How do you get your idea from your head, into steel?

tknife

tknife

Joined
Mar 18, 1999
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When you set out with a new knife idea, how do you plan it out? Do you use a computer program, pen and paper with rulers and french curves, or just freehand it? I have always been curious how makers get their ideas rolling.
 
I've drawn a few pics on the computer, but I generally just free hand. Layout and cut basic proportions I want like blade length and stuff and then just grind it :eek:

YES I DID mean for it to look completely different, REALLY its just how I want it ;)
 
Sometimes, I actually draw something out, but usually I just grind away until it looks like a knife.
 
Free hand, most ocmplicated tool I've used is a ruler just as a straight edge.
 
I used to do all my designs freehand, but I now use french(freedom?) curves, and straight edges.
I find that using tools in my drawing I get to what I want much faster, and the drawings are cleaner.

On a side note; when profiling the plexiglass pattern, or actual knife from the pattern, I often see that it would look better if I ground it different. I do that , and then have to make a pattern of that one.

It's a never ending process. :eek: :D
 
I usually draw a straight line along the cardboard marking blade length and handle length, then I free hand draw my design until I get it "right". My proportions for blade and handle length often change in this process until the knife is what I end up liking. This process will often take days of playing with the design from time to time. After that I use the french curves to clean it up.

I tried using a computer to do a design but didn't really like doing it that way, drawing on paper works much better for me.


Sean
 
I ask because I am currently drawing up some pics of some customs I want to have made. I've erased so much, the paper was torn up and I had to start over! So I can't imagine what a maker must go through in laying out a new design. :eek:
 
One other thing that might help, get a large graph paper tablet with 1/4"squares. makes drawing a lot easier.

You can get them at office supply, or art stores.
 
For stock removal blades, I generally use graph paper and french curves until I come up with a design I really like...then I trace it in my drawing notebook to keep. For forged blades, I've been just ad-libbing it, trying to replicate what I see in my minds eye....but I should probably start making patterns and trying to forge to the pattern, it would probably make me better at forging to shape.

:)

-Darren
 
They are all a lot more talented than me. I will freely admit that I don't have an artsy bone in my body. What looks good in my mind, almost always always sucks in steel.

I draw it out first. If I still think it looks good, I make a wooden version of it. If I still like it, I use steel.

It's a lot easier to take when you spend one belt and some 1/4" pine to find out that it's ugly than spend hours grinding and chuck it in the junk barrel.

I even make wooden models of gun parts and when I build an entire receiver, the first one is in wood complete with working wooden parts.
 
I use a computer program that is similar to autocad. I can't draw worth a hill of beans, so it is alot easier for me to do it on the comp.

Here is an example:

fighter3.jpg



I start out with a grid and then add/subtract lines to set the proportions that I like and then I get all the curves and lines to flow nice. then I just print it out and use it as a template for profiling. I will transfer the pattern to sheet metal for forging.

I usually end up with 4 or more iterations on a knife, but then I can combine them into one drawing and see which on I like the best.
 
I should clarify, I don't actually draw a picture free hand, I just start on the grinder. I make a handful of straight cuts with a hacksaw to cut down on the grinding and get basic proportions, then I start grinding.
when I want to repeat a pattern its a matter of marking out which corners to cut off and how much and then its back to the grinder.
 
I only use a ruler, a small square (to divide up the blade sections) and free-hand with a magic marker. The rest comes out in the profile grind.

RL
 
I've been using a drawing program called DeltaCad. I believe you can still get it for free somewhere on the web. I usually get a drawing with this program then print it on a piece of paper. Then I'll cut the knife outline out and Elmer's Glue it to a piece of steel; then start grinding. It works OK but sometimes you'll wash away your pattern if you dip into the water bucket a lot.
 
I rarely do any drawing, I have the idea in my head and go to the forge and forge the blade, sometimes what I end up with something different than I starting with, but be that as it may it has been a better idea. If it is to be a stock removal knife I do the same with a grinder using mild steel so then I have a pattern. Gib
 
I draw it on paper cut it outthen take a black marker put the paper on steel and cover it all black, then pick the paper out and grind away whats black, sometimes a knife just jumps out of the steel at me. :)
Peace
Bob Barnett
 
After reading some of the above, I feel sort of primitive in my designs. I use a tape measure and a sharpie to draw the size and general shape knife i want to do on the bar, then cut it out with an offset grinder, and then shape it on the Grizzly.

If someone wants a particular size and shape, I will get them to draw it out or work with them to draw out what they want. Then I will cut out the drawing and trace it onto the steel and proceed as above. This is all with the understanding that the shaping and grinding is a freehand process and may differ a little from the original drawing. So no one has rejected the final version.
 
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