15n20 steel Give-Away

We have decided to run this till the end of the month. On the 1st I will draw a winner and we will ship the steel out fryday. So if you have not entered yet don't delay.
 
I'll play--Thanks for the opportunity!

My tip: Do not leave belts under tension on your grinders ... I had a habit of leaving belts tensioned after I was finished grinding only to come back a couple days later, kick the grinder on and watch the belt wobble horribly. Wobbly belts are NO fun to work with! I don't remove my belts completely but I've worked myself into the habit of always releasing the tension when I turn it off and always re-tensioning it before I start it back up.
 
When forging, move the piece of steel to hammer different spots. You should be hammering in the exact same spot with your hammer each blow. If you move all over the anvil with your hammer, your accuracy will suffer


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One way to keep your workpiece clean of scale is to wet forge. Splash some water on your anvil and dip your hammer in water before hammering. The water will create a steam explosion which blasts the scale off of the workpiece.


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For new guys starting out with kydex sheaths, pay a little more for the best molding foam and the better eyelet dies.
It's worth the cost for the improvement in quality.

Something else I do is after forming the sheath, leave the tape on the blade when sharpening so your hard work sanding doesn't get scratched if you slip.
 
Thanks for the giveaway. Count me in. I'm fairly new to the game but here are a few tips that I've learned:

1) Tumbled finishes seem to hide kydex marks really well and improve the corrosion resistance of several semi-stainless steels.

2) Forming the kydex sheath around a finished blade prior to sharpening will create a tiny bit of relief at the cutting edge and protect it from undue wear and tear when sheathing/unsheathing the blade but doesn't allow the knife to move or rattle in the sheath any at all.

3) Drain holes in leather sheaths can be placed in the tip of the welt and really help for woodsy blades. Knock down all the furry side of the leather with a spoon and gum trag, then finish the interior as you would the exterior of the sheath and it'll be pretty water resistant.

4) Bead blasting micarta improves the texture and makes the handle feel more grippy when wet than dry.

5) Always sand over pins with a hard backing to prevent the handle material from being removed more rapidly than the pins and doming the pins.
 
Awesome, Thanks JT!

I've not been making knives all that long but i've learned some important things and a ton from this community;

1) Super Glue! Get some and get different types, thin, thick, gap filler, rubber toughened and the quick setting spray. I use it on almost every knife and have gone through many bottles. Always keep it around and DO NOT FORGET the UN-Cure or ANTI super glue. Sucks to have it on something that it shouldn't be on. Side note - UN-Cure will also get epoxy specks off a finished blade and clean up with DA or acetone nicely.

2) Its better to take the time to get things flat and parallel before your epoxy is mixed. You can ruin a mix of epoxy or worse, a set of scales, by being off and having to redo them. Always get scales flat and the tang flat.

3) Wear a respirator. They are cheap and cancer sucks.

4) Get the best quality tools you can afford. There are umpteen threads on grinder comparisons and this and that. I'm all for being frugal, but cheap is not something i want to be. Not when things are spinning near or at me at high speed.
 
Thanks for the opportunity

One thing I have learned in my short time doing this is don't be afraid to dry fit your handle as many times as needed until satisfied then epoxy. Take the time to get it right.
 
I was working in the shop today fiddling with my HT oven a decided to normalize some blades I was working on, one of which was a hunter I will be doing a full flat grind on using my usual method: Files. Well heres a tip, keep the teeth clean by banging the files edge on a wooden surface to clear chips, it helps for a cleaner cut without marring the surface of the work It also prolings the life of your file. I triued chalk for this, but wasn't satisfied with the results, though IIRC WD-40 worked great to ease the cutting. I find keeping the file free from debris to be especially important when draw filing. Also when draw filing make sure to pressure the entire face of the file evenly, as opposed to one side more than the other like you can do when hand sanding a plunge line. Other wise the teeth will dig in and you'll be left with some nice deep gouges that will be tough to remove.
 
