Soldier in iraq insults this custom knife maker!!!

So recently Ive been playing around and just taking a break from custom order knives and trying a few things. I recently made some tanto like knives from files and whatnot to have some fun and see how they would look. Well a friend of mine over in the middle east saw some pics of my knives and showed some of his friends saying thats my buddy who makes them. A few other marines thought they were cool too. They eventually asked if i could make them some and offered 75$ each for a total of 4. Now my friend knows how hard it is to make a custom knife and the time and effort i have to put into each one. He said they dont have to be perfect they were more like kids wanting a new toy over there. 75$ a knife... I have 3000-4000$ worth of machinery in my garage I had to pay for, electricity, my sweat, blood and hard work in each knife. Does he really understand the investment I have in each knife I make?!?!? Does he think that price is anything compared to the way him and his friends put their lives on the line for me and my family?!?!?! I'm offended!!! He offers me money when i finally have a chance to repay a small portion of what I owe them!!! So 4 knives to the middle east for FREE to give them marines some "toys for tots" (i keep joking with him about being in the salvation army and it doesnt make sense why he got pulled over there).

Got 2 made and a third in the works! First two are tanto styles (showed one here already)

nicholson file with a paracord handle double wrapped in a traditional japanese manner. 20 degree bevels .







This one is probably going on ebay and going to make a better copy cause i got sloppy in few spots

Nicholson file with white sea snake skin and paracord double wrap in japanese style. 10 degree main bevels and 15 degree bevel at tips.








The next few I try will probably be a dagger type and tatical type so they have some choice as to which they want. Ill post pics as I get some new ones done. Hope they like them! Let me know if you have any ideas or comments. I know they arnt high end custom knives but if it makes them happy im more then happy to do them! Ill make them as time permits since this is just a hobby for me and ill take some pics.

Cool.

You are doing something for those that serve and that is a Blessing. Continue the good work.

Spent almost all day in the shop and this is the start of #3. Gonna be along dagger with a gaurd of some sort either brass or stainless steel and still unsure on handle material.

the file grooves will retain DNA easily, so you know..

I kinna DIG the file grooves, dual purpose hehe

shew, nice work.. its kind of neat how things are still tribal in areas and guys get more respect with a bad ass knife then they do with the m16..

Yeah im kinda digging the gooves too. Plus reminds me when my dad and grandpaw tell me how they use to make knives out of files. Was getting burned out on hunters and kitchen knives so took a few days of playing with some files.

Good on You! and Thank You!

Semper Fi!

What kind of files are those and where did you get them?

cnodie1 said:

What kind of files are those and where did you get them?

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Nicholson black diamond files. I order them online to get the right size, thickness, and cut that I want. For example the dagger is a double cut(criss cross) the tantos are a single cut(/ or \).

As Hitman said, "Good on you".

I kinda like the dual use file grooves as well.
As for DNA retention, for the use that these guys might make use of them, I think Allah's lab tech is the only one who will give a durn.
( Sadly, with today's PC military, the above is now just a dream. )



Art

Nice knives and a nice gesture!!!

What kind of steel are those files?

It appears to me one of the "No, No"s on knife fora is asking a smith how much time he puts into a knife.

It's really meaningless as the time will depend on a whole lot of factors; How many are being processed at the same time, for one.

A knife's worth is what a person is willing to pay for it. I see these $2,000 blades on custom sites and wouldn't buy them cuz they don't appeal to me.

thank you for doing that for those guys. you very well could have taken their money and went about your way.

JBE said:

Nice knives and a nice gesture!!!

What kind of steel are those files?

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They are 1095 steel which is a really top of the line steel for making knives.

TomTerrific said:

It appears to me one of the "No, No"s on knife fora is asking a smith how much time he puts into a knife.

It's really meaningless as the time will depend on a whole lot of factors; How many are being processed at the same time, for one.

A knife's worth is what a person is willing to pay for it. I see these $2,000 blades on custom sites and wouldn't buy them cuz they don't appeal to me.

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Im just a hobbyist and just like knives in general in both talking about and making. I dont get offended when asked. These first few were semi-experiments so were a little slower then I could do now that i know the right belts to use on the grinder and angles and what not. Being that I have a industrial grinder which you use for like 80% of a knife and even more so with file knives. Id imagine i could do a tanto start to finish in 90 minutes give or take 15 mins and the dagger in 2-4 hours depending if I do a wrapped handle or a hidden tang style handle. I also do all my knives one at a time and don't do "runs" of knives. I like each project to being meaningful and focused on.

cbr900son said:

They are 1095 steel which is a really top of the line steel for making knives.

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+1...Good choice for a hard-use fixed blade...

do you retemper the blades after grinding? because I would think that they would be too brittle.NICE GESTURE AND NICE LOOKING KNIVES.
FRANK8

I give em 1 hour before some Lance Coolie cuts himself with one ... 1/2 hour to show it off and compare it to the others another 1/2 hour to begin the throwing contests.

Yeah took me awhile to research what type of steel they actually are so i could figure out the temper cycles and heat treating method. Hmm as for cutting them selves maybe ill send them just sharp and not super scary sharp.