Hello everyone! Just started making knives and will have a lot of questions

Welcome Geonjules. Is that George and Julie?
Fill out your profile so we know where you live and a bit about you. It may allow a nearby maker to help you with learning, equipment, and supplies.
 
Thanks George, knowing you are in Hammond Indiana will allow someone near you to offer a shop visit or other help.
I am getting ready to retire as a goldsmith in January, so I will join you in having time to work in the shop all day long.

Tell us about your shop setup and the type of knives you want to make. I may send you a box of handle material and other supplies if I have ones that fit your needs.
 
Geonjules said:
So please be patient with me.......
I've had an interest in knives my entire life and now being early retired I finally made the jump to make one. I wish I would have done this years ago.
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Congratulations on retirement!!!
That's awesome, hopefully that's what you want......
I'm sure I will have to work till I'm 70, idk?


I've only been making knives, a couple years, but I started earlier just doing simple modifications to knives I already had that weren't quite like I wanted.

That's an easy way to begin, and to see if you like the work.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
 
Thank you everyone for your warm welcomes and replies. Thank you Stacy, that is very kind of you.
I started working on my knife shop early this summer in the garage. I'm on a little bit of a budget so I bought mostly used power tools. I did well on most of the use stuff because it was much higher quality than if I bought cheap new stuff. I have a couple of bench grinders, table drill press, 1x30 beginner belt sander, bandsaw, files and all the hand tools that I think I need for now. Doing wooden handles right now because all of the materials I have been using I already have on hand. I used pins out of a door hinge for the knife handle. I've been using this 50-year-old saw blade and doing stock removal. I also bought a dual burner Mr volcano Forge that seems to work well. I tried to attach a picture to this post, but it's not letting me choose an option for my photo gallery. Just a web address and text options pop up.
Thanks again to everyone, and I look forward to all the helpful advice.
 
As far as the types of knives I like Stacy, the answer would have to be all of them. It's kind of like pizza even some of the worst stuff wasn't all that bad!
 
Geonjules said:
Thank you everyone for your warm welcomes and replies. Thank you Stacy, that is very kind of you.
I started working on my knife shop early this summer in the garage. I'm on a little bit of a budget so I bought mostly used power tools. I did well on most of the use stuff because it was much higher quality than if I bought cheap new stuff. I have a couple of bench grinders, table drill press, 1x30 beginner belt sander, bandsaw, files and all the hand tools that I think I need for now. Doing wooden handles right now because all of the materials I have been using I already have on hand. I used pins out of a door hinge for the knife handle. I've been using this 50-year-old saw blade and doing stock removal. I also bought a dual burner Mr volcano Forge that seems to work well. I tried to attach a picture to this post, but it's not letting me choose an option for my photo gallery. Just a web address and text options pop up.
Thanks again to everyone, and I look forward to all the helpful advice.
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First, welcome to BF!

As far as pics go, there's a sticky thread at the top of this forum that talks about how to post them. The gist of it is that you need to use an image hosting site like Imgur to upload your pics, then you copy/paste the BBC code it gives you into your post here.
 
Here's a link to the post about pictures:

Sticky Threads - All The Good Info You Want In One Place

The stickies have all been condensed into this new super-sticky. This will free up the top of the forum, but make all the good info just a click or two away. Each will have its own segment, and all the info is still there. Any additional info that you folks think should be added to the...
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com
 
Geonjules said:
Thank you everyone for your warm welcomes and replies. Thank you Stacy, that is very kind of you.
I started working on my knife shop early this summer in the garage. I'm on a little bit of a budget so I bought mostly used power tools. I did well on most of the use stuff because it was much higher quality than if I bought cheap new stuff. I have a couple of bench grinders, table drill press, 1x30 beginner belt sander, bandsaw, files and all the hand tools that I think I need for now. Doing wooden handles right now because all of the materials I have been using I already have on hand. I used pins out of a door hinge for the knife handle. I've been using this 50-year-old saw blade and doing stock removal. I also bought a dual burner Mr volcano Forge that seems to work well. I tried to attach a picture to this post, but it's not letting me choose an option for my photo gallery. Just a web address and text options pop up.
Thanks again to everyone, and I look forward to all the helpful advice.
Click to expand...
Congratulations on retirement! I, like you, had been interested in knifemaking most of my life, but never really had the chance to engage in it. I finally did a few years ago, and took the same basic approach ad you … used bandsaw, used drill press, a harbor freight 1x30 belt sander (plus assorted hand tools).

Fwiw - my experience: heat treat is a whole different thing and rather steep learning curve (and the primary thing that kept me out of knifemaking fir so many years). There are now a number of places to send knives out for HT … so maybe skip that whole aspect of it for now.

The old bandsaw worked well enough, but lacks a little in its ability to accurately resaw. Im still using it, but hope to upgrade soon.

The old drill press also worked well enough, but for various other reasons i bought a mini mill, which excels fir accurate drilling, and especially for drilling through hardened stock … but that is a pricy upgrade.

Things absolutely worth the expense: a 2x72 grinder with variable speed controller … the reasons and options could (and have) take up a whole thread … but they make a huge difference. Also, for cutting out profiles in annealed steel, a “portasaw” (portable steel cutting bandsaw), preferably along with a “SWAG” table. Dont know how i ever did without it (horsewright, and accomplished and prolific maker, maintains he also uses his portasaw where others would instead use a wood bandsaw)

Also learn about dust collection strategies.

I think of knifemaking as a collection of almost discrete skills: design/profiling, grinding bevels, HT, bolster design/installation, handle design/installation, etc. there are a lot of pre-made and hardened blanks out there that would allow you, at least at first, to concentrate on handles without worrying about the other stuff. Those same blanks tend to not be ground to as thin an edge as many makers would strive for … so later those same blanks would give you practice in grinding bevels to a thinner edge (and also give you an established flat bevel to register against). Fixing up older knives gives similar opportunities.

When you start actually grinding bevels, dont forget the opportunity to practice first on cheap mild steel to help get the “feel” of grinding.

Anyway … just a few thoughts still fresh in my mind from recently following the same path you are now on..
 
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