velferd said:
I was working in the shop today fiddling with my HT oven a decided to normalize some blades I was working on, one of which was a hunter I will be doing a full flat grind on using my usual method: Files. Well heres a tip, keep the teeth clean by banging the files edge on a wooden surface to clear chips, it helps for a cleaner cut without marring the surface of the work It also prolings the life of your file. I triued chalk for this, but wasn't satisfied with the results, though IIRC WD-40 worked great to ease the cutting. I find keeping the file free from debris to be especially important when draw filing. Also when draw filing make sure to pressure the entire face of the file evenly, as opposed to one side more than the other like you can do when hand sanding a plunge line. Other wise the teeth will dig in and you'll be left with some nice deep gouges that will be tough to remove.
Click to expand...

What also works well, is the cheap wooden shims that you get like 40 in a pack for $2. Use them to push fillings from the side out of your files. They won't dull the cutting edges, and will form to the grooves in the file.
 
Awesome Giveaway!

My tip is to watch every Nick Wheeler video!
The hand sanding 101 video is one of the best to get a good clean hand sanded finish.
JP

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Awesome give away JT thank you for the opportunity.
Do not use 5 min fast setting epoxy from the big name hardware stores, especially on a hot day. I made the mistake of using it and botched a handle glue up because it set too fast and had to start over. Luckily t was cheap homemade "micarta" and not $60 worth of hardwood.
 
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Thanks for the give away!! So here's my tip:
Drill your holes BEFORE you heat treat!

God I'm an idiot! Lol!!


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What a great idea! I really appreciated everything you have shared here yourself, JT, which is quite a lot for the fairly short time of being back on the forum from the hiatus you took a while back.

I made sure not to read any other posts yet so I could try to think of something myself, but if this tip(s) is already shared here in this thread, my apologies?? :D

So the tip that I would like to echo is when you're first starting to forge blades, make sure to forge them thick, then grind them thin! That way you don't grind the blade down to dust trying to remove all the rough hammer marks. Also, forge the blade at lower temps and with a lighter hammer when doing final finish forging to get everything flat, smooth and straight. :thumbup: ;)


Thanks for the chance brother!

~Paul
My YT Channel Lsubslimed
... (It's been a few years since my last upload)
 
One of my favorite tricks I learned here is to use a food saver vaccum sealer to wet form leather sheaths. Sure beats doing it by hand. I leave it in the bag for about 15 minutes then take it out and hit it with a heat gun to lock the shape in and shrink it just a tad.
 
You can aldo use a fry basket style deep fryer as a quench tank. It has its own heating element and you can set the temperature. Mine is about a foot long so it handles most of the work I do.
 
I'm in thanks for the opportunity.
I have not been making knives for too long but these are some useful tips I have gathered along the way:

1. Using q-tips to clean up epoxy on the front of scales helps out a lot.

2. If you are using a buffer it is a good idea to keep it covered with a plastic bag or tarp, in order to prevent metal dust from accoumalating on it.

3. Cobalt drill bits work best if you add a little cutting fluid.(most of you probably already know this).

4. Lastly try not to take any custom knife commissions....for me personally it has been a headache. And if you do take them on make sure to have some sort of design fee...so the person interested does to back out.

Thanks again for the chance.
 
When heat treating with propane make sure you have enough gas to do the job. Nothing like running out of gas 100* before you get to quenching temperature.
 
If you are going to make a hidden pin knife, tap your pin holes and use screws with the head cut off to make your hidden pins. The threads give a nice "grippy" surface for the epoxy to grip to. Happy Holidays and thank you for the cool give away!
 
Safety safety safety! Watch your fingers with those low grit belts. It's like sticking your hand against the highway at 60 mph. Protect your eyes ears AND lungs! Also working around anything rotating, if wearing a hoodie, make sure your hood strings aren't hanging out. They'll sure as shit gets sucked into whatever you're working on. I pull all my work hoodie strings out from day one.
 
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