Basic Knife making question

S

ShadowBlade

Joined
Nov 24, 2006
Messages
25
I have a Sear's belt grinder, I would like to try to play around making afew knives. Where is a good place to purchase some carbon steel, and how can I heat treat the steel myself? Will a gas grill get steel hot enough to heat treat it? I live in the city, so I wont be able to build a large fire, and I want to learn to do it myself. Any advise would be helpfull.
 
I just started too, lots of people start on old files, but i find that a nice piece of cold rolled steel is more enjoyable since it is flat, annealed and you know what it is. I would suggest using O1, 5160,10__,L6, or other inexpensive oil hardening steels. as far as the heat treat goes, i would suggest taking the blade to a campsite, bring a magnet, a lidded metal container, some vise grips and cheap cooking oil. You can temper it in your grill. Good luck! Buying a book or taking one out at a library is a good idea too.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=452465

^a good link

and throw some steaks on the grill for good measure :)
 
Top of the page is a sticky: for the newbie maker starting out as well as the seasoned maker. That will take you to dozen of tutorials . don't get overwhelmed and think you need everything you read about. you can make good knives with nothing more than a few files and a plumbers torch.
 
so should I start with O1 steel? what does air hardening mean? like for A2 steel? where can I purchase a flat bar of O1? Thanks for the help so far.
 
You can buy some 1095 steel at www.jantzsupply.com. You can't get it hot enough with a gas grill but you can with a charcoal grill and a hair dryer. Use the hair dryer to force air to the charcoal to make it really hot. the blade must be covered completely with the charcoal while you do this. It is a little tricky and probably requires some trial and error. You can also use a MAPP torch if the blade is small enough. If you use O1 steel it will also work.
 
I did a quick little tutorial on starting out without many tools.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=461906

It's similar to (and inspired) Wayne Goddard's $50 knife shop, in method and tools.

I start with rolled 1095 bar, and file knives out. The steel is cheap, too. For $30 shipped, I got 6' (10 knives or so the way I use it, usually) I'd rather have a well known metal, that most here will be able to give advice on, than old junk steel.
 
Blade - being from NJ, consider McMaster for ea and every of yer purchases.
Their GIANT @ss warehouse is around exit 7 off tpke. You can pick up largish
stuff in person, to save. I am also in NJ and if you want, we can meet up @
my workshop and I will show you some basics (I am by Giants stadium).

When and if you begin high-volume prod, the absolute cheapest way to buy
plain carbon steel is to buy it in "sheets" from McMaster - look @ catalog page 3522, for 1095 in sheets (48 x 18) . It is really convenient, as you can cut it into a skinny fillet knife or a giant Chinese chopper
 
It is very important to know what your temperatures are in heat treating knives. And you also, need to know the temperatures of temping the steel afterwards. You can check out on my site below for steel you can purchase. I also have other links to other great suppliers for knife making. If you check out my site please check out my setup in my Knife Shop. You can see my setup of my heat treating process. Hope this information was educational and of help to you. And feel free to sign my quest book why you are there. God bless and have a glorious day. ---:thumbup:
 
rashid11 said:
Blade - being from NJ, consider McMaster for ea and every of yer purchases.
Their GIANT @ss warehouse is around exit 7 off tpke. You can pick up largish
stuff in person, to save. I am also in NJ and if you want, we can meet up @
my workshop and I will show you some basics (I am by Giants stadium).

When and if you begin high-volume prod, the absolute cheapest way to buy
plain carbon steel is to buy it in "sheets" from McMaster - look @ catalog page 3522, for 1095 in sheets (48 x 18) . It is really convenient, as you can cut it into a skinny fillet knife or a giant Chinese chopper
Click to expand...


ive been looking for a place like this and this sounds perfect is the 1095 steel they sell already anealed and softened?
 
Oxy-acetalyne torches will get you by for heat treatment, and with 01 steel get it up to red orange hot before quenching in some used motor oil. Then temper in the kitchen oven at 400-450 for a couple of hours.

In a real pinch if you are apartment bound, even a decent hand torch will reach that temp using Mapp gas will get you by.

Get yourself a vice, and for starters a good 3/8th hand power drill and a steady hand will get you by for drilling into the steel before you heat treat for fitting up handles.
 
I quite often just use two MAPP gas torches to HT smaller blades. The torches are set up so the flames converge (X) and I slowly move the blade back and forth to keep the heat even. It is not worth it to fire up the forge and heat up the whole shop for a 2.5" blade.
 
ShadowBlade said:
so should I start with O1 steel? what does air hardening mean? like for A2 steel? where can I purchase a flat bar of O1? Thanks for the help so far.
Click to expand...

As some other folks mentioned, I'd start with 10XX steel, 1095, 1080 or 1084. All are cheap and available from Kelly. They are cheaper than O1 and will all make a very fine knife.

Air harending means that the steel will harden when quenched in air, instead of needing to be oil quenched or water/brine quenched. If you don't want to do your own heat treating, start out with a simple/cheap air harening steel and send your blades out to be heat treated. If you're going to go with air hardening and send out the blades, you might as well use a stainless like 440C, ATS-34, CPM54 etc, unless you have a specific reason to use one of the air hardening tool steels like A2 or D2. If you're in the market for stainless steel, try James Poplin, let him know what you're planning to do and take his advice.

Sometimes 10XX and 440C get a bad rap since they aren't the flavor of the month, but these steels will generally make better cuttlery than you buy in a store.

Just my opinions.
 
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