1st attempt at a knife.

[texas gun person]

Howdy,
I received a knife making kit this past Friday and spent some time in the garage today removing some steel. The kit came with a bar of 1084, epoxy, g10 scales, pin material, even the drill bit for that pin size. Also came with a piece of leather, thread, and needles. Everything for a basic little knife really.

Here is what I came up with. I didn't use graph paper for the design, I just free handed with a pencil on the steel itself. The burrs on the top of the blade makes it look like a super crappy grinding job in the picture I am holding it in, but it's pretty smooth, I swear.

Will update as I progress.

 

[Paul Brach]

So far so good. You have a little work left to do. How will you grind the blade? Do you have a way to properly heat treat it or will you have someone do that for you.

 

[texas gun person]

I figure I will attempt it myself this very first time and see how it goes.

Question that I am sure someone on here can answer. I have an old school propane cooker that shoots just a large solid flame upwards towards whatever is sitting on top, and you can really get it going if you want to. Can you heat this steel, or any knife steel, up enough with this sort of device?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

With a magnet stuck on the side and the thing running full blast, you can HT 1084 with that,

Don't take the blade to a sharp edge in filing and sanding. The edge should be about half the thickness of a dime. Drill the pin holes before HT.

Hold the blade in a pair of tongs, or long handle needle nose pliers (HF has them for cheap).
Heat to red, check on the magnet until it becomes non-magnetic. It is now 1400F. Don't worry about the tang ( handle area), it does not need to be as hot as the blade, but the blade should be as evenly heated as possible. Avoid overheating the edge.
Heat a little bit hotter to around 1500F, and quench in a gallon of canola oil ( grocery store).
Clean off and put in the kitchen oven at 400F for two hours.
Take out and cool off in running water , and then put back in the oven for two more hours.
The knife will be hardened and tempered, and is ready to finish with Wet-or-Dry sandpaper and a sharpening stone.
Tape up the edge and assemble the handle.
Sharpen the knife with the final edge.

 

[texas gun person]

Thanks for the input, bladsmth. I've spent a small amount of time going through your numerous threads and replies on starting out.