Here is another "kit" fillet knife that I made recently. A friend of mine bought it as a Christmas gift to himself. The blade is 1/16 inch thick by 5.5 inches long. The overall length is 10.25 inches. It is made from AUS 8A Stainless Steel. This is a Japanese steel with vanadium and chromium. This makes for a flexible blade that is easy to sharpen while still offering good edge holding capabilities. Many of my friends use this blade for more than fish. It has seen service with rabbits, ducks, deer and even elk. One of them has a home in my kitchen as well. The handle is Diamond wood which is a brand of plastic impregnated and laminated wood. It polishes to a nice shine and is waterproof. The fasteners are brass and stainless steel.

Kit Knives

These are some knives that I purchased the blades already ground, heat-treated and finished. Some would call them kit knives. From time-to-time I will do this. The blades that I purchase however are not marked with my "DVW" initials.

The fillet knives have seven inch long blades of AUS-8A and are very flexible. I actually purchased them to try as boning knives. I ended up selling the first two to friends before I ever got to try one out. I have made a few more and one of them I am going to keep for myself. The top one has a canvas Micarta handle. The middle one has a wood handle. The second to the bottom one has a black paper Micarta handle and the bottom one has a Diamondwood handle.

These knifes is actually sold as a steak knife. The blade is five inches long and 1/16" thick. It is fairly stout and I thought that it would make a good boning knife. I am guessing that the steel is either 440A or AUS-6A. For the top knife I installed a black paper Micarta handle and a canvas Micarta handle on the bottom knife.

Drop Point Skinner

This was made for a friend back when I was about 15. The blade was O1 tool steel and the handle was Diamondwood. I sold it to the father of my friend who bought the oak handle drop point. The thong hole tubing is a spent .22 Magnum shell.

Early Skinning Knife

I made this in Moses Lake for a friend. It was an early attempt at a full tang skinning knife design that I later settled on . The blade was 1/16" thick ATS-34 and the handle was Diamondwood. I was still playing around with different sheath designs at the time. I'm sure that the knife performed well (1/16" ATS-34 would slice like the dickens) but I wasn't yet happy with the way the overall knife looked.

Donated Knives

These were donated to church for fund raising auctions. They ended up being bought by brothers. Both knives have blades of 1/8" CPM-S30V.

The top knife was from two years ago. It had brass dovetailed bolsters and Cocobolo scales on a full tang. A spent .22 magnum shell served as the thong hole tubing.

The bottom knife was from this years auction. It had a Diamondwood handle with some fancy spacers and a bolt style rivet. There is also an inlay around the spine of the handle.

Father-in-law's Fillet Knife

This was made in Moses Lake for my Father-in-law. It had a blade of 1/16" thick ATS34. I had it sub-sero quenched, but that made it too stiff for some reason. There were some other things about it that proved to not be so great. The Diamondwood handle got very slippery when your hands were covered in fish slime and brass bolster would turn green if you didn't clean it off well. I find that brass works well for hunting knives, but not so well for fillet knives.

Carving Knife

This was the only time someone asked me for a carving knife. It was for my fishing buddy in Moses Lake. The blade was from 1/16" thick ATS-34. The handle was a nice multi-colored Diamondwood with a stainless steel bolster. It turned out well, but I don't think that I would make one for fun.

More Drop Point Hunters

Theses were both made in Moses Lake for friends at work. The top one had a multi-colored Diamondwood handle with a blade from ATS-34. I have never really liked gut hooks. I always thought that they were more of a gimmick than any thing, but that is what he wanted. The bottom knife was for my friend's son-in-law on his birthday. It had a D2 blade and a Corian spacer on the bloodwood handle. He was happy with it.

Family Knives

These were made for family members. To the best of my knowledge they still have them. I made them Moses Lake.

The top two went to my Dad. He has never used them, but I did use the top one on my first deer years later. I had to borrow it because I didn't have a hunting knife of my own (can you believe it?). The blades were from 1/8" thick D2 and the handles were multi-colored Diamondwood. 

The bottom knife here is the same as the one above. The bowie knife though was for my brother as a gift. He liked the USMC airforce survival knives, so I made him a fancy one. The blade was 1/4" thick O1 and the handle was white Micarta.

