Help in the ATL area

Joined
Jul 10, 2010
Messages
1
Hello to all on the board. My name is Rick and I am as about as new to knife making as you can get. I am real eager to learn and I try to read as much as I can so I do not have to ask a lot of basic question and forums like this are what made me decide to give it a try. I went and Got Wayne Goddard’s book “The Fifty Dollar Knife Shop” and I have started to get the things I need. I think I have what I need to do material removal knives and I am working on gathering the things for a forged knife. I would like to make a proposal to anyone in the Atlanta area to help me out. Maybe just an hour here and there over a cup of coffee, beer or 14 year old single malt scotch whatever I’m not that picky. I would love to watch you go through the precess of making a forged knife and a material removal one then let me ask a bunch of questions and take notes. Not just on the knife making process but on setting up a small shop and purchasing gear. If you also do leather work (sheaths) that would be a plus because I will need some place to put the knives when I am through.
Now what I have to offer is besides eagerness to learn how to do it right, but I have 22 some odd years Flyfishing, flytying and a few years of rod building. I even owned a guide service for about four years up in North Carolina. I flyfish for anything from small mountain trout, panfish in fresh water and to tarpon and shark in the salt. I can teach you how to cast and fly fish for many species of fish. As for rod building well I just do not have that much experience I have only built about 10 rods although I do believe they came out very nice but not perfect
If you have no desire to learn how to fly fish or tie then maybe I can help you around your place with some good old manual labor.
I just really would like someone to take me under their wing and help to guide me through the process of making a knife I would be proud to own and give as a gift
Thanks for listening and I look forward to learning much more from the forum.
Rick
 
You're not talking a few hours. You're talking a few days, just to get the basics. The Goddard book has some good info, here, and there, but don't consider it a knifemakers bible. It is seriously lacking in some areas.
 
Unfortunately, I'm both too busy with classes and too inexperienced to be much of a good teacher.

I don't know many makers in the actual Atlanta area, but Georgia does have an active knifemaker's guild that anyone is welcome to go to. Their meetings are quite informative and everyone is always willing to help out.

If you need a piece of steel, I may have a small piece of 1080 laying around that you're welcome to have, maybe 8-10" if I remember correctly.
 
I'm not particularly interested in a trade deal, but you are more than welcome to come by my shop and I'll help you with anything I can.

I'm in Acworth, up I75 off Wade Green rd.

contact info available on my website.
 
Welcome to the BF and Shop Talk, BTW.

There are a lot of makers in your area. Get a copy of KNIVES 2011 and check the directory in the back. It has a state by state listing of makers. http://www.shopblade.com/product/knives-2011/?r=KNV322A&p=KNV322A

The Blade Show is held in Atlanta each year in June. It is just about the biggest knife show in the world. You should plan on attending. Bring a back pack, comfy walking shoes....and lots of money for supplies. You can get anything from a knife kit to a mammoth tusk at blade. Knives for sale go from less than $50 to over $50,000.
 
Have you seen this ?

The Standard Reply to Newbies v8

The answer to a 13 year old student is different than to a 40 year old engineer, and you may have a helpful neighbour.
We can often recommend a local supplier, but that depends on where you are.
Fill out your profile with your location (Country and State at least), age, education, employment.

Look at the stickies at the top, many are expired, but not all.

The basic process in the simplest terms

Absolute Cheapskate Way to Start Making Knives-Printable PDF
Absolute Cheapskate Way to Start Making Knives-Website

This is a very detailed set of instructions by Stacy E.Apelt.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=694673


Books

A list of books and videos on the KnifeDogs Forum
http://www.knifedogs.com/showthread.php?t=5285

BladeForums - E-books or book previews Google books
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=603203

I like:
David Boye-Step by Step Knifemaking
Tim McCreight-Custom Knifemaking: 10 Projects from a Master Craftsman
These are clear, well organized, widely available and inexpensive too.

Knife Design:
On the Google books thread, you can find
Lloyd Harding drawings
and
the Loveless book with large variety of proven classic styles.

