Brand new to knife making

B

Benaiahianmonk

Joined
Oct 30, 2018
Messages
13
Hello all and thank you for allowing me to be a member here.
My reasons for joining are simple. I want to learn knife making .
A bonding activity for my son and I. The simplest and the best looking. On another forum I frequent they say search for a mentor that is accomplished at the craft and ask questions but ask them to yourself first so they don’t sound stupid. lol! Advice or YouTube videos all welcome thank
You! May all your beers be free! Cheers
 
Welcome!

Sounds like it might be fun and that there might be some good books out there to get you started. Maybe even a site somewhere.
 
Well, first you get a stick of titanium. Then you heat up a part of it. Not too hot, mind you, but good n' glowing.

Then you beat the hell out of it with a hammer until it ain't hot anymore. Then heat up the next part of the bar and do it again.

Just keep beatin' the hell out of it until it looks sorta like a sword.

Then grind the edge sharp, and put a handle on it.

Viola! You now have a bigass titanium sword!
 
Alternatively head over to the dedicated knife making sub forum we have here, go to:

Forums
Knifemakers Discussion Forums
General Knifemakers Discussion
Shop Talk - Blade Smith Questions & Answers

There you will learn how to make a knife and they might be able to help with the grilled samwhiches too..

Edited to add: it's probably better to ask the stock removal guys for advice on samwiches as opposed to the guys who do forging.;)
 
Good advice there on the makers sub forum. Read the Stickies at the top of the page. Much knowledge there.
 
No lie - there's a lot of info there. I don't make knives and I still read that forum.

For samwhiches see the "food porn" thread. (although some of those look forged...)
 
Seriously though if you want to make a knife or two but don't want to commit to buying a grinder just yet then google the Gough filing jig.

You will see that it's possible to do it with hand tools alone. Time consuming but possible.

Another suggestion is consider sending out your first few attempts for professional heat treatment. Obviously the most important thing, and you'll see this mentioned a lot on the makers sub forum, is start with a known steel, i.e. A proper knife steel and not some mystery steel.
 
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Right! Not mystery steel, I did read that and I was just curious If their are any knife makers that do it the hard way completely. ( file jig etc)
Why send it away? For controlled temperatures?
 
You can do your fire pit heat treat and canola oil quench if you're using simple carbon steels but if you want to try a stainless and don't have the proper heat treat oven you will have to send it out.

I started with Bohler N690 which can't be done with simple methods so I just made the blanks and took it back to Bohler to heat treat for me.

And yes, I did mine all by hand. I guess that is why I've only made 3 in the year since I started!
 
I’d recommend 1084, it’s an easy steel to grind and you can heat treat it with a brake drum forge if you want to try it out.

You could also buy a cheap 1x30 belt sander from harbor freight or a similar company. I’ve had one for several years, it’s not great but it beats filing by hand. It’s a good way to see if you like making knives before making a big investment.
 
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