For those who have outlines of their knife patterns.

Diomedes Industries

Diomedes Industries

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Mar 19, 2007
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For those that have outlines of their knife patterns:

1) What material do you use for your patterns that last?

2) Do you drill the pin holes for marking out as well? If so - what size? The size of the pin or the size of a scribe?


3) Any other best practices you want to share with me?
 
I design my knives in AutoCAD.

I simply print out the drawing and glue it to a piece of steel.

I've used plexiglass in the past to make patterns, but I feel that using AutoCAD is superior.
 
I used to use plexiglass, now I use aluminum. I do not drill pin holes, but if I did it would likely be smaller than the pin size.
 
I use a variety of materials for my templates. G-10, Micarta, 3D printed. Anything that is stiff and mildly abrasion resistant will do. I do not like wood for my patterns.

Some of my templates have pin holes, others don't. I find that using the pin holes on a template can lead to off-center holes on the knife. If you do want to use pinholes, make them as small has possible, just big enough for your centerpunch.
 
G10, kydex and steel make up most of my patterns. Any more I have enough blanks on hand I rarely open the pattern box but I did recently and found a sweet pattern that I forgot about.
 
I use knife steel. When I am ready to hang up the grinding belt and turn off the heat treat oven the last time, the last knives I make will be from the patterns I used.
Not kidding.
 
thin aluminum templates work for me, but they start out as a pencil drawing in a sketch book which I transfer to another piece of paper using a light table, that then gets glued to the aluminum. All holes or cutouts are measured and drilled through the template, using a 1-2mm bit.

one little thing that makes a big difference for me is to ensure that the edges of my templates are smooth and all the lines are continuous and there's no funky transitions. I'm not particularly worried about the durability of my templates, since I try to allow my designs to evolve as need be and I can always rock out new templates as required.
 
I make my patterns out of mild steel and clearly mark them as patterns, and drill the fastener holes and lanyard holes in them, as well as a small choil to represent where the plunge lines are meant to begin. I then trace out all of that onto the actual knife steel using a carbide scriber.
 
I have a bunch of thin poplar that I used when making kitchen knife saya's 10 years ago that is my template material. Makes a great template! I drill the pin and lanyard holes in the template, but don't always do it on the knife itself. I will mark with a sharpie or center punch and make sure they are right before I drill.
 
I send to laser cut my most popular profiles in quantity, both stainless and carbon steel versions, so I always have many hardened ready to be beveled and finished, so I have no need to create patterns. When developing a new model, I use 1/8" MDF and CO2 laser cut it, same if I need to replicate one of the popular patterns in a more expensive steel

Pablo
 
I mostly use leftover thin plywood from a flooring project but have a few in natural paper micarta. I don't drill holes in the templates because at first when I did they were always a bit off.
 
PEU said:
I send to laser cut my most popular profiles in quantity, both stainless and carbon steel versions, so I always have many hardened ready to be beveled and finished, so I have no need to create patterns. When developing a new model, I use 1/8" MDF and CO2 laser cut it, same if I need to replicate one of the popular patterns in a more expensive steel

Pablo
Click to expand...
how do you like laser vs waterjet cutting?
 
DanF said:
I use knife steel. When I am ready to hang up the grinding belt and turn off the heat treat oven the last time, the last knives I make will be from the patterns I used.
Not kidding.
Click to expand...
I used to do it that way but then my knives ended up getting bigger over time 🤣

I use mild steel templates and knife print for the initial design now.
 
I've tried both plexiglass and aluminum because I've read about it in threads.
Neither one grinds well, it was a lot of melting and breaking off the slag.

I've used scrap sheet metal with powder coat ( computer case) same thing, the steel was better, but the powder coat was messy.
 
I use thin basswood plywood for mine. I do drill the pin holes...
 
I have an assortment. Paper for seldom used ones. Paint stir sticks for used more often and mild steel for often used
 
Lorien said:
how do you like laser vs waterjet cutting?
Click to expand...
I found a local provider (Argentina) that allows me to nest (arrange) the knives with 2mm/0.08" separation, this allows you to pack a lot more knives in a sheet, my average is 70-75% yield out of a large sheet. That with waterjet is impossible. Laser leaves a really small hardened perimeter, nothing a quick pass with the grinder completely eliminates. Holes I do slightly smaller that spec and then use the right size carbide drill and with that small difference in diameter it works almost like a reamer

Pablo
 
I use Formica laminate. Maybe hard to find now that Grantit is the preferred counter top. But it's thin enough and durable.
 
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