First Knife out of steel.

Triought

Triought

Joined
Jul 18, 2014
Messages
129
I've made knives out of files and made one from a blank I bought from Jantz. I bought some steel (5160 1/4 thick) and here is my first knife made from steel. Now take in mind I am probably the most unhandyman type of person you can find! When I told my wife I was going to try my hand at this she laughed and begged that I wouldn't kill myself. I am using mainly hand tools and cheap sanders from Harbor Freight (4X36 and 1X30) to start out. It's far from perfect but I hoping to really grow in this process!

Started with trying to use a jig saw with metal blades and it laughed at the steel. Used a cutoff wheel with an angle grinder and it was going slow and eating wheels so I just to using a hacksaw. For steel that is already annealed I was a bit worried on how hard this would be to work.

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(I know I should use a soapmarker and make a design but I wanted just a very basic knife design this first time.)

Started the rough grind, decided I didn't like it being pointy end and decided to round it off.

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Had to even out the bevel edges and then I hit it on the 1 X 30 grinder with a 100 grit 3m gator belt and it's currently sitting at::

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I really like the smoothness of it, the beveled edge is there but from a lot of sanding I have been able to really smooth the transition. There is still a lot of sanding to do and some deep scratches on one side of the blade. Just wanted to start a thread for my first actual knife from scratch! I have a LONG way to go, I have some cobolt bits ordered to drill holes in the handles, my old drill bits wouldn't drill through the steel. I figure another couple hours of sanding I'll be able to heat treat the blade, I will most likely send it off to get treated, I have another knife I'm working on as well that I just started. I figured I'd get several blades done and send them in all at once. Then I'll get to work on the handle. I know I most likely have made 100's of mistakes, but I will say from my first knife til now the difference is amazing. I ruined a couple files when I first started and really had to learn how to use tools. It's been a really good experience and for a guy who is handy in the least, it's hopefully helping me buck that trend!

I see all the threads in here about people making there first knives and second knives and they look perfect. Makes me really question my attempt to make knives at times. I really enjoy working in the shop and luckily don't plan on ever selling any of my knives.
 
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It's cool to make things with your hands and develop those skills. I am a white collar puke (light blue collar these days, of course) so I like going in the shop and working on my manual skills as well. Because of my novice status I also get to practice problem solving to fix the things I goof up!
 
Maelstrom78 said:
It's cool to make things with your hands and develop those skills. I am a white collar puke (light blue collar these days, of course) so I like going in the shop and working on my manual skills as well. Because of my novice status I also get to practice problem solving to fix the things I goof up!
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Thanks! Yes, I am a computer nerd and football guy. I made a table once that my wife STILL makes fun of me for. I blamed it on not having all the tools! I did think making knives would be easy. I was WRONG!
 
I bet before you finish you will be wishing you would have ordered 5/32 instead of 1/4, it doesn't seem so thick when you are ordering, but once you start sanding it starts to feel like its a foot thick ;0)

And those guys that show off great first knives are either lying or had a considerable amount of shop experience to begin with LOL
 
John Katt said:
I bet before you finish you will be wishing you would have ordered 5/32 instead of 1/4, it doesn't seem so thick when you are ordering, but once you start sanding it starts to feel like its a foot thick ;0)

And those guys that show off great first knives are either lying or had a considerable amount of shop experience to begin with LOL
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Oh I know!!! I thought 1/4 didn't seem thick at all. It's one THICK piece of steel. I saw it on jantz for up to 1/2" thick as well I thought. My poor little harbor freight sander wouldn't handle that. I was debating on my next steel size to order.

As for the guys showing off great first knives, that makes me feel a bit better. I was really questioning if I should even bother since mine looks like crap compared to theirs!
 
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Triought said:
As for the guys showing off great first knives, that makes me feel a bit better. I was really questioning if I should even bother since mine looks like crap compared to theirs!
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Here is one way to look at it, That piece of steel you have is so thick, That I know for a fact there is a good looking knife inside it, you just haven't ground off enough steel yet ;0)

Or..... grind off all the steel that doesn't look like a knife
 
A cut off wheel on a grinder should have zipped right through that steel no problem. Try using a higher quality wheel, you would be amazed how crappy the cheap ones can be! Also the harbor freight angle grinders are garbage.
 
BallewBlade said:
A cut off wheel on a grinder should have zipped right through that steel no problem. Try using a higher quality wheel, you would be amazed how crappy the cheap ones can be! Also the harbor freight angle grinders are garbage.
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That is most likely it. It was a harbor freight Angle Grinder. It was horrible. I have a ryobi one from home depot now ordered after a friend told me the same thing. I got a 4.5" Ryobi one ordered that will hopefully do a better job than the 3" one from Harbor Freight.
 
