getting started

danroot

danroot

Joined
Oct 28, 2004
Messages
375
ok, probably lots of posts about this already, i know. i tried the search but i diddnt know exactly what to search for, so heres my post on the subject.

how does one get started in knife making?
im not talking about what supplies, steels, or any of that. just sort of the preliminary steps to becomeing a beginner.

also, id like to know how you all got started? what prompted you to begin makeing knives? was it a family thing? was it a hobby? for me, i just see all these beautiful knives and want to be a part of it all. now im still young, 19yo, so i have many years ahead of me to learn and i think im in my prime when it comes to learning new skills, so its now or maybe later :) . so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

also, any of you guys live in the san francisco bay area? would you mind someone takeing a quick look at your shop?
 
Welcome
Got started during Desert Storm along the border of Iraq. I was bored waiting for a green light to cross. I started with a hacksaw, halfbastard file, and imagination. During this time I started writing knife evaluations for blade magizine. I to fell in love with the quality of workmanship out there. So i kept bettering myself on every knife,well almost every knife. Best advice to give is to find a knifemaker near you get to be friends and be a sponge and learn. :)
 
I got my start from Rob Simonich. Bought a Cetan Tanto kit from him and did all the blade and handle finish work, a Kydex sheath, etc. It was terrible, and I was using nothing but the worst hand tools, without knowing how to use them. I still use mostly hand tools, for the time being, but actually know what I'm doing with them, which is a bit of a help! I also finished kit knives from Madpoet and AT Barr. I figured if I was going to put that much work into them, they may as well be the real thing!

I'd recommend reading some books on the subject to get a feel for it, and probably starting with a few cheap knife kits to get an idea of the basic skills of finishing. I'd read through this forum like crazy, too. There are a lot of good videos out these days, too (email Kim Breed about his new series!), which I'm sure are better than books, even. But, really, knifemaking is a skill, so it's practice, practice, practice! If you can find someone to watch and sort of bum equipment time from and stuff that would make the learning curve a LOT faster and a lot less steep, for sure, but you can self-learn the whole thing yourself if you're into it! Good luck!
 
hey thanks for your storys and suggestions, does anyone else have anything theyd like to add?

Indian geroge, wheres your shop located?
 
most first knives are made with files, but most first time knifemakers dont know about heat treating, or annealing. best thing for your first knife is probly an old file. for mine i just got it cherry red in a camp fire, let it cool slowly on a fireside rock. after it was cool i started filing with a nice sharp file, and a bench grinder. a belt sander, and random orbital really help to do the finish. just keep filing and grinding untill you have the shape and the bevels are pretty even. a good tool for doing bevels is an angle grinder. use it with long smooth strokes following the curve of the knife. the secret is to go really slow and take your time on every step. after its finished you need to harden and temper it. basically all hardening is heating the blade evenly to a reddish orange, and plunging it straight down into a bucket filled with water or oil. tempering is done in a color spectrum of straw to blue. tempering is done in and oven or other similar heat source, and is done immediatly after hardening. most edges for knives made of old files should be at a light to dark straw and then take a propane torch to the back of the blade and temper it to a blue color for a springy blade. be careful not to get the edge over heated past straw or it will be softer than it needs to be and wont hold an edge as well. these instructions are for a knife made of and old file, not stainless or tool steel. these will work for leaf springs too. and again these are rough instructuions, they will not make a perfect knife! the knife will be pretty decent in edge holding though, this is how i made my first few knives. it takes some practice to heat evenly and to the right tempature. with unknown steel you need to expirement with the right tempatures for that certain alloy, but most knives from files heat treated how i described should be ok. biggest thing to keep in mind is have fun and dont get too frustrated, thats how fingers get burns,cuts, or they get ground off completely :D
oh and guys feel free to yell at me if i gave him bad advice :( ;) i was just describing how i made my first few.
 
danroot said:
Indian geroge, wheres your shop located?
Click to expand...
:D About as far from San Francisco as you can get! :D

Kim is the only one so far that mentioned why he started making. Me, I'm really cheap and back in the early 70s I discovered that I loved custom knives. So I thought I'd just make my own... Ha! I'd have been way ahead financially had I become a collector instead of a maker! :D But there is nothing like the satisfaction of improving your skills until you can turn out a decent knife in your own vision. Nothing like it.

The advice to find someone to learn from is right on. I don't have that, and this forum has been the next best thing for me. If I'm an actual "knife maker" now, it's because I learned how to do it asking questions and getting valuable criticism right here. This is a fine place with a greater wealth of knowledge than you can imagine. I'm thankful everyday that I found my way here.

Not to be a smart aleck, but I think I can boil the whole knifemaking learning process into two words: "patience" and "practice." Ask a lot of questions and be willing to make mistakes, and just go for it. That's as preliminary as I can get.

Good luck! And ask away. The more specific questions you can ask the better off you'll be.
 
My first knife was made with a piece of what I was told of 1095, a hand drill, a hack saw and two files. I followed this tutorial almost to the letter:

Jonesy tutorial

The why? I loved the huge Cold Steel Trailmasters and I wanted one. On Shop Talk, about two years ago I read about someone who made a large Bowie with minimal tools. After I made a knife similar to the one in the Jonesy tutorial I made an 15" Bowie. I used it on one camping trip then gave it to my brother in law as a gift. The damn thing was just too big. Since then I have been experimenting with different styles, giving them away once I was done.

