To mark a line.

It's been said to make good joinery use a pencil to make great joinery you must have a knife. Today I finally became fed up with my old exact-o knife a decided to make my very first marking knife. This venture started with an old scrap piece of cherry and a 5/16 spade bit. I did not take pictures during the making if this knife as I should have. I will try to describe my steps as best I can. First I used my grinder to grind the bit to shape creating a V on the end of the bit. I then ground a 30° bevel on one side of the to be knife blank. Finally I cut the shank down leaving about a 3 in tang on the knife blank. I then turned to my sharpening stones and flattened the back as the knife is only beveled on one side allowing for a sharp line shoulder on what ever side I need. I then turned to my lathe to create the handle blank out of scrap cherry. Before placing the blank on the lathe i predrilled the hole for the knife blank slightly smaller then the tang. I then used a short piece of brass as a compression fitting to prevent splitting when the knife was inserted. After the handle was finished I inserted the knife blank and used shellac with some red dye to add a nice warm color. This will probably be my new favorite tool for a while. Hope you enjoy the pictures.