Drawing Knife

Step 1: Begin by drawing shapes for the knife. I was looking at a pocket knife when doing this. Here is the psd file if you suck at drawing.

Step 2 (the handle)

Next I created the handle by taking the vector shape created in step 1, and adding a bevel emboss layer effect. Simple enough.

Then I began to create the grip of the handle. First I had to create a pattern. To do this I used the shape tools to create a square. Then I added a bevel and emboss layer effect to create a pyramid effect. I duplicated the layer and then merged the two to rasterize the pyramid image. I then ctrl clicked the newly merged layer to select its contents, then Edit>Define Pattern. Name it grip. Select the vector shape of the grip for the handle and add the layer effect Pattern Overlay. Then I reduced the size of it by adjusting the scale settings. I chose lighten mode as the layer effect blend mode. What you choose will depend on the color of the handle. My handle is black.

Step 3 (the blade)

The image above is to help you understand which shape layer is called Blade 1, Blade 2, or Blade 3, together creating the basic image of the Blade.

To get a less flat looking blade I added a small amount of monochromatic noise to the layer Blade 3. Filter>Noise>Add Noise. It will ask if you want to rasterize the layer. To be safe I duplicated the shape layer and then used the filter on the new one. Remember, check monochromatic. The noise added should be almost unnoticeable.

I then added more noticeable noise to the layer Blade 2.. You can do this by typing ctrl alt F. This is a shortcut to bringing up the dialog box of the last filter used. It will ask if you want to rasterize the layer. To be safe I duplicated the shape layer and then used the filter on the new one. Make sure to make the noise more drastic. Then use a Motion blur at 0 degree angle to give it the sharpened look. Filter>Blur>Motion Blur.

To make this blurry mess its original shape I ctrl clicked the original shape layer (Blade 2) to create a selection of that shape. Then with the blurred layer selected (Blade 2 Copy) I typed Ctrl Shift I to inverse the selection. Then I typed delete.

To add a shine to the blade and again attempt to remove its fake flat look, I used the dodge tool to create a highlight. Do this by selecting the dodge tool, then with Blade 3 copy selected (this layer with the noise added) click at one end of the highlight, and shift click at another point to create a straight line of light. Repeat to intensify the highlight to a desired value.

Step 4:

Finally to finish the knife you will need to add some detail. To create the caps for the pins that hold the handle together create circles. I drew one circle atop of another. I then made the top circle smaller than the one below. Using layer effects I added a linear gradient of dark to light using only gray scale to represent metal. I then gave the circle below the same layer effects by dragging the effects to the other layer. Then I reversed the gradient of the lower circle. Notice the example in the top right of the image below.

To create a drop shadow of the knife I created a new layer above the rest. Then hide the background so that only the knife layers are showing. Make sure the new layer is selected and type alt ctrl shift e to create raster image of all visible layers into this one layer (you should have a rasterized, flattened version of the knife in this new top layer. Create a drop shadow and reduce the fill to 0 so that only drop shadow shows and you can continue working on the knife if need be. With the fill set to 0 only the drop shadow shows. The knife you see is constructed of the layers below, not the newly created layer.

Finally to give the little push button on the knife a shadow from the handle, I gave it the layer effect Inner Shadow. And of course instead of me telling you to do the layer effect setting shown here (which they're not) simply download the style or see them in the psd file.