This post is a bit cathartic to me, in that it allows me to admit that I was wrong, and have done things wrong in knife making for my whole life.
I was 12 when I was first trying to learn to make knives. I figured out on my own that a belt sander worked pretty well to grind metal, though all I had was a 3x21 handheld which I would clamp upside down in a vice, lock on, and stand on a stool to reach. My very first knife came out great; I forged it with a campfire, "annealed" it in that same camp fire by buying the fire in bricks, ground it on my belt sander (i made fine grit belts with 3 inch wide duck tape and silicon carbide paper) I tempered it for about 1 minute until it turned gold on the edge, and blue on the spine the way the Ye Olde blacksmith book said to do it, and then I hammered on a handle of deer antler filled with epoxy.
Through some series of lucky chances, that was probably the best knife I made for the next 5 years (with my new knowledge of knife making, from help on this forum, and 2 Verhoeven books, I am willing to bet my luck that time was due to an annealing practice in that camp fire which likely resulted in at least a partially spheroid structure in a steel similar to 1095) After that knife, I tried different scrap steels (leaf springs, files, case hardened files, old chisels, railroad spikes) that I eyeball tested with the spark test on a grinder to forge knives. I bought a 6x48 grinder from sears, and bought and NC tool co forge. My results did not really get better, they just got easier. I never destruction tested any knives, I never put any to hard use, and I never tried to determine whether I was doing it right.
Then put the hobby down for a while.
___
I picked it up again after moving, and getting a degree in economics.
For other people reading this thread that may think they can relate to my experience, I have compiled the following list of things you shouldn't settle for:
-aluminum oxide belts for woodworking sanders. They cost more at sears for each one than the amazing ceramic abrasives that last 10 times as long at least. also, buy a 2x72 grinder. They are readily available, they are expensive, but I bought mine for $900 all said and done. My craftsman POS cost me $400 and the belts I used up made up the cost difference after about 15 - 20 knives (and these knives, as I've said before were not even getting fully hardened).
-"found" steel. - I went to the hospital my junior year of high school and got 7 stitches on my eyebrow from a piece of a leaf spring I was trying to forge. some alloys apparently retain their springiness into the dull-red range. More seriously though, it is less likely that you will get good results from found steel than if you buy some steel that you know will be workable with your setup. standard spring steels require sophisticated heat treats to be worth it. Even if you know what you are working with, you may not be able to do them with out a nicer gas forge, PID, and thermocouple at best, or a kiln/salt-bath at worst. just buy some 1077/1084/1085 , which Kevin Cashen recommended as the easiest "beginner" steel that will get good results. It is fairly cheap too, maybe cheaper than you can get scrap for if you don't live in an area with generous scrapyards, also it is pre-annealed and it comes in convenient sizes.
-safety gear- get a real respirator - I recommend 3m 2091 filters, which are designed for welders. I now have a full face mask, others use half-masks. Both work, but it is much nicer to not cough up black stuff at the end of the day.
-instructions that claim to work for "high-carbon steel" They are unlikely to work for all steels and you will not get good results. This forum, or the Heat Treater's guide will be better resources. If you don't know how to heat treat a steel, ask! I never did, and spent years doing it wrong and getting knives that were neither hard, tough, strait, or stainless, and I cracked a ton of them quenching un-annealed blades into water or brine.
Finally, I recommend heavily that you read a bit about metallurgy. This made the difference to me. I read a short text by John Verhoeven, available here http://www.feine-klingen.de/PDFs/verhoeven.pdf and then bought the heat treater's guide.
Once I decided to re-learn knife making, I read all the stickies here, read a couple books on metallurgy, bought steel, bought a new grinder, bought a kiln, and bought some quenching oil. All this stuff (except the steel) will last, and if I ever quit I expect I could sell it to other makers without too much difficulty. Its expensive in the short term, but its worth it to just do it right and not spend the time and money making knives that don't perform.
---
Here is my first new knife, and the first made with my new equipment. It is 1095, heat treated as per Kevin Cashen's thread http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/379832-How-the-hell-do-you-heat-treat-1095-! It is the first knife I've ever made that can chop through a 2x4 and still shave afterwards.
