Made my first knife!

I found an old broken and rusty Solingen chef knife in my backyard a few years ago, too battered and chipped to be worth much, and decided to try my hand at making it into an old school type fighting knife on a whim inspired by my little brother. I've been sharpening knives for years and have ground a few things before, so I figured I'd give it a go on my grandfather's belt sander and grinder. I had a wonderful time and I was really happy with the results, I'd never done anything like this before. I ground the chipped blade down at the tip and bottom, then ground in some sweep and a clip point, and ground in a sharpening choil.

And then a basic edge that I spent an hour or so "perfecting" on the belt sander, which was also new to me but worked great and was ridiculously fun. Took it home from the shop, and finished up the edge and went to work scrubbing away some of the corrosion. Now it's somewhat clean and has an edge that will slice newsprint and grocery receipt tape. It's also great on wood and cardboard, I'm exciting to use my new creation here!

Now I just need to find a way to refurbish the handles, maybe even make my own from leather or antler. Throw in a leather sheath and I'll have to carry this guy every now and then!

OH and my grandfather, who is selling his workshop unfortunately, offered me first dibs on all the tools I used for free.

Thanks! I definitely am going to take him up on it, tomorrow actually. I'm hoping to make this knife into a project and really see what I can make of it.

Thanks guys! Today I did some sanding and burning on the handle, which turned out great. Finished the choil too.

Here's where I am now- finished the choil/ricasso area, added some patina, and sanded and redid the handle to get rid of the corrosion and grind out the broken area. Really happy with how the handle looks, it feels great in hand too.