am a jeweller who wants to make knives...where do I start?

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GoldCutter

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I've been a jeweller for fifteen years and I want to start making knives ....Quite frankly I never heard of any knife making courses in my erea I'm in Melbourne Australia just incase anyone is near me....Yeah so anyway I guess the problem is not so much that I will have trouble assembling knives as much as I dont really have expertise in working in steel.....

I have no idea how an otf works or even a simple leaf spring for that matter....custom OTF's are really what I want to get into....I bought a couple of books but they didnt tell me jack ****.....does anyone know any good ways I might be able to obtain information on how to master OTF making?...

But my real question is "where do I start"?.....what courses should I get into?
as far as being a good bladesmith that is.....I guess if I wanted to find out thru my industy I prolly wouldnt have any trouble but ..."what the hey"....the computer is in front of me and I'm starting up a thread...besides I would love to hear from some of you folks your opinions on what steps to take to become a good knife maker.....

it would also be interesting to hear how you got into it :)
 
First step would be to read the long post at the top of this page.

As far as OTF knives. I would buy one and destroy it to see what makes it tick. Welcome to shoptalk. I'm not sure if basic members can use the search function anymore , but if so definately use it.

Other than that , just skip the middle man and go throw all your extra cash out the window :0 knifemaking is a disease that mysteriously turns your money into steel dust.
 
Here's a few links to help you get started.

http://www.akc.iinet.net.au/Issue9.html

http://www.akc.iinet.net.au/knives_australia.html

http://www.akc.iinet.net.au/index.html

http://www.knivesaustralia.com.au/akc-homepage.html

Edited to add; Get a copy of the current knives annual by Krause publications. In the back is listed every knifemaker that wants to be found. They are broken down alphabetically, and by state, and country, including, of course, Australia.

There is an Australian knifemakers association, or guild also. You can get contact info from one of the links above, no doubt, and they could supply you with names of makers in your area.:eek: :D
 
i think that the first objective is to have a clear thought of what "niche" u are going to work in. Artwork, multitools, purebred fighters, fancy folders, allrounders etc .There are very fancy extremely valuable delicate knives, and there are knives that could survive a few nuclear holocausts and still wind u in a museum in 50000 AD.
Because of your background i think it would be wise to start with a good base knife from a reputable knife maker. If u start with a good product and u have the skill u will get fantastic results. As a Spydercofan myself, i think these knives are great as a basis for artwork, engraving etc. They come in SS handles so this is a great platform to work on.
Of course Spyderco is only an example as a top notch production company. Then fiddle with different brands and types of knives, take them apart, learn the basic mechanical skills. After getting to know the basis of knifedesign u can step up and make semi-customs by replacing factory parts with your own designs with tighter tolerances, better or fancier materials etc.Then u could start with new designs etc. But the best of all is going to Knife shows, trade conventions, get a membership with the knifemaker guild, and learn from the mistakes other people already made for u.
But i hope u realise that it is going to be a difficult route. The real knife community where people buy and collect knives for there artistic or collectors value is a rather small community wich floats on perfect skills, trust and HARD work. If u look at the compagnies that float above the average knives u can purchase in malls, u will realise that only the best survive. Take a look at the company's that are represented in these forums. They are not enormous moguls that spit out massive bulks of knives but small to medium scale firms that thrive on good design, good materials, and most of all good workmanship. That coupled with skill and good customer practice will earn u a place in the top of the knive designers.

I wish u all the best

Tom
 
Welcome to the forum.

I'll try to start you off on the right foot.

Send me $2000.00 in jewels and I'll let in on all the secrets :D

Just joking....read this forum all the time. Do searches and just ask alot of questions. First you need to decide if stock removal (buying preground flat barstock and cutting / grinding the blades) or forged (hammering hot steel to shape) knives are how you want to go about making knives.

Then get some tracing paper so you can sketch over designs more easily if you want to design your knives.

Concentrate on each step not on the whole thing. It may be less frustrating that way.