I was 12 when I was first trying to learn to make knives. I figured out on my own that a belt sander worked pretty well to grind metal, though all I had was a 3x21 handheld which I would clamp upside down in a vice, lock on, and stand on a stool to reach. My very first knife came out great; I forged it with a campfire, "annealed" it in that same camp fire by buying the fire in bricks, ground it on my belt sander (i made fine grit belts with 3 inch wide duck tape and silicon carbide paper) I tempered it for about 1 minute until it turned gold on the edge, and blue on the spine the way the Ye Olde blacksmith book said to do it, and then I hammered on a handle of deer antler filled with epoxy.
Through some series of lucky chances, that was probably the best knife I made for the next 5 years (with my new knowledge of knife making, from help on this forum, and 2 Verhoeven books, I am willing to bet my luck that time was due to an annealing practice in that camp fire which likely resulted in at least a partially spheroid structure in a steel similar to 1095) After that knife, I tried different scrap steels (leaf springs, files, case hardened files, old chisels, railroad spikes) that I eyeball tested with the spark test on a grinder to forge knives. I bought a 6x48 grinder from sears, and bought and NC tool co forge. My results did not really get better, they just got easier. I never destruction tested any knives, I never put any to hard use, and I never tried to determine whether I was doing it right.
Then put the hobby down for a while.
___
I picked it up again after moving, and getting a degree in economics.
For other people reading this thread that may think they can relate to my experience, I have compiled the following list of things you shouldn't settle for:
-aluminum oxide belts for woodworking sanders. They cost more at sears for each one than the amazing ceramic abrasives that last 10 times as long at least. also, buy a 2x72 grinder. They are readily available, they are expensive, but I bought mine for $900 all said and done. My craftsman POS cost me $400 and the belts I used up made up the cost difference after about 15 - 20 knives (and these knives, as I've said before were not even getting fully hardened).
-"found" steel. - I went to the hospital my junior year of high school and got 7 stitches on my eyebrow from a piece of a leaf spring I was trying to forge. some alloys apparently retain their springiness into the dull-red range. More seriously though, it is less likely that you will get good results from found steel than if you buy some steel that you know will be workable with your setup. standard spring steels require sophisticated heat treats to be worth it. Even if you know what you are working with, you may not be able to do them with out a nicer gas forge, PID, and thermocouple at best, or a kiln/salt-bath at worst. just buy some 1077/1084/1085 , which Kevin Cashen recommended as the easiest "beginner" steel that will get good results. It is fairly cheap too, maybe cheaper than you can get scrap for if you don't live in an area with generous scrapyards, also it is pre-annealed and it comes in convenient sizes.
-safety gear- get a real respirator - I recommend 3m 2091 filters, which are designed for welders. I now have a full face mask, others use half-masks. Both work, but it is much nicer to not cough up black stuff at the end of the day.
-instructions that claim to work for "high-carbon steel" They are unlikely to work for all steels and you will not get good results. This forum, or the Heat Treater's guide will be better resources. If you don't know how to heat treat a steel, ask! I never did, and spent years doing it wrong and getting knives that were neither hard, tough, strait, or stainless, and I cracked a ton of them quenching un-annealed blades into water or brine.
Finally, I recommend heavily that you read a bit about metallurgy. This made the difference to me. I read a short text by John Verhoeven, available here http://www.feine-klingen.de/PDFs/verhoeven.pdf and then bought the heat treater's guide.
Once I decided to re-learn knife making, I read all the stickies here, read a couple books on metallurgy, bought steel, bought a new grinder, bought a kiln, and bought some quenching oil. All this stuff (except the steel) will last, and if I ever quit I expect I could sell it to other makers without too much difficulty. Its expensive in the short term, but its worth it to just do it right and not spend the time and money making knives that don't perform.
---
Here is my first new knife, and the first made with my new equipment. It is 1095, heat treated as per Kevin Cashen's thread http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/379832-How-the-hell-do-you-heat-treat-1095-! It is the first knife I've ever made that can chop through a 2x4 and still shave afterwards.