Lately I have discovered that I like making kitchen knives (or as my wife calls them "shivs" for Martha Steward). They are still in the crude stage but I'm experimenting with hidden tangs and filed brass guards.
 
danroot said:
hey thanks for your storys and suggestions, does anyone else have anything theyd like to add?

Indian geroge, wheres your shop located?
Click to expand...
I didn't notice you lived in CA. But the offer is still open. :D
 
Pick up a knives annual and check for close makers in the back. Making mistakes is part of it. just laugh and make another. Keep the old ones around to remind you of an oops. :) :D
 
Think long and hard before starting that first one...... its like a disease and theres no truning back. After that first one you do with files and a hacksaw in about 50 hours you think wow this is hard work......But if I had a belt sander....HMMMMM now that would make it a lot easier....... :rolleyes:
Pretty soon you're haunting flea markets, garage sales and ebay looking for tools you never even knew exhisted before........you can't ever look at a pretty piece of wood again without envisioning how it would look at 600 grit with a hand rubbed oil finish.......You doodle on napkins in restraunts and make waitresses really nervous......then you try and explain that you're a knifemaker and that makes them more nervous.......You begin to scan the roadside for roadkill with good antlers and start keeping a hacksaw under your seat......you make a couple stock removal knives and then you see somebody forge a blade and that looks reallly fun....and if you're REALLY unlucky they let you have a go at it and then, ohh then you're really in trouble .....now you're haunting antique shops looking for tongs and post vises and that most elusive and addictive of bladesmithing tools.......an ANVIL! And since that first one you get is never really that good, you're always scanning for a better one, a bigger one, one with a smoother surface, or better rebound. Then you start meeting others with the same problems, and realize the awful truth......NONE OF US CAN STOP! WE DON'T EVEN WANT TO!!!! Think man, and think hard. Is this what you really want????
If so, COOL you're in the right place!!! :D
Welcome, and enjoy the madness!
Ed
 
I have loved knives since I was 9 years old and my aunt gave he a boy scout knife for my birthday. I have traded, bought, and sold them for years. I have been threatening to learn to make knives for about 15 years. I talked to makers at gun shows and chatted with machenists I knew. I finally looked in my shop and decided I had the tools to start. I had 3 bench grinders, a band saw, a central machinery 1X30 sander, a ryobi 4X30 sander, and various odd files. I hooked up with a maker in Clarksville TN (just 45 minutes from where I live) and he traded me a forge and showed me a few things. Every couple of weeks I go to him and we evaluate what I have done and how to improve. I am now 43 years old, and 2 months ago I started my dream. I have made a few knives and I am going to post some pics on this forum. I am selling some knives here to finance a new grinder.

Like was said earlier, take your time and don't get frustrated. It is a learning process....
 
My parents have my first knife somewhere around the house. Probably on display in the basement.

I cut my blade with a hacksaw from an old electrical box. Great steel. Held an edge for about one cut. I used hand files and sand paper for the entire blade. No mirror polish, but at least it had a shape. I used pine for the handle. I glued and screwed the handle into place.

This summer, I kicked off my serious knifemaking by revamping a set of steak knives my parents had. The old wooden handles had shrunk, split, and splintered. That was a lot of fun. I used the wrong rivets for most of them, though, so there was still tons of room for improvement. As there always is.

The latest ones I've finished I started at the end of that summer. I've learned an incredible amount since then, and I made a lot of mistakes with those knives. The best thing is, though, that the mistakes I identify are solvable and each generation of knives comes out looking and functioning better!

I'm still a novice, for sure. But I know the excitement, accomplishment, and fulfillment one gets when one's work improves. I'd like to become a part time knife maker and actually sell some someday, maybe finance a good shop. I have some friends that want kitchen knife sets, but I don't feel up to the jobs quite yet.

Knifemaking is really, really fun.

Daniel Denton
 
I remember at the age of 5 staying summers on the farm with my Great Grandfather. He was totally self supportive. If he ate it, he grew it, if he used it, he made it.

His knives that he carried were from horseshoe files that he made and used. I have always been fascinated and still am about knives. Throughout the years seeing these Japanese Swordsmiths on movies and TV always made me think of an interest I have carried throughout my life. It was not until I was at Fort Bragg over 3 years ago that I decided to build a forge.

Remembering what I know about fire and heat from Fire School broke it down to 3 principles: Fuel, Heat, Air. So I bought a wash bucket, 1 inch pipe, and a rubber gasket to make a fitting to a blow dryer. After taking clay from the new construction site of a Lowes, I mixed the clay with the charcoal dust and clumps from the grill pit. I used natural lump charcoal (thought it was cleaner and was right than using Klingfor briquettes) and waited for my wife to leave so I can use her blow dryer.

It worked!!! took a while though. I spent 6 hours hitting steel with a ball pein hammer on a 1 inch thick piece of steel plate and was happy until my wife found out it was her blow dryer I was using. Ever since then was trial and error, I started searching the net and buying books and videos. Until I have gotten to Clarksville tennessee and ran into Kim Breed and Gary Wheeler, I did not know what cable damascus was (already made one knife from it) nor did I know squat, just the basics and the basics are the most important foundation.

I hung around these guys and learned from them picking my knife apart which just made me more anxious in fixing my mistakes. The most important thing I have from my journey about making knives is two friends that I consider my best friends. That is the most important thing about knifemaking to me....FUN.

Use criticism constructively, be safe, use common sense, and have FUN. If it is not fun, then try something else.

Daniel Prentice
 
hi i just found this site last night and it seems im not the only 19 year old trying to get into this industry. the tips here have been pritty helpful but is there anyone with a shop setup in tn?
 
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