cost of making knives

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dtownknifekid

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Dec 21, 2006
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i'm looking to start making knives and i have a few questions. How much does it cost to get started? how can i learn? also what tools are needed? any input would be much appreciated. If al else fails i might just go into custom sheaths, maybe customizing existing knives and a sharpening business.
 
go pick up the book called $50 knife shop by wayne goddard. its a good way to learn what you need and how little you need to even make a knife. you also might want to pick up a few other books you see that you think will help you out. basically you can make them with just files alone. hope this helps.
 
dtownknifekid said:
i'm looking to start making knives and i have a few questions. How much does it cost to get started? how can i learn? also what tools are needed? any input would be much appreciated. If al else fails i might just go into custom sheaths, maybe customizing existing knives and a sharpening business.
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Visit my shop and see some of the tools you will need. Have a great day and good luck in what ever you do. ----------------:thumbup:
 
findign a maker that will take you into the shop will help you lots and reading everything you can here is good too
 
You can make a "knife" with a piece of steel and a roadside curb.

If you're going to make some damascus and build knives in a sane way, it costs lots. You can make tools if you can weld and read. It's just not cheap or easy. That said, I think it's worthwhile.
 
You may want to try buying factory blades from one of the knifemakers supply, such as Jantz, or Texas Knifemakers Supply, and put the handles on a few of them, to see if you would like making knives. You can do this with very little equipment, a jig saw to cut your handle material, a drill to drill pin holes, and a 1x30 inch belt sander to shape and finish your handle, you could use files and sand paper for this. You can learn by reading all the books you can find, and the makers here on blade forums are great about helping out. Good luck and have fun making knives, you can get addicted to it!
 
I agree with J.D., start by picking out a finished blade you like and handling it to suit you. Read read read, but keep your project simple to start with.

Kind of like JCaswell said, you can spend as little or as much as you want on this hobby/addiction.
 
There's a few really good books, "Step by Step Knifemaking You can Do It!" by David Boye and "Custom Knifemaking- 10 Projects from a Master Craftsman" by Tim McCreight, as well as $50 Knifeshop. 10 Projects covers how to make knives with a drill and some files and sandpaper, Both Step by Step and 10n Projects give a very detailed step by step how to. I really learned alot from both books. Both are available on ebay and 10 Projects is usually at the local Borders, BAM and Barnes/Nobles around here. The first knife I made when I picked this obsession back up a few years ago was from an old circular saw blade at the local junk yard. You could use mild weldsteel flats from the local hadware store for that matter- just wouldn't be able to get it very hard.

Check the Sticky at the top of this forum, too- lots of tutorials and info!!
 
MSCantrell said:
Good lord, seven replies and I'm the first one to post The Absolute Cheapskate Way to Start Making Knives :confused: :confused: :confused:

:)
Mike
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Only because i just seen the topic.

Seriously you can make knives and spend next to nothing. Heck some times it in fact wont cost you a dime.

If you got a car you got your cooling fluid to temper with. If you got a oven you got your heat treat oven. Few files of vaiour corseness. Youll need to sacrafice at least one large file made by say nicolson(sp?) or miller. I bet theres a old worn out one in your garage.

To use a file as a knife blade you need to soften that hard sucker up. So see that first heating step in the link MSCantrell provided in the qouted post here? Well instead of quenchign it set it aside and take a break while you wait for it to cool down to the air tempreture. Now take a decent file and see if you can cut in to the one that just finished cooling. If so find your self a nice vise or c clamp and start profileing the blade to get the basic shape you want. I sugest a warncliff , spear point or drop point. The files own taper lends it self to a spear point or drop point pretty well and a warn cliff as well. Once you get the shape you like change how you have the blade clamped.
For the edge "grind" you want the blade flat with the edge ither just off the work surface or right at the edge of it.

File on the blade from edge to spine removeing very little meat up towards the spine. work the edge grind till you file to half the files thickness Well almost you want say 1/32 to 1/16 inch flat showing when both sides are filed explain why in a few minutes). Now flip it over and repeat. All the file marks from the file you started out with should be gone by now.
Look at both sides and make sure that both grinds go back the same distance towards your future tang. If not true it up and finish off the file work on the spine and flats of the blade.

Once all your file working is done redo your fire pit getting it nice and hot again. Heat the blade in the fire till cherry red and non magnetic and hold at this tempreture for a minute or 2 after. Now quench in that old motor oild from the oil change you did earlyer. Thee reason you did not take your grind t a edge is on quenching it would warp or simply chip off.
<ake sure to clean off the oil thats on the blade less you want the firedepartment called by your neighbors who mistake the billowign smoke as a house fire hehe
After quenching go fire up your house hold oven to i beleive its 450 degrees. Once preheated place your blade inside for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes remove fromt he oven and allow to cool to room tepreture. Youd blade will be this pretty bronze brown color. Now put back in the oven for another 45 minutes.

