Blanks or Billets

[scosom]

Howdy Y'all,

I'm just thinking about getting into knife making. I enjoy knives and I've got some free time at night so I'm looking for a hobby. Once I get better at what I'm doing I may well start to sell knives if they are of high enough quality. I live in extremely rural Alaska and we have more hunters and fishermen then you can shake a knife at... so that may be where I focus.

The question is, do I go with pre-fab knife blanks, which just doesn't seem like actually making a knife, it is just adding a handle to an already made knife. The other option of course is to get the equipment to start cutting knives out of billet steel, my real question with that is... do I have to heat treat the knives before they're complete or can I cut and beautify a self-cut knife to use and sell without actually heat treating the knives?

Thanks, I'm really looking forward getting into this new hobby.

 

[Fochops]

From my experience you will need to heat treat. If you use high carbon steels such as 1095, O1, A2 they can all be heat treated at home with a little practice and some very basic tools.

If you want to make a knife then in my opinion do just that, make a knife. Don't buy a blank and assemble a knife. You can start out by making them with even a hacksaw and files (though tedious, it can be done). Put your blood sweat and tears into it and you'll be amazed at how rewarding it can be.

Last note. It's not for one who hasn't got patience. You will mess up, you will ruin steel, you WILL cuss! But if you learn from your mistakes you'll start to cuss less and less.

Good luck my friend!

 

[daizee]

Hi Scosom, welcome to the forums.

A knife doesn't work without heat-treatment, but some steels are very easy to heat-treat for a small beginning shop.
If you'd prefer to make your own knives, you will be well served by starting with a simple carbon steel like 1084 from Aldo. You can work it using either forging or stock removal methods, and heat-treat it with a simple propane forge and warm canola oil. Read the stickies at the top of this sub-forum for lots of collected wisdom.

Good luck!