favorite/ least favorite part of knife making? why?

C

clockworkfish

Joined
Dec 1, 2010
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ill start with my fave which would be heat treating because you need to be in the moment or else everything else will go to shit.

least fav being hand sanding the blade to a high grit (1000+) just takes forever to get rid of those itty bitty scratches that nobody in the general population will ever likely notice in real life...

so how about you? perhaps we can make things easier for each other and lessen how hard stuff is.
 
It is hand sanding for me on both! Love when everything is cleaning up nicely and you get that more hand on feel when sanding but when you have problems and can't get that finish you want it drives me nuts!
 
I've always hated profiling, mostly because of the 36 grit metal shavings that go EVERYWHERE! They always end up stuck in the bottom of your feet, no matter what kind of shoes you have on.
 
Hand sanding. I often have a box full of blades to sand, and delay as long as I can. I will go and grind a dozen blades , forge for hours, and shape handles all day long....but hand sanding is drudgery. That is why I use a Scotch Brite belt whenever i can. I would rather do togi than hand sand ( and togi is about the most time consuming, mind numbing repetitiveness that there is).
I know a person at my church who needs work terribly. When I finally get the new shop set up, I am tempted to train him to hand sand and let him do it all. I would consider it money well spent.
 
oh thats a great idea! just pay someone to do it! also i get super obessed over sharpening i do it way longer than i should cause it just feels good
 
I'm in the boat of hating the hand sanding as well, at least up to point of about 400 grit. I enjoy putting a nice hand rubbed satin finish on a blade. I just hate getting rid of deep scratches they take FOREVER. My favorite part is probably shaping and finishing handles.
 
Hand sanding: Scrub Scrub Scrub Patiently. Move to a higher grit. Scrub Scrub Scrub, Etc.

Any aspect where I think something might go wrong. Gluing up spacers and so forth on a stick tang, because everything has to fit very neatly and stay nice and neat and straight until the glue has set. But it really is satisfying when it's done.
 
Farming out work on blades is one thing. Hiring people, another. I sliced myself pretty good hand sanding a blade, and imagine it could always be worse. Work mans comp insurance is expensive. Paying for an accident out of pocket, even more so.
 
My limited experience so far.....favorite part is profiling. Least favorite is finishing around the handle. No matter how good it looks, I just never seem to get it where I look at it and say to myself "perfect".
 
I HATE drilling holes. I desperately need to get a compound table. (Not to derail the thread but any recommendations? I have a 300lb 1.5HP harbor freight press)

Favorite part for me is using a file on the scales and hand sanding a beautiful block of wood and seeing the figure come out as you move up grits.
 
I hate cutting parts at the band saw.

I enjoy most of the other aspects...I've even learned to enjoy hand sanding to a certain extent although I'm not all that good at it.

Phil
 
My favorite part varies. When working on damascus my favorite part is etching after the final sanding. I love seeing the pattern emerge, and am always fascinated by the changes that occur due to the shaping/grinding.

Least favorite part is trying to grind bevels with the belt grinder. Just can't get into it. I prefer working with files. I'm forcing myself to use the grinder more these days, but I still don't like it.

On monosteel knives, my favorite part is shaping the handle. Something very exciting about watching the patterns emerge from a piece of burl, or carving a nice shape in some ivory... I just love it.
 
Favorites? Maybe pattern welding or etching a hamon blade. When the steel shows it's details it's exciting. Or, that moment when you take the paper towel and tape off of the blade after buffing the handle, and see the whole knife more or less finished.

Least favorites? Rough grinding a forging, or dealing with work hardening while drilling.
 
I hate the primary bevel, because it is the most crucial and mistakes are hard to fix. I also love it - but I hold my breath some time. Go figure. On the same note, I hate putting the belt to post HT blades, any mistake then becomes a real PITA. I love profiling. I don't want to hand sand anything, but I find it relaxing, and it is an easy but slow way to fix issues. I don't like slow, however, but,
my granite slab has saved my butt on several occasions. I've never thrown away a knife, but there is one I didn't finish because it was a test on 304 and the stuff was so hard I was wearing out belts just to profile it. I still have it. Every other knife has been sharpened, although one has been dedicated to shop use only.
 
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I like it all!

Design is my favorite part and each step closer to reality is fun for me.
 
Least favorite part of knife making for me is being behind......
and hand sanding.

My favs are forging and heat treating.
 
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