Time for some more filing. This time close up the edge grind so there is no visable flat area along the edge.

After that its just a matter of polishing puttng a handle on it and sharpening.

I just finished up a new knife like this my self came out nice except one little problem on the way to the stove i dropped the blade on to the hard cement patio at the foot of the stair. The blade is now in tiny little bitty peices. It was a nice drop point bowie made frma 2 inch wide 1/8 inch thick niller and sons file. over all length just shy of 17 inches. It sucked but such is life. If i could have gotten it tempered it have posted pics of it. But as it is they chunks are like 1.4 to 1 inch and no hope of even putting it togather for a pic.

I did get to see the quality of the steel though. No bubbles in the file and it was uniform silver in color. None of the sandy texture you see in cheap files when you snap them. This was a miller bors 0/0 bastard cut file. So if you find a flemarket special like that for a buck snag it it can make a good knife blade just treat it like its a million dolor ming vase when your heading to the oven :)
 
Please fill out your profile, especially where you live. You'd be surprised at how many of us would welcome you to our shops. I live in Vancouver, WA and anyone that would like to visit my shop and learn about my techniques is welcome to come by.

Scott (Ickie) Ickes
 
Welcome to the forums. Your profile helps a lot.
The books are the easy way to start. So the first cost is about $20-50 in books (less if you go on sites like half.com)
From there it depends. You can start with $50-100 and make an OK knife. It will be a lot of work, and won't look like some you see posted here. But it will be a good knife. The level you settle into depends on the depth of your pockets and your level of knife making that you want to go to. Many have put as much in their shop as they have in their house.Others never spent more than a couple hundred dollars.

A good way to get started ,and find out how you like knife making is to build a kit knife. It comes with all the material. A pre made blade and the other things you need. It usually has fair instructions and advise. The tools needed are few,mostly a bit of hand filing and sanding. Darren Ellis, http://forgegallery.elliscustomknifeworks.com/ ,
Has an excellent line of kits. The knife suppliers (get several catalogs) also cary kits and often a book on building kits.
More info on knife making, equipment, suppliers, etc. is available at www.knifehow.com .

Stacy
 
thanks for the recomendations, i'm going to pick up the books. About how much would a forge and the tools needed to work with one cost me, or could i do the work with a cheaper torch.
 
I don't know which is a worse scenario:

The guy that gets discouraged and quits because he just can't seem to make a professional-quality custom knife cost effectively using a file, hacksaw and some broken down garage-sale sander that was a piece of junk when it was new .... :rolleyes:
or the guy just starting out that spends a boat-load of money on a cool variable-speed grinder, ovens, anvils, press, hammer... thousands upon thousands of dollars and then decides it's not for him after making a dozen knives or so. :rolleyes:

At least in the latter case, he had a better chance at it, plus it makes for some good buys on quality tools for the rest of us.:thumbup: ;)
 
sure does. it helps out us new guys get what we want for cheap. and i know im gong to stick with this hobby for a long time. i hope dtownknifekid does too.
 
I just ordered $50 knife shop are there any other books you could recomend, including one on heat treating and another on forging?
 
I had no idea of what kind of tools I needed when I first thought about knifemaking 25 years ago. A knifemaker - Tim showed me around his shop. He had all the right equipment, Burr King grinder, paragon heat treating oven, drill presses and the like.

I had to then determine how serious I was about the hobby/business. I tried the cheap tool method first, and quickly learned about the limitations of this. However, during the first few knives it quickly occurred to me that knifemaking was going to be my serious hobby.

I went out and bought a Wilton square wheel grinder, the paragon oven, band saws hand tools etc. It provided me with a basic set up. After a year I learned the limitations of the single speed grinder motor. I spent another good deal of cash to upgrade to a DC controlled motor for the grinder. Knifemaking became even more pleasant after this upgrade.

Gradually I bought more stuff, better aircleaning equipment etc. It is a progression. I started small with a minimum of tools to produce a decent product (knives), found that I liked it and became addicted.

One thing that is nice about knifemaking. I will leave this world one day when I die, but like the kids, the knives will live long after I am gone one day.
 
JCaswell said:
I don't know which is a worse scenario:

The guy that gets discouraged and quits because he just can't seem to make a professional-quality custom knife cost effectively using a file, hacksaw and some broken down garage-sale sander that was a piece of junk when it was new .... :rolleyes:
or the guy just starting out that spends a boat-load of money on a cool variable-speed grinder, ovens, anvils, press, hammer... thousands upon thousands of dollars and then decides it's not for him after making a dozen knives or so. :rolleyes:

At least in the latter case, he had a better chance at it, plus it makes for some good buys on quality tools for the rest of us.:thumbup: ;)
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I don't think it ever stops you, if you've got it in you. It's either meant to be, or it isn't.

I suck at this hobby, and I couldn't be driven from it at gunpoint, or under any threat!
 
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