First Knife/ First Post/Intro included/ Seeking mentorship

E

Eddiem0nster

Joined
Jun 21, 2020
Messages
25
Hello,

My name is Eddie, I've been doing my due diligence and reading the stickies first. Some of the information links on there are outdated fyi, other than that I'm happy to be here and I'm here to learn as much as I can and hoping to link up with some veteran knife makers in the SoCal area. I've been working at a welding shop, mainly polishing and fabricating, I'm not a welder. I recently got a job offer with LA County Fire so this week is my last week there. I made some blades kind of as a keepsake for working at the shop and we had some downtime in between projects. I pretty much made the blades with no prior research and just winged it and had a blast and here I am. Other than the grinder taking me for a ride it went pretty smooth. I used the stock method of cutting it out with a grinder, belt sander to get the shape closer, grinder with different grits for the finish. I'm looking to buy my own knife making setup tools and all. Feel free to chime in and I look forward to learning from you all. Cheers.


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Welcome to Shop Talk.

Find the local chapter of the (Southern?) California Knifemaker's Association/Guild. That would be a good start to finding a maker near your new location. LA has a lot of makers in and around it. Attend some knife shows and met makers there.

Look at a lot of knife photos in The Gallery and online. You will see that your first knives have a way to go (unless you are in prison where they would be considered high grade :) ) I am not knocking your knives, as most first knives are rather out of proportion and shape.

Read a lot of threads on knife shapes and grinding/finishing.

Take your time and learn as you go. It won't happen overnight.
 
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Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Take your time and learn as you go. It won't happen overnight.
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Stacy is certainly right about not happening overnight. I've been making knives for about 2 years now and I'm just now about to finish a knife that I don't hate, and it still has issues.

Welcome to the addiction. You'll never be able to stop thinking of knives, day or night. "How to grind them, what handle materials, what steel should I use, etc..." Keeps me up at night :D
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Welcome to Shop Talk.

Find the local chapter of the (Southern?) California Knifemaker's Association/Guild. That would be a good start to finding a maker near your new location. LA has a lot of makers in and around it. Attend some knife shows and met makers there.

Look at a lot of knife photos in The Gallery and online. You will see that your first knives have a way to go (unless you are in prison where they would be considered high grade :) ) I am not knocking your knives, as most first knives are rather out of proportion and shape.

Read a lot of threads on knife shapes and grinding/finishing.

Take your time and learn as you go. It won't happen overnight.
Click to expand...

Hey Stacy thanks for the welcome. Haha you’re most def right they are high quality shivs. The goal was to just make a set of throwing knives. I’ve been reading a lot of your responses to post and am thankful of how much you’ve contributed to the forum, good shit. Thanks for the support, since I’m leaving the shop and I don’t have many tools at the house I’m doing heavy research to see what I’m getting myself into. I’d like to get one of those 2x72 belt sanders but I’m most def going to do all the research to learn everything prior to investing. The advanced search forum has been my best friend lately. Cheers
 
N.W. Gean said:
Stacy is certainly right about not happening overnight. I've been making knives for about 2 years now and I'm just now about to finish a knife that I don't hate, and it still has issues.

Welcome to the addiction. You'll never be able to stop thinking of knives, day or night. "How to grind them, what handle materials, what steel should I use, etc..." Keeps me up at night :D
Click to expand...

I most def have “buck fever” or in this case knife fever. The amount of information is overwhelming at the moment but I’m not deterred. It’s more of a motivation to learn that way I can justify investing in a 2x72 grinder/drill press etc. I’ve been glued to this forum all weekend, my brain hurts haha. Thanks for the post man. Also if you guys have Instagram I’d love to follow your work and progress.
 
A.McPherson said:
I dunno, if you are making throwing knives, they look good!
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Thanks, I mean that was my goal. Like I said I did no prior research in making these kinda just used what we have at the shop to pump them out. I’m sure with the right arsenal and enough research I could get the hang of it. Most importantly it was just a fun ass process for me.
 
The great thing about throwing knives is you don't even have to heat treat them, just use scrap, cold rolled, hot rolled, mild steel, whatever.
If they get bent, bend em back, sharpen with a file if you miss and hit a brick wall.
Thick leather riveted to the handle makes comfort easy and durable!
 
A.McPherson said:
The great thing about throwing knives is you don't even have to heat treat them, just use scrap, cold rolled, hot rolled, mild steel, whatever.
If they get bent, bend em back, sharpen with a file if you miss and hit a brick wall.
Thick leather riveted to the handle makes comfort easy and durable!
Click to expand...

Haha, yeah I can't wait to build my tools up and just have a hay day. I have so many things I want to create. I wanted to make 6 but I didn't want to make them during the workday so it'll have to wait for now. I'm just researching my ass off, decided to make a jig to keep me busy and start with low investment, I'm really eyeing the Reeder grinder though. Do you build for hobby or biz? I'm looking at it like a business investment, something to spend time on over the years with some potential to produce a little side cash.
 
Just a hobby for me... I'm hoping that by the time I retire in 15 years I'll shave built enough knives that people might actually want to buy them... Lol!
Just got a Reeder a month back. Great machines!
 
A.McPherson said:
Just a hobby for me... I'm hoping that by the time I retire in 15 years I'll shave built enough knives that people might actually want to buy them... Lol!
Just got a Reeder a month back. Great machines!
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That’s kind of the same plan I have. Work on a hobby that doesn’t always take money but could bring something back. Fishing and hunting just really doesn’t bring anything back to the table haha. Awesome to here that about reeder, I mean it looks badass. What’s your day job ?
 
12345678910 said:
Start by looking at some good knives, then drawing some.

If you have the goal in mind, there is less winging it.
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That’s damn good advice. I used to be somewhat of a good artist way back when. Need to start tapping back into those skills again, I was thinking of getting a sketch book and some of those French curves and start practicing. Also see that guys use photoshop and other programs to create templates as well.
 
Eddiem0nster said:
That’s kind of the same plan I have. Work on a hobby that doesn’t always take money but could bring something back. Fishing and hunting just really doesn’t bring anything back to the table haha. Awesome to here that about reeder, I mean it looks badass. What’s your day job ?
Click to expand...
I work as a law enforcement officer for the National Park Service.
 
A.McPherson said:
I work as a law enforcement officer for the National Park Service.
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Right on man. The more research I do the more I’m like fuck I need a band saw I need a grinder I need 3 more jobs so I can start my little hobby haha. I wish I could find someone who invested and just for whatever reason is getting out and get some bargains.
 
If you're mechanically inclined and you live in a big metro area, you can find nearly anything on Craigslist... Plus scrapyard finds are great! I've heard of guys finding big old iron working machines in them. M

I live out in BFE Texas so I'm kinda screwed in that area.
 
I can relate, grew up in Smyrna, South Carolina, about as country as it gets. I've been using alerts on the marketplace on Facebook to look for stuff. Thankful for the amount of information available on youtube, I can only imagine how hard this was to figure out back in the day.
 
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