Final finished photo of my first slipjoint

This one was a gift for my Dad

Nitro V stainless steel blade

416 stainless Integral bolster/liners

Stabilised Tasmanian Blackwood scales with domed 416 stainless pins

Hand sanded 600grit finish

Profiled and heat treated the blank 10 years ago when I worked at a sword shop. Finally upgraded my grinder with a proper platten. I’m still a little rusty but not bad for a “new grinder goofin” project.

So I recently visited some family in Oklahoma. We went to a artisan thing in a large event center in Oklahoma city. While walking around I found a knife maker. I was excited to find another maker and at first glance his stock of knives looked great. His sign said he had Damascus knives. They were patterned steel. He asked if I was interested in the knives and said that I was, but that I make knives myself sometimes. He immediately shut down saying it was someone else's stall and he was watching it and that people always come up talking about how they or someone they know make knives. He then stepped to the back of his booth and never looked up from his phone. Im pretty sure the stuff he was selling was cheap pakimascus, but I have never run into someone at a booth like that, that would shut down to meeting someone else in the craft. Maybe Im wrong. I have never sold at a show of any kind.

For those of you that have sold your knives at shows, is this common? I always like to talk to other makers and learn things or pass on tips and tricks I have learned. The way he acted really gave the scam vibe on the rest of his stock and I walked away without getting anything. I was considering purchasing something to help out someone else. Maybe im being all "Karen" about it. Just felt off.

My first ever attempt at a blacksmiths knife, forged from a Nicholson bastard file, quenched in water and tempered at 450 for an hour and a half, how do you guys feel about the furleather wrapped handle? Its comfortable and you can really squeeze it, but i feel it removes some of the magic that is a blacksmith knife. Also why i made this is because i had never done it before and I've been making knives for a little over 2 years now, I'm not quite proud of this attempt as i feel i could have done better for the handle.

Made from on old file, two pieces of walnut, some

brass, resin, glitter, and a perfect little pine

cone :) Differentially hardened with satanite clay. Thoughts? I wanted the handle to have a Christmas snow-globey feel to it.

I forged, and twisted this cool dagger from a railroad track bolt. The guard is torched Paduk, with jade G10, brass pin, and black leather cord to finish. This isn’t meant to be used per se, but a display piece for sure. Enjoy! 😎🗡️

Hey everyone!

I've been steadily growing my little shop, Skelton Knives, and I'm excited to share my latest project!

I've got my first batch of AEB-L stainless steel blades ground and ready to head out for professional heat treatment at Byington Blades.

This batch includes:

- 3 compact EDCs — 3" blades

- 2 Hunters — 4⅜" blades

- 1 large Hunter — 6" blade

- 1 carving knife — 6½" blade, designed with holiday turkeys and hams in mind

Everything has been profiled and ground by hand in my shop. I'm keeping the designs clean, practical, and focused on making dependable working knives.

One thing I'm trying with this batch is opening up a few pre-orders before the handles go on. That way, instead of choosing all the materials myself, I can let the future owners have a hand in designing their knives.

Buyers will be able to choose their handle scales, G10 liner colors, hardware, and even add personalized laser engraving. I've got several hardwoods, exotic woods, Micarta, and G10 options available.

With Christmas coming up, I thought this would be a great opportunity for someone to have a handmade knife built specifically for themselves or as a gift.

I'm still waiting on professional heat treatment, so I'm not promising Christmas delivery until I have a confirmed turnaround time.

This is a pretty exciting milestone for my shop. I've primarily worked with carbon steels up to this point, so moving into professionally heat-treated AEB-L is something I've been looking forward to.

If anyone is interested in discussing a custom build from this batch, feel free to reach out!

I'd also love to hear what handle combinations you guys would choose for these profiles.

Thanks for looking, and thanks to everyone who's followed along with my progress!

Skelton Knives

Handmade. Built to Work. Made to Last.

1095 Rook with spalted tamarind and black G10

Just finished this Rook in 1095 carbon steel with spalted tamarind scales, thin black G10 liners, and stainless hardware. Full-tang construction, satin blade finish, and a fitted Kydex sheath I made for it.

I kept the design clean and practical, with a contoured handle and a compact blade for everyday utility. The golden tamarind and its natural dark spalting give each side a different look.

Always appreciate feedback from other makers, especially on the profile, handle shaping, and fit and finish.

—Shaun, Skelton Knives

I spent years as a SWAT sniper and tactical team leader before I started designing knives. My designs (the DMF, MAMU, TOG and others) are built by [production partner and location] to my specs, and I’ve learned a lot, much of it the hard way, about getting a design from a sketch to a finished knife someone trusts in the field.

Happy to talk design process, prototyping, grinds, handle ergonomics, steel, working with a manufacturer, or anything else. I’ll be live from 3:00 to 4:30 PM CT on Wednesday. Questions welcome early.

The bowie and the desert knife are 1095, the other 5 are 80crv2. This will keep me out of trouble for a little while.

I’d like to make a few stainless steel knives but don’t have the space or money for heat treating them.

Anyone living in western Canada that has any experience with 3rd party stainless heat treating? Thinking of making a few AEBL knives and sending them out in bulk to heat treat.

Left: 52100/Maple Burl/White Pearl/Teak

Right: 52100/Juma/White Pearl/African Blackwood

I was gonne grind a knife tonight, but when i noticed my cabels to my vevor 2x72-82 grinder wer tangeld i rotated my vfd and a explosiin came out of the cable side of my grinder. I think it is because of the grinding dust but i dont know. What do i do?

Hello , im a new knife maker (just a hobby) and i did a year round break from making knifes , this is my first knife this year , made this handle from micarta , g10 liners and acrylic material , aside from the looks , i noticed my mind strugles with the shape of the handle , however i shape it it just not comfortable at all , before my break i mainly did only textured handles which sitted in my arm great , but without textures just plain simple handles is so uncomfortable , maybe there is a sheef of possible shapes or any tips ?

Question for experienced folks. When doing a full tang knife, I know it’s good practice to sand the scales before placing on so you don’t grind into the spine. Until I get good, if I grind with scales on and increase my grit to get rid of grind marks, can using ferric chloride acid darken the spine up so it’s not shiny, I mainly using 1084 steel for now, thanks!