favorite/ least favorite part of knife making? why?

My favorite part is showing a finished blade to someone who is genuinely interested and asks intelligent questions- that's when I feel like I'm truly sharing the joy and fascination of the craft.

Least? So far it's heat treating CPM154. Have yet to do a blade that doesn't warp. Side by side with 440c, the CPM warps and the 440 doesn't. Same everything. (Well, not quite the same temps, but same process)
Happened again today. I did about half a dozen blades from a small sheet- If I do any more I'll send em out.
Grump.
 
elementfe said:
My favorite part is showing a finished blade to someone who is genuinely interested and asks intelligent questions- that's when I feel like I'm truly sharing the joy and fascination of the craft.

Least? So far it's heat treating CPM154. Have yet to do a blade that doesn't warp. Side by side with 440c, the CPM warps and the 440 doesn't. Same everything. (Well, not quite the same temps, but same process)
Happened again today. I did about half a dozen blades from a small sheet- If I do any more I'll send em out.
Grump.
Click to expand...

Stan Buzek must know a secret. One of my earlier projects was CPM 154. He volunteered to heat treat it for me. It came out perfect, and tested at 59.5 RC.
 
My favorite steps in knifemaking all come near the end:
- that first coat of finish rubbed onto the handle,
- hand buffing a freshly waxed knife,
- making photos.

Things I don't like:
- fitting and shaping the guard. For me, this takes TIME to do right... and I'm still on the front end of the learning curve.
- sheath work. It's the worst.

I don't mind hand-sanding so much. With a disc to do the initial cleanup of the flats, hand-sanding doesn't have to take forever... and it can be therapeutic, the motion, watching the steel's characteristics reveal themselves. Cool.

Erin
 
redsquid2 said:
Stan Buzek must know a secret. One of my earlier projects was CPM 154. He volunteered to heat treat it for me. It came out perfect, and tested at 59.5 RC.
Click to expand...

Sorry, a little off topic, but...
Hm...Could a blade warp by being laid on top of a block of dry ice, in the few seconds before it's covered by another block of D.I.?
It didn't happen with the 440, but that's the only thing I can think of that wasn't symmetrical.
The blade was room temp when I did the subzero quench, but had just been cooled between aluminum plates then in still air.
 
My favorite thing to do is profiling the blades. I love taking a bar of steel and transforming it into a knife.
Its instant gratification. I can hold the profiled blade in my hand and get a real sense of how it will
Feel and look.
My least favorite part is the anxiety I get after I sell a piece. Before I ship out a blade I get these feelings that its not good enough or that a customer wont be satisfied. I lose sleep over it.
 
Grinding bevels on a fresh piece of steel and tweaking the edge geometry for maximum performance is probably my favorite process.

I don't like surface grinding/flattening steel or straightening a warped blade.
 
New to the knife making process.. so, least favorite.. primary bevel.. just cant' seem to get them even from side to side.
currently using hand files and a cheapo belt sander.
been sharpening for a while, enjoy that.
 
Well for me the things I really like to do is the making of damascus, forging, heat treat, especially hamons, the whole box and dice I geuss. Like most of us I find it tedious to do the rub rub bloody rub to the desired finish and making bloody sheaths! But its in the package so ya gotta do it.
Cheers Keith
 
elementfe said:
Sorry, a little off topic, but...
Hm...Could a blade warp by being laid on top of a block of dry ice, in the few seconds before it's covered by another block of D.I.?
It didn't happen with the 440, but that's the only thing I can think of that wasn't symmetrical.
The blade was room temp when I did the subzero quench, but had just been cooled between aluminum plates then in still air.
Click to expand...

Good question, but I'm not qualified to answer it myself. I have always sent things out for H.T. rather than doing it myself.
 
My overall favorite thing pertains to the old quote "necessity is the mother of invention" and my signature line, "root hog or die". I don't have much in the way of equipment. Turning out a nice product on little to no money, time, tools, and resources is my favorite thing really. Finding resources in unlikely places. Making things work. Making due. Being able to make an extra dollar or two here and there to buy groceries or keep the lights on. Knifemaking makes me think. Daydream. Envision. Invent.

I can't put in a several hundred dollar order to a knife supply place, so I have to think of ways to make household stuff work, and present those ideas in the most professional manner possible.

Root hog, or die..... Nothing is given to me. I don't have a shop. I don't have a heat treat oven. I don't have 8 bucks to buy a new 3m gator belt, so I wire brush it until it cuts like new again. I don't have 30 bucks for a new scotchbrite belt, so I soak my old one in my little igloo cooler with dishwashing liquid until it works like new again.

My favorite thing is my love for this craft, the lengths I will go to continue it.

Not only do I create knives. Knives have created me.
 
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I think for me the development, the design layout (3d CAD modeler by trade, so this is my comfort zone) profiling and all that is my favorite. The first time I feel the shape of a full tang in my hand and see how well it'll work as a tool. After that, totally opposite of everyone else, I love making things shiny. Hand sanding is cathartic for me. Coming from a rough scratched and thrashed piece of steel and slowing seeing the reflection of the room reveal is very satisfying. Coming from all my hand made experience being for motorcycles, it's a process I'm very accustomed to.

Least is probably grinding bevels and heat treat. From the computer world I'm a precision kind of person. I want to design things to a .0001 of an inch and replicate that. I am still very much a novice so when I do things by hand and eye without the help of jigs, they don't meet my standards. I want my grind lines to be crisp like the material was sheared off by space lasers, but I'm not there. No matter how hard I work at it they tend to soften up. Same for heat treat. I don't have a kiln or good thermometer, just a torch and some magnets and a toaster oven. I know a lot of great makers use things less than even that and do so with pin point accuracy, but for me, I'll always have nagging doubt.
 
I like doing the primary grind that changes a piece of metal into a blade, and the satisfaction that comes with putting the final edge on a knife that I just finished, bringing the finished knife to life. I dislike bandsawing the blank from steel, as it takes a long time and is hard on my back. I also dislike drilling the holes into the handle for blade balancing, in part because my drill press has a hard time when using large bits.
 
Like several others, my favorite parts are the profiling and grinding bevels. This is the part where it goes from looking nothing like a knife to looking like a knife.

Least favorite parts are HT (stressful) and making handles (smelly, messy and I'd rather be working with steel than wood or whatever).

- Chris
 
mdubs said:
I think for me the development, the design layout (3d CAD modeler by trade, so this is my comfort zone) profiling and all that is my favorite. The first time I feel the shape of a full tang in my hand and see how well it'll work as a tool. After that, totally opposite of everyone else, I love making things shiny. Hand sanding is cathartic for me. Coming from a rough scratched and thrashed piece of steel and slowing seeing the reflection of the room reveal is very satisfying. Coming from all my hand made experience being for motorcycles, it's a process I'm very accustomed to.

Least is probably grinding bevels and heat treat. From the computer world I'm a precision kind of person. I want to design things to a .0001 of an inch and replicate that. I am still very much a novice so when I do things by hand and eye without the help of jigs, they don't meet my standards. I want my grind lines to be crisp like the material was sheared off by space lasers, but I'm not there. No matter how hard I work at it they tend to soften up. Same for heat treat. I don't have a kiln or good thermometer, just a torch and some magnets and a toaster oven. I know a lot of great makers use things less than even that and do so with pin point accuracy, but for me, I'll always have nagging doubt.
Click to expand...

as far as the edges not being crisp try using a set of needle files they help a lot for getting nice plunges ( just found this out the other day)
 
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