bent it over into a scroll and folded it back on itself to make the handle. I think next time I will be able to make a better one.