First Knife (seeking advice)

crimsonfalcon07 said:
.............................................1. SAFETY FIRST! Get a good respirator. They'll look expensive at first. Then think how expensive your hospital bills will be if you get lung cancer, or tumors, or lung infections, etc. Get eye protection, especially for anything that throws sparks. Losing an eye sucks. I also recommend a shop apron that will protect your clothes from the sparks. I burned holes in several pairs of pants before I learned that lesson. I like to wear gloves in my shop , although many don't. My gloves saved me from losing a finger to my own stupidity coupled with a faulty buffer. I'll keep wearing them...,..........
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This is a good post except for what I have highlighted, I have seen men lose half of their hands before due to wearing gloves. DO NOT WEAR GLOVES AROUND ANY MOTORIZED THING THAT SPINS!!!!!
 
JustAFleshWound said:
This is a good post except for what I have highlighted, I have seen men lose half of their hands before due to wearing gloves. DO NOT WEAR GLOVES AROUND ANY MOTORIZED THING THAT SPINS!!!!!
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I can agree at least as far as drill presses go.. I think the worst that will happen with a belt grinder is you chew up your glove and then finger (inevitable). I can't say for other devices, but you need to be careful surely. But I once got my frayed glove caught on a drill bit and it quickly proceeded to curl up on the bit and crush my hand. Luckily the glove ripped at the last second and I didn't do any lasting damage.. but of course the power switch was on the opposite side of the press and I couldn't reach it quickly. If that glove didn't rip I'd probably be retired before I began.
 
slightly confused, when I Profile the blade how deep am I making the indents? After I do that I send it to be heat treated, then I finish getting the blade to where it needs to be and sharpen it? This part just confuses me lol sorry if its an extremely dumb question but sadly I can be dumb some times, so Can someone explain it to me Thanks.
 
mocaba said:
slightly confused, when I Profile the blade how deep am I making the indents? After I do that I send it to be heat treated, then I finish getting the blade to where it needs to be and sharpen it? This part just confuses me lol sorry if its an extremely dumb question but sadly I can be dumb some times, so Can someone explain it to me Thanks.
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I think your confusing profiling the blade with grinding the bevels. Profiling is just getting the knife outline to shape.
 
a sorry that's what I meant, so How deep should I make the bevels in accordance to the edge before the Heat treat. I ask because When I get it back I know I got to clean it up again and I know I shouldn't have a sharp edge on it yet right? I just wanna do it right could you give me an idea of where the edge should be to send it for a HT.
 
mocaba said:
a sorry that's what I meant, so How deep should I make the bevels in accordance to the edge before the Heat treat. I ask because When I get it back I know I got to clean it up again and I know I shouldn't have a sharp edge on it yet right? I just wanna do it right could you give me an idea of where the edge should be to send it for a HT.
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I'm going to have to refer you to the stickies as others have already mentioned. Just spend time reading everything here. The stickies/threads go over almost everything of what your asking.
 
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/694673-How-to-instructions-for-making-a-knife


Stop each step before it is fully to the point you want. Look it over carefully before taking the final strokes of the file. It is easy to take a little more metal off later, or to go back and change the shape, but impossible to put any metal back on once it is filed away. Also, don't file the bevels to a sharp edge. This is one of the most common errors. Leave the edge a fairly wide flat surface. About the thickness of a nickel in the filing stage (.050-.060), and the thickness of a dime after sanding before HT (.030-.040). Always remember that the next step will take off some more metal. I suggest filing to 80% shape, sanding to 90-95% shape, HT, then final sanding to shape, and the last step after the handle is assembled is sharpening the edge secondary bevel and sharpening.
 
Thanks =) that's the kind of answer I was looking for Can't wait for my steel to get here haha. just a couple more days =).
 
I just thought of something haha Christmas is coming, and Santa shall bring me Knife materials haha.
 
My materials are almost here =). I got 1 3x48 .125, 1 2x48 .125, and 1 1.5x48 .125 1048 Steel coming. I also got 2 Cocobolo slabs 3/8" thick x 1 1/2" x 5, 2 Bloodwood slabs 3/8" thick x 1 1/2" x 5, 2 Ebony slabs 3/8" thick x 1 1/2" x 5. 2 Indigo Dymondwood 5" x 1 1/2" x 3/8" thick. I also got 3 different sized packs of nickel silver pins. Is there anything else I should get?
 
I assume you meant 1084, not 1048? Got your tools all ready? Clamps? Tape for the blade? Drill bits and chamfer bit? Epoxy or acraglass to attach scales? Etc etc etc?
 
Thanks forgot about the epoxy and yeah haha was righting all the numbers down got it mixed up lol oh i need to get my sandpaper too, btw what oil should I use for blade maintenance?
 
mocaba,
The smiley emoticon is activated by typing : followed by ) ,which will show up as :)
Also, leaving off "haha" would make the posts sound more mature.

Have to say, it is somewhat refreshing to see a youth so eager to get started.

Remember the advice I gave you in the email:
Take your time and don't rush.
Plan the whole project before starting any of it.
Do things a little at a time. Don't try and finish things all at once.
Check every step before starting the next.
Don't accept less than your best work. It may not be perfect, but it should be the best effort you are capable of.
 
Okay thanks I have always wanted to do this so I am eager as heck I kinda wanna make a forge any advice I have watched a few videos, but I question the safety of some of them. I want a gas forge, can anyone suggest a guide or something? Thanks
 
Yikes, you haven't even gotten your steel yet, and you want to build a forge? Slow down, tiger! I find I turn out better products when I take things 1 step at a time. Others may disagree, but I'm of the opinion that you may not want to try to learn everything at once. I'm also really wary about playing with temperatures that high because I'm impatient, and impatience with a forge would probably result in me burning myself to death or something. Others may, as I said, have different advice. That's just my kneejerk reaction, so take it for what it's worth.
 
Thanks for the advice but it shouldn't be that strange, since a lot of people that started knife making started by actually forging the blades from a bar over taking away from a slab, I mean I ask because I want to learn how to HT at the same time as I am the knife making, I'd rather be bad at both at the same time so my first blade is crappy and my heat treat is crappy, then to get good at making knives then ruin my hard work cause i suck at ht that's just the way I am looking at it. Better to ruin your newbie stuff than to ruin your masterpieces.
 
Slowing down and doing one skill at a time is good advice. They don't teach welding and sheetmetal forming in the same class for the same reason you should learn to shape a knife before you learn to build a forge and do HT. This come as a process, and are best learned that way.

If you had followed The Count's Standard Reply he gave you....and read the stickies....you would have found lots of forge info.
 
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