Summary:
The knife after sharpening, but before the last few touchups to the oxide layer on the spine and blade.
This is a short handled bush/camp knife. It is a bit shorter, and a bit wider, than my last bush knife, and is designed to have a bit more of a rough-finished look too it.
The blade was cold-peened to give it a textured look, and then the mill scale was left in place after heat treat to help give the knife a darker aesthetic.
For the most part this knife came out well. I really like the cold blued aesthetic for the spine, and peened blade. This was my first time hand sharpening a knife using a wetstone, and I think that worked well from a sharpness perspective. With that said, the edge ended up being a bit too thin, so I plan to dial that back, or maybe add a micro-bevel.
Update: This knife’s blade did not hold up well to chopping through wood. In talking with more experienced knife makers it seems like my temper temperature was likely too high (450F, rather than 400F) and that I needed to do a full body quench shortly after the edge quench to prevent retained heat from softening the edge and bevel.
The knife just after final touchups and sharpening. You can see that the silvery bits along the spine are now gone.
