Hand shaping 154CM

Maqua

Maqua

Joined
Jan 21, 2005
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I'm trying to make a rip-off of the Strider MTL (with my own CAD design thrown in) using a piece of 1/4" thick 154CM and using a hacksaw and files. It took about 4 hours of furious sawing and filing, but I have the handle roughed out. It took about 4 or 5 saw blades.

Thanks to all the advice you folks have given me in this forum. I am looking forward to filing the bevels sometime next week. And completing the knife within a month. I think. :cool:

I'll try to post some pics....
 
I have a question...When buying some of these stainless steels, do they come hardened or are they soft so they can be worked. Would it benefit to do some kind of heat treat (not sure the correct term...temper, anneal?) to make them softer and easier to work? Would carbon steels benefit from this as well? Please excuse my ignorance but I am very new to this. Also, are there any books to look at (hopefully the library will have them so I dont spend $80 on books) that are recommended? I would like to try my hand at stock removal and would like to learn more about the anatomy of the knife (I read terms such as plunge, convex grind, etc and can make a guess but not sure if I am correct on the terminology). Thanks and sorry for hijacking your thread!

P.S. lets see some pics of the knife when you get it done!
 
I buy from Crucible and their steel for knifemaking is sold as "Hot Rolled-Annealed", which I guess means the steel is as soft as it is gonna get. The steel I purchased was clean, straight, and scale free. The width of the steel was fairly accurate; the 154CM might be 1/32 of an inch thicker. I also purchased some ATS-34 from Texas Knife, but have not received it yet.

The 154CM cuts and shapes pretty good with a sturdy hacksaw using 18T bi-metal blades, and a flat double cut bastard file. It is a lot of work, but not impossible. Filing the bevels will take time and patience. I will have to take a vacation before I start cutting the S30V. ;)
 
Also, to answer some of your other questions, I've read Wayne Goddard's books "The $50 Knife Shop" and "The Wonder of Knife Making". Goddard recommends "How To Make Knives" by Bob Loveless? and somebody else?

I, too, am extremely new to this activity. I'm trying to do things on the cheap, and it seems to be working just fine. Check out knife making at the library. I found Wayne's book and some others.

As far as heat treating, I plan on using the services of Texas Knife.com. I really don't want to spend big bucks on any ovens, and I really don't want to burn my house down, either!
 
Although you can't see me, I am bowing to you for your obvious devotion to your new craft. I did the filing the bevels and hacksaw route before, and I believe everybody should at least make one knife that way. It really makes you appreciate the nice machinery out there. :)

Keep at it, and let us see a pic when done.
 
I agree with Danbo. When you finish it you will be looking to get some power tools because I know you'll be hooked. :D You picked a tough steel to do by hand. I would have recommended O-1 or 5160 because of the ease of working with hand tools. They are also less expensive steels and you could try heat treating yourself. All bar stock is soft so to speak and will have to be heat treated to become a cutting tool. Make sure you have it where you want it as far as drilling holes and filing the bevel before you heat treat. Once it's hardened it hard to do anything but sharpen it by hand.
Scott
 
Using some 5160 and O-1 is certainly in the cards! I read some link where a guy heat treated his 5160 blade in a campfire to the non-magnetic stage and quenched it in old motor oil, and then tempered it in his kitchen oven. That sounds pretty do-able.
 
Maquahuitl said:
Using some 5160 and O-1 is certainly in the cards! I read some link where a guy heat treated his 5160 blade in a campfire to the non-magnetic stage and quenched it in old motor oil, and then tempered it in his kitchen oven. That sounds pretty do-able.
Click to expand...

that would be one hot campfire you'll need to reach at lease 1500 F to harden most of the High carbon simple steels
for tempering you can use your kitchen oven for the same steels

the SS's are more complicated.
BTW ATS34 is the Japanese version of the 154CM.

some stuff here to look at
http://www.knivesby.com/knifemaking.html
look at Ed Fowler's way listed and
there is more on heat treating there too :)

look at this too
http://www.knivesby.com/robert-cella-1.html :)
 
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