Forging Books:
Lorelei Sims-The Backyard Blacksmith
A modern book with great photos for forging in general - no knifemaking.

Jim Hrisoulas- has 3 books on forging knives. Check for the cheaper paperback editions.
The Complete Bladesmith: Forging Your Way To Perfection
The Pattern-Welded Blade: Artistry in Iron
The Master Bladesmith: Advanced Studies in Steel


The $50 knife shop
It is popular, but it confused me for a long time.
Forging is NOT necessary, you can just file and grind everything away to create a knife (stock removal)

The goop quench is total Bull, commercially made quench oils are cheap and easily available, even grocery store canola oil works much better.

Junkyard steels require the skills of an experienced smith to identify the steel and heat treat it properly.
You can buy proper steel like 1084 very cheaply.
(Mentioned in the new edition)

I like cable damascus, but that is an advanced project for an experienced smith and has no place in a beginners book.

The home built grinders are the best thing about the book, but there is now a huge amount of info on home built 2x72 belt grinders on the web.
The revised edition of this book should have included this.


Videos

Heat Treating Basics Video-downloadable
http://www.archive.org/download/gov.ntis.ava08799vnb1/ava08799vnb1_512kb.mp4

Many specific how to knifemaking videos are available.
Some are better than others, but all better than nothing.

The best overall Knifemaking video I have seen is
“Steve Johnson-Making a Sub-Hilt Fighter”

The best video on leather sheath making I have seen is
“Custom Knife Sheaths -Chuck Burrows - Wild Rose”

You can see a list of some older videos and their reviews at this rental company.
They are not the quickest on getting new titles, but some videos are worth buying, some are worth renting…
Rental wait times are measured in months, buying is MUCH faster, but more costly.
http://smartflix.com/store/category/9/Knifemaking

Green Pete's Free Video
Making a Mora bushcraft knife, -stock removal, hand tools, and neo tribal / unplugged heat treat.
"Green Pete" posted it free for those who can use torrent files.

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4995247/Greenpete_s__Knifemaking_Basics_-_Make_a_Mora_Bushcraft_Knife
You can also find it on YouTube broken into 4 parts.


Steel
The “welding steel” at Home Depot/Lowes… is useless for knives.
If you want to ship out for heat treating, you can use ATS34, 440C, plus many others.

If you want to heat treat yourself, find some 1070, 1080, 1084,
1084 FG sold by Aldo Bruno is formulated just for knifemaking.

You can find lists of suppliers here
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=699736

Aldo’s website inventory is unreliable, call instead.
http://njsteelbaron.com/


Heat Treating
You do not have to buy a lot of equipment to start with.
You can send out for heat treating, 10 or 15 $ per blade

This is a PDF brochure which gives good general info
http://www.buckknives.com/resources/pdf/Paul_Bos_Brochure.pdf

http://www.petersheattreat.com/
http://www.texasknife.com/vcom/about_us.php
http://www.knifemaker.ca/ (Canadian)
and others


Grinder / Tools

Hand Tools
You can do it all by hand with files and abrasive paper.
The Green Pete video does it this way.

Photo of a nice bevel filing jig .
http://www.flemingknives.com/imagesPrime/FileStation/KPicB007.jpg

Entry Level Grinders
Many makers start with the Sears Craftsman 2x42 belt grinder.


Commercial Production 2 x 72” Belt Grinders
http://www.prometheanknives.com/shop-techniques-3/grinders

Mapp arm
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=466024


DIY 2 x 72” Belt Grinders

KMG Clone
Free Plans
http://www.dfoggknives.com/PDF/GrinderPlans.pdf

NWG No Weld Grinder
http://www.usaknifemaker.com/plans-for-the-no-weld-grinder-sander-nearly-50-pages-p-723.html

EERF Grinder (EERF =“Free” backwards)
Free plans
http://wilmontgrinders.com/EERFGrinder.aspx
http://blindhogg.com/blueprints.html

Buy the kit
http://polarbearforge.com/grinder_kit.html
 
You're in Alpharetta? PM inbound.

Edit: Make that an email. You don't have PM.
 
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