How a Mont knife is made-WIP

Tony Mont

Tony Mont

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Apr 15, 2018
Messages
1,489
Hello everybody!

I decided along my Holy Grail WIP to do another one and show everybody what's my process of making a more usual knife.

Everything starts here, with a piece of steel. In this case it's a 6'' camp knife made out of 80CrV2.

I freehand the rough shape of the knife directly on the steel.

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Once I'm pleased with it, I move to my work bench.
Here is where the magic happens.
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For anybody wondering, yes, my work bench is on my balcony and yes, my neighbors love me!
Also, my drill press has an issue, if you guys notice it's all the way down, I guess there is a spring which is out of place? Can somebody give me a piece of advice on that?

Back to the build, I clamp the knife rough cut it with an angle grinder and a cutoff wheel.

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ALWAYS WEAR PROTECTION!
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Here the blade is rough cut, be careful with the sparks cause you might catch a fire!

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Moving to my Frankenstein grinder with an old 60grit belt to finish the shape.
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And here it is the final shape.
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End of part 1, to be continued.
 
Part 2.

The shape is done, that's when I stamp my name on the knife.

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I need to upgrade my makers mark process. I hope soon.

Scribing the center lines.

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And going back to the grinder for the rough grind, this time with a fresh 60grit ceramic belt.

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Now the knife is almost ready for heat treatment. I would have drilled the pin holes a couple of steps back, but as I said in part 1, my drill press is currently not working.
Prior to HT I take one more step, that is to clay my blade for a differential heat treatment.

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I couldn't take any pictures while heat treating, therefore here it's a picture once it was done.

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End of part 2, to be continued.
 
Part 3.

Now the knife is heat treated and tempered.

Taking it back to the grinder for the final grind , starting with 60grit moving up to 120-220 and finally 400.

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This is when my favourite(not) part starts, hand sanding.

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A few hours and even more coffees later, this how the knife stands at the moment.

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It has a beautiful satin finish with a scotchbrite.

All that's left to do is to find a way to drill the holes, make the handle and polish the hamon.
Something that I'm going to do in a few hours.

Thanks for looking so far and I will be back as soon as I have an update!
 
It looks like you do a nice job with your set-up. First thing I would tell you is after you mark your edge, take an old belt and cut you a 45 degree angle to your mark. When you start grinding , that sharp edge will sheer a lot of grit off your belt. I would drill your holes before you heat treat.
If you would clamp you a something with a straight edge on blade and use that to align your stamps to at least level them up and down.
 
argel55 said:
It looks like you do a nice job with your set-up. First thing I would tell you is after you mark your edge, take an old belt and cut you a 45 degree angle to your mark. When you start grinding , that sharp edge will sheer a lot of grit off your belt. I would drill your holes before you heat treat.
If you would clamp you a something with a straight edge on blade and use that to align your stamps to at least level them up and down.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your advice!

Usually I do my 45s with an old belt, but not always. You are right about it, I should force myself to do it everytime.
About the holes, my drill press is broken at the moment, I'm waiting be fixed (I hope it's going to be ready by Monday). That's why I didn't drill them and proceeded with the HT.

For my mark, that's a different story. I did clamp them together with a straight edge once, the letters came out even more jacked. Since then I freehand each letter. I should invest to better equipment and do proper marks. I believe it's time to get some stencils and start etching.

Again, thanks for the advice!

I'm open to any kind of criticism, if anybody has something to say, please do, it helps me to improve my skills.
 
Your drill press quill return spring is either disconnected or broken. It's under the cap on the opposite side of the feed handle. It's not difficult to fix or replace, but when the spring is under tension it's dangerous, so be careful.

Here's a video that will show you how to replace it.


Your knife is looking good! You might want to drill the holes in your handle before you even add the bevels. At that time, everything is still annealed, relatively flat, and there's no edge bevels to worry about. (I do realize that you didn't harden the handle, but you might chose to on another one.)
 
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Thank you Chris for your input!

I checked the spring on my drill press and it's fine, took it a bit further and I found the problem. There is a gear on the shaft which is hold in place with a pin. The pin broke and the shaft rotates freely. Now that I know the cause, I can make a proper pin and be done with it.
 
Part 5.

So, picking the project from where I left it. The scales are glued and cured.

I square up the scales with the knife.
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And make some rough lines to follow.

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When I'm done with the grinder, using a 360 vice and sand paper I continue shaping the handle.

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I take it up to 220 grit and then burn the wood using a blowtorch.
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Once that's done, I keep getting to higher grits until I'm satisfied with the result. Usually I take it up to 400 grit.
 
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