a newbies plan

strahd71

strahd71

Joined
Jan 26, 2006
Messages
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I wanted to get your guys’ thoughts on my plan. I want to get into making knives as a hobby. I have ground out a few blades before but of course they were rough since I am new to it all. So in an effort to develop my skills I kind of thought maybe I need to develop a plan instead of just going at it willy nilly as I have in the past.
I’m thinking of 1095 because its cheap in price but I see lots of knives being made with it. I am also thinking of sticking with these sizes of flat stock. 1/8 x 1” and 3/16 x 1- ¼. for now.
I realize I need to start out smart. Trying to make swords and bowies and using 1/4 inch steel right of the bat is pretty silly. So I have drawn up some patterns on graph paper and tried to keep the patterns relatively simple and nothing to big so I can get the most out of my flat stock.
Here is pretty much what I have to work with. Very small 1’’ x 30’’ belt grinder. A huge 10’’ bench grinder and an angle grinder. I am thinking of trying to use a band saw to cut out the blades.
As for heat treating. If I actually get something worth heat treating I would send it out to be done for now until I am much further down the road.
I realize this is a very simple plan and does not cover everything. But does the plan sound solid?
 
Also add a bunch of sandpaper, some files and rasps. You would be amazed at how fast you can move steel with a file and move handle material with a rasp. You also need a cheap drill press, one of the $60 Harbor Freight's will serve you well. I'm not sure if you'd want 3/16 x 1 1/4 or 1/8 x 1 1/4... one is a chopper one is a chef's type knife.

I would also recommend buying Wayne Goddard's $50 Knife Shop book.
 
If you pay for the postage, I'd be glad to heat treat for you, as I'm sure many on here would be. I think your plan is a good start and Wills suggestions are hard to beat. There are forge plans in the stickies, I think. You can build a forge for cheap and do your own heat treating. The biggest thing is read, read, read. Then ask questions.

Another suggestion is to write out all the steps for a knife that you're planning on making and post it here. I'd be willing to bet that you'd get lots of suggestions on how to make it go better and avoid some beginner errors right off the bat.
 
Good plan so far. An even better steel to start with might by 1084 if you were heat treating yourself, but 1095 is an excellent choice as well, just requires some quickness to quench.

+1 on the drill press. I find the pilot point drill bits work very well in most situations. Watch out on the bandsaw. Is it a wood cutting bandsaw? If so, it probably runs too quickly to cut metal, and the teeth on even a bimetal blade will burn up quickly. You need a metal cutting bandsaw to cut metal. They run at much slower speeds. You could cut big chunks off using the angle grinder and a cut off disk, and then finish shaping using the belt grinder, bench grinder, or files.

--nathan
 
Will ther sizes of steel stock that i was thinking is just going by admirals steels available stock. if 3/16 thick and 1- 1/4 wide is a chopper and 1/8 thick by 1'' is a chefs knife then what sizes do you suggest?
and yes your 100% right on the sandpaper files etc. i was thinking about them but didnt want to write a book.
and i will buiy the book i got a book or two already and have been watching vids on you tube etc.
 
Scott, thanks for the offer on heat treating i will keep it in mind. hopefully i will be able to turn out something soon that is worth heat treating.

as for the forge i am no pro but i actually built one before. burned my self lots and had a great time.

i've been doing lots of reading sometimes i learn something and sometimes well i just read. plunge lines are the big mystery to me. how to get them even and neat seems like the rest of the blade kind of follows from there.
 
Nathan,

thanks for the welcome and the tips on the band saw. i really dont know what its for i need to really look at it and see. its my father in laws. it seems pretty heavy duty but of course i need to double check.
 
A tip on plunge lines. Get yourself a chainsaw file and (optional) a file guide. Use the chainsaw file to actually cut in your plunge on both sides so that they match and terminate just short of the spine. If you have a file guide, it's much easier to match everything up (1-2-3 blocks can work as well). Then you grind or file the rest of your blade to match your plunges.

It takes lots of practice to figure out how to make a great plunge on a belt grinder. It's a mystery to a great many when starting out, and is still sometimes a mystery to me, though I'm improving a bit here and there.

--nathan
 
As a fellow newbie, I strongly 2nd the inexpensive drill press. It is invaluable in my opinion and not very expensive.
 
I guess you're right about sizes... ummmm chef's knives are a little easier to make and depending on the circles you travel easier to sell or give away. Chopper/camp knives sell well at times but are harder to make well.
 
Another tool that you would find useful and may already have is a dremel tool. These serve a number of functions in my shop and I would be lost without one.
 
hey guys thanks for all the tips i really appreciate the time and expertise you gave. i got one other small question. when working with 1095 do i need to do anything to it before i get started? i see words like anealing and normalizing and i want to make sure i am working smart and not just hard.

thanks again

jake
 
Good post. Most any bar stock you will buy will come in an annealed state. If for some reason you get a super hard piece, you can anneal it yourself by bringing it up past non-magnetic, and then burying it in vermiculite to very slowly cool down. This causes the steel to form pearlite which can be more easily worked. However, I've never had a piece that I had to anneal before starting to work. Also, mill scale (the dark grey, pitted stuff you'll find on many lengths of bar stock from the mill) can be very tough on bits and belts. Soak the piece in vinegar for several hours (even overnight) and it will remove a good chunk of it, or take your bar stock to a local machine shop and have them precision grind it or surface grind it to truly flatten it and remove the scale. Some steels can be ordered in precision ground lengths without the scale. O-1 is probably the most easily found in precision ground pieces. Flatground.com is a site where you can buy different steels in precision ground state, but they don't stock 1095. Like I said, you can remove that scale without too much work.

--nathan
 
my next order of steel is going to be 1095 1/8th thick and 1 1/2 wide. If I make a knife with a one inch wide blade, I still have a half an inch to have a protruding ricasso.

I made a two brick forge for heat treating and it only cost me about $30 in materials, but I can only HT a 9" overall knife.
 
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