- Joined
- Aug 25, 2009
- Messages
- 2,834
Hello to all makers! First off I am an aspiring maker and have learned a lot from this place, and am sure will keep on learning as time goes by, It's not till you get your hands dirty that you realize how hard and fun can making a knife be. I got Goddard's $50 knife shop book and been trying some of the stuff, but yet have to set up an anvil to start forging.
Anyway, my first try at it was with a piece of broken steel I found at the port I work at. I built a single firebrick forge and with a propane torch treated the little sucker to red hot to quench, then temper at a small oven, but that knife was shaped based on the piece that I found.
A month ago I arrived at a friend's shop with a flat piece of steel found at the port again, but all rusted and full of pits. My friend told me there was some leftover steel from a benchtop they had been working on. There were 2 flat bars around 6' each and like 2" wide tho I didn't measure them. I had no clue if the steel was suitable for making knives, but I said wtf, might as well try out a project to see if I could do the whole stock removal process. So I got the grinder and started to cut away after drawing a shape on it until it kinda looked like a knife.
So in-between other projects I've been working on (mainly stacked leather handles, kydex and leather sheaths) I began to fine tune the shape and the grind. I tried sooo hard to do a saber grind by drawfiling, but in the end after the heat treat and polish I let the belt sander draw out a convex. I never realized before how tuff could setting up a grind line be. Definitely something I have to keep working on.
After I was satisfied with the shape I noticed that it wasn't fully flat. Took a hammer to it and left some dent marks that are still visible as I realized I would have to remove a lot of steel to get rid of them, but I like the "fake forged" lot it gave the knife. So on to the firebrick and torch, quench in trans fluid, then temper 3 times at 400 for an hour each cycle. Like I said, I have no clue what the steel is but I followed the kinda general guidelines for the treat. Then it was time to finish, first wire brush, then 3 different belt grits - that's where my drawfiled grinds went the way of the dodo...but I don't mind, after sandpaper up to 400 on a pad it came out pretty sharp, so I guess it's all that matters tho I know I have to keep on practicing grinds.
Then got some black G-10, drilled (luckily I rmembered to drill the blank before ht) brought to shpe, snded, and finished with kydex pants. After te first cut from the bar I realized I had drawn basically a BK2 with a blackjack-ish handle, so I hope that the Becker family doesn't get offended, I love my BK blades
Fire away folks, cause I'm gonna keep on doing this and am about to order some proper Aldo 1084 and could use all the help and criticism you can throw this way 
Anyway, my first try at it was with a piece of broken steel I found at the port I work at. I built a single firebrick forge and with a propane torch treated the little sucker to red hot to quench, then temper at a small oven, but that knife was shaped based on the piece that I found.
A month ago I arrived at a friend's shop with a flat piece of steel found at the port again, but all rusted and full of pits. My friend told me there was some leftover steel from a benchtop they had been working on. There were 2 flat bars around 6' each and like 2" wide tho I didn't measure them. I had no clue if the steel was suitable for making knives, but I said wtf, might as well try out a project to see if I could do the whole stock removal process. So I got the grinder and started to cut away after drawing a shape on it until it kinda looked like a knife.
So in-between other projects I've been working on (mainly stacked leather handles, kydex and leather sheaths) I began to fine tune the shape and the grind. I tried sooo hard to do a saber grind by drawfiling, but in the end after the heat treat and polish I let the belt sander draw out a convex. I never realized before how tuff could setting up a grind line be. Definitely something I have to keep working on.
After I was satisfied with the shape I noticed that it wasn't fully flat. Took a hammer to it and left some dent marks that are still visible as I realized I would have to remove a lot of steel to get rid of them, but I like the "fake forged" lot it gave the knife. So on to the firebrick and torch, quench in trans fluid, then temper 3 times at 400 for an hour each cycle. Like I said, I have no clue what the steel is but I followed the kinda general guidelines for the treat. Then it was time to finish, first wire brush, then 3 different belt grits - that's where my drawfiled grinds went the way of the dodo...but I don't mind, after sandpaper up to 400 on a pad it came out pretty sharp, so I guess it's all that matters tho I know I have to keep on practicing grinds.
Then got some black G-10, drilled (luckily I rmembered to drill the blank before ht) brought to shpe, snded, and finished with kydex pants. After te first cut from the bar I realized I had drawn basically a BK2 with a blackjack-ish handle, so I hope that the Becker family doesn't get offended, I love my BK blades
Fire away folks, cause I'm gonna keep on doing this and am about to order some proper Aldo 1084 and could use all the help and criticism you can throw this way
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victims include plenty of cardboard, tape and a couple of pineapples.