Advice for Second knife

R

Robert L Sr

Joined
Jul 9, 2015
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125
Well, I made a knife. It cuts and appears knife-like. I made it from an old Nicholson file. It was pretty small as I have limited heating ability at the moment.
However, I am think I would be better served making a knife from some 1084 fresh from the steel mill.
My question is what thickness would I start with for a knife with a 6" or so blade? This would be a daily carry camping type knife.
Is there a set rule about thickness vs. blade length or type of blade?
I do know that kitchen knives seem to be fairly thin steel but other than that, I am kind of lost.
Thanks for any advice.
 
Robert,

Can you tell us a bit more about the kinds of chores this knife will be asked to perform? Food prep, skinning, opening packages, whittling sticks for fire tinder, chopping, prying, digging? Offhand, I'm thinking 3/16" should be strong enough for most tasks but not too heavy.
 
A little food prep maybe some light whittling, skinning and probably opening packages. Nothing heavy like chopping or digging.
 
Robert L Sr said:
A little food prep maybe some light whittling, skinning and probably opening packages. Nothing heavy like chopping or digging.
Click to expand...

In that case I'd go with 1/8" stock. Much easier to work with as a new maker as there is less material to remove. I'd also suggest starting with a shorter blade as well, for the same reasons.
 
Most people make a knife that is far too thick. 1/8" is more than enough fort 90% of all knives. Measure a few good commercial knives and you will find many at close to 1/16".

Distal taper is important in both the look and feel of a knife.
 
Plus a 6 inch blade is pretty long for an edc IMO unless you are actually hunting or camping. Check out the blade length on an existing style you like.
 
6" is a bit long but I do live on farm and tend to use my knife all the time. So maybe I will go with a 4" knife to start and see how that feels. I ordered enough steel for at least 8 knives so I can play around a bit.

Stacey, do you distal taper the blade and handle? What is a good way of achieving a consistent distal taper with hand tools?

thanks
 
I order nearly all my steel at 1/8". Unless I decided to try out a few fillet knives, 1/8" is the way to go for me. And I agree with the rest a 6" blade is quite big for a 1st, or even 2nd knife. Also too big for an edc.. 3.5-4.5" blade would be good for that.
 
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