First Knife Build

Nice job and welcome to the forum!!!! Lotsa great folks hereabouts as you can see........ Keep up the good work👍
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
I'm going to be your Uncle Stacy here.
Any steel that you don't know what type it is or how to HT it is not knife steel.

Disclaimer - my first knife was made from a piece of metal I found in Grandpa's garage. It was not knife steel, but I was proud as heck over that KSO.


If you want to make knives, not knife shaped objects (KSO's) ... use a known knife steel.
For new makers simple steels are easiest. 1084, 5160, and similar steels are readily available, cheap, and easy to HT.

I applaud you for joining Bladeforums Shop talk and filling out your profile with the info that helps us help you. Send me an email and I'll send you a box of good steel, some helpful info and books, some nice handle material, and other starter odds and ends. sapelt@cox.net

In the meantime, read through the info in the Stickys on making a knife. "How to Instructions for Making a Knife" is a good general guide for the work part.
There are also tutorials for making a knife from a file.

Washington has a lot of great knifemakers, and IIRC a good knife assn. Getting to know some of them would also be a good idea.

Terrible photos of my first knife in 1961. I'll find a better image later.


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I never thought that at 31 years old, I would acquire a new favorite uncle 😃 thank you so much, I can't believe how incredibly welcoming everyone here has been in the short time since I started posting. I definitely intend to make real knives, not just knife shaped objects. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the help and advice! I'll try and reach out to some of the more local knife makers and hopefully gain some sharp new friends!
 
Hey Bo, where do you live in WA? There are several really fantastic knife makers out there...
Salem Straub of Promethean Knives lives out on the east side, as does Bruce Bump, Nick Wheeler lives South of Olympia maybe Castle Rock, and a big kitchen knife guy who's name I can't remember right now lives over by Shelton...
 
A.McPherson said:
Hey Bo, where do you live in WA? There are several really fantastic knife makers out there...
Salem Straub of Promethean Knives lives out on the east side, as does Bruce Bump, Nick Wheeler lives South of Olympia maybe Castle Rock, and a big kitchen knife guy who's name I can't remember right now lives over by Shelton...
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I actually live about 5 minutes from castle rock!
 
A.McPherson said:
Hey Bo, where do you live in WA? There are several really fantastic knife makers out there...
Salem Straub of Promethean Knives lives out on the east side, as does Bruce Bump, Nick Wheeler lives South of Olympia maybe Castle Rock, and a big kitchen knife guy who's name I can't remember right now lives over by Shelton...
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Kramer is the biggest name in kitchen knives, also Maumasi, Lisch, and Bidinger come to mind.

Hoss
 
MyNameIsBo said:
I actually live about 5 minutes from castle rock!
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I don't have contact info for Nick, but you in might be able to find him on his YouTube channel. He still posts things there occasionally... I believe he's on Instagram too, but I don't do IG, so I can't say for sure.
 
A.McPherson said:
I don't have contact info for Nick, but you in might be able to find him on his YouTube channel. He still posts things there occasionally... I believe he's on Instagram too, but I don't do IG, so I can't say for sure.
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I'll definitely see what I can do to reach out, thank you!!
 
MyNameIsBo said:
Update on my first knife build. l've thinned the blade down quite a bit, but trying to
grind in bevels free-hand on a harbor freight 1x30 belt sander has been...challenging to say the least, so l've decided to convex the entire blade. For some reason, I find that easier to do with my equipment. l've also added a thumb choil(?) lt's pretty sharp now, though! Any advice?

https://imgur.com/a/AuB2J6J
Click to expand...

MyNameIsBo said:
Update on my first knife build. l've thinned the blade down quite a bit, but trying to
grind in bevels free-hand on a harbor freight 1x30 belt sander has been...challenging to say the least, so l've decided to convex the entire blade. For some reason, I find that easier to do with my equipment. l've also added a thumb choil(?) lt's pretty sharp now, though! Any advice?

https://imgur.com/a/AuB2J6J
Click to expand...
It looks way better than my first knife. I bet within a year you'll be making some real beauties, not that your first one is bad.
 
HPD said:
It looks way better than my first knife. I bet within a year you'll be making some real beauties, not that your first one is bad.
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Thank you so much! I sure hope so. My goal is to first make functional ones, and then move on to making beauties when I gain those skills 😁
 
MyNameIsBo said:
Update on my first knife build. l've thinned the blade down quite a bit, but trying to
grind in bevels free-hand on a harbor freight 1x30 belt sander has been...challenging to say the least, so l've decided to convex the entire blade. For some reason, I find that easier to do with my equipment. l've also added a thumb choil(?) lt's pretty sharp now, though! Any advice?

https://imgur.com/a/AuB2J6J
Click to expand...
have you tried draw filing? I know I can move more metal with a quality 10" bastard file than I can a 1x30.
 
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