Calling all knife makers and knife enthusiasts

T

tzdub

Joined
Oct 12, 2011
Messages
14
Hey guys,
latley I've wanted to get into making my own knives. I'd like my first one to resemble a small necker or bush craft knife. I'm literally starting from square one and dont know much so i was wondering what kind of advice you all could give me. Such as, where could I easily pick up some flat steel bar stock for cheap? (I'd rather not start out by ordering $100's worth of supplies from some website). I'd even go for buying a blade blank if any of you know of where i can find one (i've looked at knifekits and some other sites... what do u all think of those?). I appreciate any help/advice you can give, and look forward to sharing my creations with everyon on BF in the near (hopefully) future.
 
unless your really patient id suggest buying some power tools, angle grinder belt sander dremel, or you try what I did and use a hack saw and bastard file, I have a 1095 3/16 thick 2" wide 10" long blank with a small cut and some filing but still usable id sell for $15 shipped and paypald, lemme know if your interested
 
Start with reading the stickys at the top of the page, lots of good info there. I see your in VA, where exactly? Some makers here may live a mile away.

Expect the Count to chime in with a bunch of links soon.


Welcome!
-Xander
 
Please read the stickies there is a lot of great info there, then ask questions. The Count will be along soon with his advice for newbies post but that is no substitute for taking the initiative and doing some reading on your own first

-Page
Welcome to BF, do a little reading first and it will be well worth it
 
Nothing wrong with knifekits.com or texasknife.com for starting supplies. Keep in mind, if you grind a blade from scratch you need to heat treat it, which either means sending it out and paying, or some method of doing it at home. There are easy ways to heat treat things like 1080 and 1084 but past that you need a bit more equipment. If you just want to get your feet wet a premade blade is a great way to get started.

Heck, you can get premade blades ranging from bare bones simple to super fancy and high end steels and even damascus.
 
Blade blanks are a great way to figure things out with minimal tools. There is a member here who sells blanks on his page as well, Gene Martin in Oregon. He has a bunch of styles and some supplies too.

Our moderator, Bladsmth is in Norfolk, VA and I know there is another talented maker near there that is on here, younger gentleman, can't remember his name right now. I don't know the geography of your state, but at least its close enough for a phone call or quick email responses.

We all started somewhere and had to put our hours of reading in, no way around it, unless you get lucky and have a maker nearby that will let you sweep his shop for lessons! I wish I had someone in my town, so I could sweep their shop.

Looking forward to what you get going with!

-Xander
 
I just passed through your area the other day. I try to avoid 66 traffic but have a few friends out that way. Send me an email, I can part with a piece of 1084 and maybe a blade too.
 
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