First Knife ?'s

S

Signmaker

Joined
Mar 29, 2010
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I just wanted to introduce myself as I have been lurking here for quite a while soaking up as much of this info like a sponge.
My name is Nick and I am from the Mountains of Western NC. I am a Signmaker by trade but a junkie for making things by hand and this is my most recent addiction.
I thought that I would humbly show my first attempt to you all in hopes of getting some +- feedback from the best in the biz.
This first attempt was taken from a Nicholson (12" x1.125" x.1875") file...the balde is 7" and the handle is 5". I annealed in a wood stove prior to shaping and sanding. My goal here is not to make the prettiest looking knife, but a procedurally correct knife...I know the looks will come from practice.
So right now I'm at the Heat Treating process. When I annealed the file in the wood stove I got it cherry red, but it never became demagnetized even after 45 minutes....but it definitely softened. This was with a ton of red hot coals, but no air to feed in. I have two propane torches and a bunch of fire bricks so should I build a small forge using the torches to get it up to temp or stick with the wood stove?
I plan on quenching the blade in oil, tip first, to harden it and followed with 2 oven temperings @ 400 degrees for 2 hours each time.
Is there a good set of step by step instructions for HT and tempering?
And finally, Are there any good knife makers in my neck of the woods around Asheville, NC so I can see some knife art in person??

Thank you all for the great forum, Ive enjoyed it immensely.


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It looks like you're off to a great start!
And I might as well be the one to suggest to read the stickies at the top of the page-tons and tons of useful info in there.I'm guessing you are like me in the sense that you want to do all the work yourself,but there is always the option of having it ht'd by a pro....
-you definitely need to get your steel to non-magnetic to heat treat-and it can be quite difficult to get even and consistant temperatures in a make-shift forge.I would try the fire brick forge,it sounds like the wood stove will not get hot enough-(in Wayne Goddard's book-the $50 knife shop he has a great chapter on the one brick forge)-but please above all else be SAFE-if you are not comfortable with the idea DON'T DO IT-obviously its easy to get burned,and your oil may ignite when you quench hot steel in it...
any way,good luck and keep us posted
 
nice job! try the fire brick forge even heating, and above magnetic should give you decent results
 
Hi Nick,

NC has a custom knife makers guild. They have a good number of makers in the state that probably wouldn't mind helping you out. They have a meeting coming up soon if you want to check it out.

http://www.ncknifeguild.org/
 
Thanks guys for the resources.

I think I finally tracked down a good article on heat treating..."How the hell do you heat treat 1095" right here on BF. I also found out that most Nicholson files are made of 1095 steel which is good to know.

Next step is to build my brick forge and see how well it gets up to temp....
I will update with the results and pics of my finished knife.
 
I have not been myself, but I believe there is a 'hammer in' not far from you. It might be in the spring though.Alot of makers go. There is somebody on here who can give you more info on that. Kevin Jones is the president of custom knife collector's association and he can give you alot of info on makers. Also, on the ckca site under events it has some things in your area. I believe in March. Great Smokey Mountain Hammer In

I like the filework.
 
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