Building a new knife

B

BILLSS

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Mar 16, 2026
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I've always been an admirer of custom blades and so I was thinking I think I want to try and build my own blade. I've been looking at picking up some African Padauk burl and I've been looking at some demascus, but I've never really done anything like it before. Those who have any suggestions or tips concerning the process.
 
As a perpetual hobbyist I would advise starting with cheap materials, as it is not realistic to expect that your first knife will match what you envisioned - the skills need to be built, experience needs to be gained. Damascus steels and burl blanks might get wasted while you advance to where you need to be to make the knife you want. Your first knife does not (and maybe should not!) be the only one you make.
Whatever hardenable steel you have available will be fine (as long as you can get in approximately the right size), any hardwood is ok. Pick an existing template (I rehosted Dan Comeau's library of free templates here: https://respite-engineering.com/knifemaking/dcknives-blogspot-knife-patterns-reupload/) so that you have a reasonable target to aim at as a start. There are plenty of tutorials in forms of articles, videos, books - whichever you prefer. Pick one that fits your learning style.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith

Thread 'How to instructions for making a knife'



These are the instructions I use to get someone started with a profiled stainless steel knife blank. I send it to new makers when I send them a blade blank and handle kit.

I thought there might be those who could use the tutorial and pointers. Some details are specific to a particular knife project, but the info is universal. You can start with a bar of any type of steel and shape it to the knife profile you want. 1084 is a good starter carbon steel, and CPM-154 is a good starter stainless steel.



Files needed are a 10-12" mill bastard (or a magic-cut), and a 10" second cut...
 
Bliss, I forgot to give you a proper welcome - Welcome to Shop Talk.

You will find lots of helpful folks here. Fill out your profile so we know where you live and a bit about you. This helps with better answers and maybe an offer from a near-by maker to come to his shop and work on your first knife.

One starter step that may fit your desire is purchasing a pre-made damascus blade and putting the handle on it. This will give you a decent knife and start you on making knives if that is a path you want to follow. All the knife material providers carry pre-finished blades. The ones on Etsy and such are usually pretty good for the price.
 
Keep your design simple, keep your materials simple. A knife made by a master by simple materials will far surpass a knife made by a new guy with the most expensive materials one can get. Look into AEB-L/14c28n stainless steels, IF you can get someone to heat treat them ofcourse, same goes for your carbon steels (80Crv2 f.e), but if you do your own heattreat they will be harder to mess up, however i still recommend for you to seek profesional HT. Next thing i would mention is, SAFTEY, instead of spending money on the high end materials, get some saftey equipment, like a respirator etc. One breath from an exotic wood can make you sit down and get humbled. Where are you located?
 
I'd say maybe you can start with railroad spikes and carbon steels bars such as 1084. Working with these materials is easier and provides progressions and achievements. The heat treat is fairly easy for these simple carbon steels, which is less likely to mess up and provides a good learning experience. You may want to check your local makerspace for devices so you don't have to buy them.
 
What does your shop consist of? Are you set up with a grinder, drill press, ect?:
 
The OP hasn't posted anything since his first post. Let's wait for him to come back before giving too may questions or alternatives.
 
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