The other obvious thing is that you are trying to make a knife out of a bar of steel. What it is looking like is a sharpened bar of steel. What you want to do is make the bar of steel into a knife, not the other way around. Add some curve to the spine and handle. Make the blade tip drop a tiny bit. Use an even curve to have the edge rise to the tip....etc.

The best way to do this is to draw the knife plan on paper with no bar shaped guides. Then shape the steel to match the drawing. Almost every new maker draws the knife on the bar of steel and gets a knife that still looks a lot like a bar of steel :)

All this will happen slowly as you develop skills, but start thinking about it now. Look at some knife photos here and see what looks good, them draw a knife to that shape and go from there.


Last suggestion - Get 1/8" steel next time.
 
bladsmth said:
The other obvious thing is that you are trying to make a knife out of a bar of steel. What it is looking like is a sharpened bar of steel. What you want to do is make the bar of steel into a knife, not the other way around. Add some curve to the spine and handle. Make the blade tip drop a tiny bit. Use an even curve to have the edge rise to the tip....etc.

The best way to do this is to draw the knife plan on paper with no bar shaped guides. Then shape the steel to match the drawing. Almost every new maker draws the knife on the bar of steel and gets a knife that still looks a lot like a bar of steel :)

All this will happen slowly as you develop skills, but start thinking about it now. Look at some knife photos here and see what looks good, them draw a knife to that shape and go from there.


Last suggestion - Get 1/8" steel next time.
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Thanks for the suggestions. I ordered some 1/8" steel after all the suggestions on here. I have some soapstone I'll use to make a design. I have some ideas I just don't know if I'm good enough to pull them off. Thanks again!
 
Start with a stack of plain unlined paper and a few pencils. A French curve or curve drawing tool is nice, but your eye is what will determine how something looks. Start with the spine line. It should be a smooth and slight arc from butt to tip. Then add the bottom of the blade. The transition form tip to main edge needs to flow and not be abrupt. From there draw in the basic lines of the handle. I advise against drawing any details or features ( choil, pins, bolsters, marks, holes, etc.) until the whole knife shape is pleasing and complete.

I will pass on a great comment on shape and design from an artist I knew. She said that when a new student started to draw a nude torso, they almost always drew the nipples as one of the first things. Then they would try and shape the breasts around them. The end result was always the worst looking breasts she ever saw. Once they learned to draw the basic breast shape first, and make it look natural, the placement of the nipples was easy.....and sometimes unnecessary. Her point was to get the basic shape drawn first before adding any details, and that if the basic shape was good enough, fewer details are needed.
 
Had to buy some Cobolt Drill Bits to drill through the steel. Grounded it to have more of a concave point and got all the scratches out and the blade has been sent to heat treating, I also ground the handle down a bit thinner. I got the Green Canvas Micarta in today for the blade. I forgot to snap a picture of the blade before heat treating as I was in a hurry to get to the post office in time. I got a bunch of 5160 and 1095 from Jantz in 1/8th in yesterday. Currently sketching out the idea for the next knife.
 
bladsmth said:
I will pass on a great comment on shape and design from an artist I knew. She said that when a new student started to draw a nude torso, they almost always drew the nipples as one of the first things. Then they would try and shape the breasts around them. The end result was always the worst looking breasts she ever saw. Once they learned to draw the basic breast shape first, and make it look natural, the placement of the nipples was easy.....and sometimes unnecessary. Her point was to get the basic shape drawn first before adding any details, and that if the basic shape was good enough, fewer details are needed.
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That's an amusing story, Stacy. When I draw the body I almost always start with the neck and shoulders first. That probably says something unflattering about me. But then I never had occasion to sketch a nude model... ;)

Triought, regarding your first from scratch project, you've already gotten some good advice. I'll add only that whatever you start with, don't be too anxious to say you are done. It's okay to say you're done for the day, to protect yourself from overexertion or repetitive stress syndromes, but don't let the daily fatigue define the quality of your knife. Be willing to push beyond what you think might kinda work and looks pretty good so you can get to the point that it really makes you proud.
 
I would like to try and make a knife from scratch one day. My thoughts are to first get a few old knives from a thrift store and make new handles. From there I can also play with reshaping the blades and have some fun.
 
The stickys have a lot of good info on getting started. Many buy a pre-made blade from a knife supplier and put on the handle ( and guard in son]me cases) and finish the knife. This is a good way to start.
 
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