I got an email from Asmon who just finished his first knife and is now moving on to a couple more knives. In his learning process he came up with some great not to do's and to do's. Here is the list.

I have lots of home made knife pictures from web visitors right here if you want to see more.

Hi Will,
I finally finished my first knife with 3 coats or 100% pure tung oil.
I call it my 500$ knife. Because, not being very handy, I had to buy almost everything. But I did learn a lot making this knife.

Lessons learned:
1) Don't use scrap metal found outside. It might be galvanized.
2) Know what steel you are using.
3) Don't use metal drill bits on wood. It won't drill but screw instead.
4) When in doubt, get the bigger torch.
5) Tung oil takes a looong time to dry.
6) Don't use oak for the handles. The tung oil takes even longer to dry.
7) Don't store the knife to dry in a humid place like a garage. The tung oil takes forever to dry.
8) Don't store the knife to dry inside your house. Tung oil smells.

 

Here is the Knife he made:

 

 

The Wonder of Knifemaking

Master smith Wayne Goddard is an icon in the field of knife making. As a full-time maker, teacher and writer, Goddard works as hard to teach knife making skills as he does to acquire them. His affiliation with BLADE Magazine has brought new and interesting information, tips and tricks to thousands of would-be knife makers. Other popular titles from Goddard include The Wonder of Knifemaking (2000) and $50 Knife Shop (2001 and 2006).

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