Norm's Knives

These were made for a friend of mine (Norm) in Moses Lake. It must have been close to 10 years ago now. I traded them for some tools. I think the blades were from 1/8" thick ATS-34 since that is mostly what I was using around that time. He always wanted a knife with .22 shells for rivets. He noticed that a .22LR shell would slide perfectly into a .22 Magnum shell. So that is what I made for him. The top knife had a multi-colored Diamondwood handle with a full tang. The rivets are spent .22 shells, including the thong hole tube. I made quite a few knives in that design. However it was the only one that had .22 shells for the rivets as well as the thong hole tube. I still prefer to the .22 Magnum shells for the thong hole tubing. It's just cool. The bottom knife had a whitetail antler handle. That was another knife that I made a few of. Whitetail antlers are a little on the small side and the little drop point lends itself well to them.

Finger Knives

I've made a few of these over the years. Unfortunatly, these are the only pictures that I have. These knives are very small and just fit in two fingers when gripped. I got the idea from a friend and fellow knifemaker.  One that I made (not pictured) went to a taxidermist in Canada. The top two were made about 15 years ago and I gave them to my Dad. They had 1/8" thick blades from D2. The bottom one was made about 5 years ago and had a blade of 1/8" thick CPM-S30V. It went to another friend at work who used it to skin a 500lb black bear.

Skinning Knives

My grandfather had a drawer full of knives that I used to look through as a kid. In that drawer was an Old Timer Sharp Finger. It was a cool knife that he would use to butcher cows with, but it didn't hold a very good edge. So I re-designed it a little so that I could make it out of a 1 inch wide piece of steel. For these knives I used 1/8" thick CPM-S30V. I am getting ready to make another batch out of ATS-34.

The top knife has canvas Micarta scales with stainless steel pins. It was made about three or four years ago for a friend at work.

The second knife has black paper Micarta scales, brass dovetailed bolsters, red liners and mosaic pins that I made myself. It was made a year ago for a friend at work. He gave it to his son as a birthday gift. They used it this year on a really nice buck that his son shot.

The fourth picture shows a knife that I made three years ago with Cocobolo scales and stainless steel pins. My old boss bought it from me.

Next is one that I made with multi-colored Diamondwood scales around the same time as the others. I don't remember who bought it.

Last is one with blue Diamondwood scales that my Dad bought from me. I used bolt style rivets that I really like. They give a bulls eye effect on one side of the knife and there is no way that the handle will come off. He still has it and would be willing to sell it if anyone was interested.

Kitchen Knife Collection

A collection of various kitchen knives that I made. All but the cake knife were made in Moses Lake. All blades are made from ATS-34 stainless steel. I will list them starting from the top.

First is a fillet knife that I made for myself. I used it quite a bit for many years. The blade was 1/16" thick and very flexible. The handle is micarta and the guard is stainless steel. The guard was designed differently then any other knife I have done. I was concerned about the blade breaking off at the guard when it was flexed. This design proved to be very strong. I recently sold this knife since I don't do much fishing any more, but I kind of miss this one.

Second is a cake knife that I made for our wedding. The handle is white micarta and has red spacers between the micarta and the knife tang. The bolster is dovetailed brass and the blade is engraved with our wedding date.

Third is a kitchen knife that I detail in a previous post.

Fourth is a little one-piece bird and trout knife that I made for myself. I sand blasted the handle for a little more grip. It is still in my lunch box and gets used quite frequently.

Fourth is a paring knife that I made for my wife. It has a Pakawood handle and stainless pins. The handle is too small for her so she never uses it.

Kitchen Knife for the Wife

This is a little kitchen knife that I made for my wife while in Moses Lake. She didn't like it though because the blade was the wrong shape for her. It was too much of a "hunting knife drop point" shape for her liking. She wanted something that was shaped more like a chefs knife. It sat in the drawer for years until I sold it to a friend who wanted to use it in his kitchen. The first time his wife went to use it, she cut herself badly and he had to hide it from her, so it may never see much use. The blade was 1/16" thick ATS-334. The handle is blue Pakawood with stainless steel bolster and pins.

Pakawood Bird and Trout

Here is a little bird and trout knife I made while living in Moses Lake. It was about mid point in my Moses Lake years (approximatively 10 years ago). That is the time that I started making those sheaths. I believe that the blade was ATS-34. The guard and pins are brass. I actually made two of these. A friend of mine bought them, one for himself and one for his son.