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Nail nicks

When I started making folding knives I was using a dremel with a cutoff disc to cut my nail nicks. The results worked ok but the final results didn't look the part. To get an acceptable looking nail nick I started milling my nail nicks in with a flycutter bit. Cutting the nail nick with a flycutter must be done before heat treatment whilst the blade is annealed before grinding the bevels. The final shape of the nail nick will be determined by the length of the flycutter bit and its shape. A longer bit will make a wide narrow nick and a short bit will make a short fat nick. The shape of the bit will also effect the final shape of the nick, mine is shown below. Click for larger images.

Knife Photography at Home

Hello across the Tasman to all of you in Australia. I thought I’d put pen to paper ( or fingers to the keyboard ) on the subject of Knife photography. It is something that I struggled with over a period of time and I get the impression that people get some fairly varied results – usually not good – when embarking on the process.

I am not coming in from the direction of being an expert, that I am definitely not and if you are happy with the results you are getting then I may not be able to add to your information on the subject. If however you feel an improvement is on the cards then maybe this will help, so read on.

The greatest assistance I found to improve my photography was an article on the making of a light box by Jim Cooper on the knife network forum.

Jim Cooper some of you will know is a very “ up there “ professional photographer who does a lot of knife photography and was good enough to post an article that he entitled a “ No Frills “ $75 home studio tent/lightbox.

Knife Show Etiquette

Attending a knife show is educational and fun and can be profitable. You can enhance the experience by knowing how to properly interact with dealers and other collectors. Follow these rules to get the most out of your next knife show adventure.

This article was from eHow.com

Australian Woods for Handle Materials

Knife - Handle Woods - Australia's Desert Acacias, Part 1

Desert acacias or wattles as they are sometimes called, include woods from the deserts and "outback" regions of Australia. They are usually from small, often twisted trees or large shrubs. They include species like mulga, various gidgees, minneritchie, myalls and lesser-known, yet equally interesting species like waddywood, purpleheart wattle, western snakewood, bowyakka and even raspberry jam! Yes some do smell of raspberries and even flowers, like violets or boronia. These qualities become apparent when grinding and polishing. Neat eh? They all originate from our dry, outback, hot-forged and slow-grown in the desiccating desert sands.

These desert woods have for millennia been used for weapons and tools (eg spears, boomerangs, digging sticks, clubs etc) and most recently also for tool and knife handles. Their low natural moisture contents mean that they don't shrink much on drying or in service. Some compare with the best woods in the world (eg like ebony or Arizona desert ironwood) for their beauty and usefulness especially for fine, custom made knives and in other small turned or carved hand crafts (like pens, jewelery etc).

How to Photograph Knives

As the embers die down in the forge, the sparks stop flying off the grinder, the handle shaped and the sheath stitched, there is one step left in the process of knifekmaking:

Take the photograph that will provide a lasting memory of your hard work long after the knife has passed on to that special family member, neighbour or loyal customer.

Photographing knives poses a special problem in the art of photography – how do you capture the fine detail of that textured handle while wanting to show the blade as a flawless flat finish? And just how do you take a picture of a blade without showing yourself as a reflection in the mirror finish?