Do you have a grinder of some sort and what tools will you be using?
There are so many things to learn just focus on what you can take in and dont try to learn it all at once. :D
 
gee ok that was more info than I expected in such a short time....yeah well I'm a jewellery designer and knife lover ....as far as embellishment and stuff I'm a master at making things look pretty....the first thing I want to have a go at is giving the old classic Italian stiletto a little tweaking...I think it would look great with a little abalone and just 4% wider..... not to keen on pulling apart my new M.O.D triton but maybe when I got the spare cash I'll look into buying some for parts and research....and yes I allready do realise that knife making is just for the love of it....I wouldnt really expect to make a living out of it ........infact thats why I'm sick of jewellery ...sick of making beautiful things and not being able to enjoy it because of the whole pressure issue.....knives are cool and really I just wanna make em....I've allready got tens of thousands worth of tools.....so I'm keen.

oh and thanx for the info :)
 
Mr. George, who'd you get to draw that logo with such an undersized nose?
 
I have been a jeweler/goldsmith for 30 years.I make knives because I love to.I make jewelery to afford to make knives.These knife guys have NO IDEA how much money we jewelers have in equipment.
Some ideas - Read everything you can get your hands on.Read this forum and the on line workshops.Buy some of the great videos from the American Bladesmiths Society,and other knife videos.Make miniature knives (The big knife guys think they are hard to do.)Start with a definite idea of the style that most interests you,and study everything you can on it.The web is full of information,some of it is bogus,but most is good.ASK QUESTIONS,there is no stupid questuion,only stupid people who don't ask questions.This forum is a good place to get info.Good luck.
 
bladsmth said:
These knife guys have NO IDEA how much money we jewelers have in equipment.
.
Click to expand...
I do know the mark markup jewelers make :D
the short of it would be
you'd be surprised what some of us knife guys do know..

do you have a milling machine for around $4,500.00 (used) :D or surface grinder for $1,000.00 (used) or Knife grinder for $1,500.00

a jeweler can get a few more bucks into his shop by going knife maker :D all the machinist tools come in handy too. :eek: that statement goes both ways.. :D
oh and presses, forges, ovens and rr and rr and :D
 
Dan Gray said:
I do know the mark markup jewelers make :D
the short of it would be
you'd be surprised what some of us knife guys do know..

do you have a milling machine for around $4,500.00 (used) :D or surface grinder for $1,000.00 (used) or Knife grinder for $1,500.00

a jeweler can get a few more bucks into his shop by going knife maker :D all the machinist tools come in handy too. :eek: that statement goes both ways.. :D
oh and presses, forges, ovens and rr and rr and :D
Click to expand...

Oh by the way I'm Dan and welcome aboard mr/miss :confused: GoldCutter
this is one I started for and by these guys here.. :D
http://www.knivesby.com/knifemaking.html


am a jeweller who wants to make knives...where do I start?

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I've been a jeweller for fifteen years and I want to start making knives ....Quite frankly I never heard of any knife making courses in my erea I'm in Melbourne Australia jus........t

IG I don't think he's close to you :footinmou
 
Welcome! I don't there there's a better way to come to knifemaking that from jewelry making. Being a machinist goes a lot way too. :D

I am in serious envy of all the tools jewelers accumulate. Knifemakers do that too but our stuff is pretty heavy duty. I think you'll find that you're going to add to your shop some more... :)

One thing I'd suggest to learn about OTFs is to buy a couple of the cheap knockoffs. You can find them easily at Blade Auction, there are usually plenty available there on the order of $30 or so; not so hard to destroy one of them as a $600 knife. :eek:

They work the same way as the good knives, just don't have the tolerances built in. You'd have to do your own refining, but my guess is that won't be an issue.

You've found a good place. The members of this community are unsurpassed in their skills and willingness to share. If it weren't for Shop Talk I'd be much more a hack than I am; and these folks give me hope for the future. Keep coming back, and share your stuff with us. We love seeing other maker's work!

Not to mention, I could use some pointers on working silver. :D
 
Welcome to Shop Talk. Hope to see much more of you here. This is where I learned to make knives and the equipment I would need to aquire. With your experience no books will you need but stock up on steel vendor data sheets that you can usually aquire from the internet at no cost.

RL
 
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