Multi-Purpose Serrated Kitchen Knives

Here are two multi-purpose kitchen knives I made. 
The blades are 440-C surgical stainless steel with a serrated edge.

The wood is pressure-sealed cocobolo wood with blank ink dye to contrast the lighter color.

The pins are 3/32" stainless steel.

These are some of my favorite knives!  They work for almost anything in the kitchen, and the large handle size is a perfect counter-weight against the also large blade.

All the raw material was bought from Jantz knifemaking supply.

I can make one of these knives in just under two hours; not including the epoxy dry time.  Making two or three of them at once seems to speed things up a little and is a more efficient way of doing it.

Six Sturdy Kitchen Knives

Here's a set of kitchen steak knives I made recently.  All the blades are 440-C surgical stainless and were purchased from Jantz knifemaking supply. 
The wood is either pressure treated cocobolo, walnut, or oak that I also bought from Jantz knifemaking supply.  The pins are 3/32" stainless steel. 
I used to cut the stainless steel rod with a hacksaw, but I've found that a sturdy pair of wire cutters is a lot faster and easier.
These are great knives.  I enjoy making them, and everyone who's bought one from me says they're good in the kitchen  There are several that I made my mom four or five years ago, and they're still hard at work in her kitchen almost every day!

Hunting Knives Made In A Stone Carving Shop

 These are two hunting knives I made in my grandpa's stone carving shop while we were at my grandparent's house in southwest Missouri a couple months ago.  Both knives are hollow-ground and made from 440-C surgical stainless steel.  The wood on the knife to the left is pressure-treated cocobolo, and the one on the bottom right is pressure-treated oak.  I used 1/4" mosaic pins and did vine pattern file-work on both knives.  I also put 1/4" stainless steel tubing in the back of each knife.  The sheaths are made from treated leather that I purchased at a leather shop in Custer, South Dakota.  I hand-stitched both of them and formed them to each knife after soaking the sheaths in water for 20-30 minutes.  All the supplies for these knives including the blade blanks, wood, and pins, I purchased from Jantz Supply in Oklahoma.  My knifemaking teacher, Tom McGinnis softened and hardened the blades for me at his shop in Ozark, MO. 

My Latest Hunting Knife

Here's the latest hunting knife I've made.  It's made from 440-C Stainless.  I did "vine pattern" filework and hand polished it to a reflective finish.  I also made and hand-stitched the cow-hide sheath.
I bought the blade, wood, and mosaic pins, and tubing from Jantz knifemaker's supply.  I got the leather from a leather shop in Custer, SD while we were there.

(I will post pictures of more knives I've made soon!  I'm still working on getting set up to forge, I'll keep you up to date on what I am doing.)

Where I'm At

This is where I'm at with knifemaking.  I started out when I took one of Tom McGinnis', owner of Ozark Forge, knifemaking classes.  I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to keep going with it.  I went over to his shop quite a bit and learned as much as I could about making handles and doing filework.  I soon started making knives on my own, the first of which I gave to my Dad.  I also started making sheaths for the hunting knives I was making.  I kept working on improving my filework.  Soon I started buying boxes of blades from Jantz Supply and found that a lot of people would buy a handmade knife even if I wasn't forging the blades.  I started making paring, steak, and fillet knives, also.  I began thinking about learning to forge but then we left!  We've wanted to travel full time for years, Mom and Dad just finally decided it was time.  Well, that put a cork in my knifemaking for a while.  I had to leave all my tools and stock behind in our storage trailer.  Whenever I got the chance I made a few knives, though.  I used my uncle's tools to make a fillet knife while in Florida.  When we went back to Missouri I used a friend's tools to make a couple hunting knives.  Then, while in Arizona this winter, I decided I really wanted to start making knives full-time again.  For Christmas I got a band saw and a drill press.  I bought some sanding drums and used the drill press for a sander, also.  I made about ten kitchen knives.  We were able to cram the tools under our desk in the back room of the camper.  Well, that's where I'm at.  I want to go ahead and start forging while we're still on the road.  I'm gonna take it slow and learn all I can in the process.  I'm going to write about everything I do and purchase on here so you can learn from me and I can learn from you.  Feel free to comment on any of my posts.  Let me know your ideas or how you've done it!