I'm making a knife....a few ?'s

[rogue4]

Well I hope it resembles one anyway. I'm sorry if this isn't the right forum. I'm new. After doing a lot of research on here and other sites I'm taking the plunge. I just ordered:

1 x Spacer-Vulcanized Black 12" x 12"
2 Belt-Oxide 1" x 42" 600 Grit
2 Belt-Oxide 1" x 42" 320 Grit
2 Belt-Oxide 1" x 42" 120 Grit
Desert Ironwood Exhibition Grade 2 Scales
Rod - Brass 3/16" dia. x 12" length
O1 Toolsteel-Precision Ground - 1/4" x 2" x 12"
5 minute Epoxy

I have a few questions for all of you. Am I missing anything besides files and hand sand paper? I've seen a few WIP threads here but few seem to ever get finished. What files should I get? The belts are for a HF that I plan on purchasing today but the more I think about it I'm leaning towards doing everything by hand so that the mistakes (I'm sure there will be plenty) will be slow and easy to catch. I figured I can mess up a $20 piece of steel with the HF fairly quickly. I picked the O1 steel because after reading it seems to be a soft easy to work with steel when annealed but should hold up well after the heat treating process. The wood is not stabilized so what measures should I take to make sure it holds up when finished?

I'll be coming back from Iraq in a week and will be going from working all the time to doing nothing for weeks so I thought this would be a good project. Thanks for the help in advance, I'm sure many more questions are to follow.

 

[kungfucowboy]

i'm a newbie too (only 3 knives so far) so take what i say with a grain of salt.

you can make a knife with hand tools but it will take a long time (especially something as thick as .25 inches).
as you mentioned it's easier to screw up with power tools.
precision ground isn't needed if you are making a fixed blade.
you may want to start with cheaper handle material since it's easy to mess up with 5 min epox( i use it but only cause i can't find anything else over here)

and lastly and most importantly check out the makers forum there are every type of people from complete new guys like us to abs master smiths who have made hundreds (maybe thousands) of knives over many 10's of years.

 

[FlaMtnBkr]

I made a few knives a couple years ago but I am no authority by any means. I will second checking out the makers forum. Lot of people there that know what they are doing and it seems like lately, lots of new comers as well (so take everything with a grain of salt).

I would use 30 or 60 min epoxy. There have been a few epoxy tests to see which is strongest. Acraglass rings a bell. The longer cure time will be a stronger epoxy.

The desert ironwood is a very hard wood. It is so hard I don't think it can even be stabilized, at least not all the way through. It doesn't need anything other than a coat of oil or maybe some wax when you are through.

Like was mentioned you don't need precision ground if you are going to be grinding away at it. That is an unnecessary cost that you can skip next time. And while the steel is annealed and softer, it is still a big chunk of metal so it is going to take a long time to work by hand.

I would say get the belt sander and when you start to get worried about messing something up, stop and go on by hand.

I would guess since you don't have a forge you plan on sending the blade out to be heat treated. You want both sides of the grind to be as even as possible to minimize warping. You also don't want to grind the edge on before heat treat. I would say you probably want to leave the edge about as thick as a penny and then sharpen it once it has been heat treated.

There are some tutorials out there if you search. I think there is even a link list in the maker forum for the new guys. I would also be willing to bet just about any question you can think of has been answered already. You might want to search with google first or pay 10 bucks to get a basic membership so that you can search. Sometimes a quick search can be quicker than waiting for the right answer to come along.

That's my 2 cents worth. Post a picture of whatever you make your first go round. With enough patience you can make a really nice functioning knife the first time just think things through. I think the patience thing was my problem because I don't have enough of it

Good luck!

 

[Sparljo]

Hiya Rogue:

Good luck on the knife.

My thoughts -

Get some 40 and 80 grit belts. (Unless you end up doing it by hand)

Need a way to drill the pin hole.

I would keep the exhibition grade scales put away until you are happy with your grinding.

 

[dannyp]

From my experience with the HF belt sander, it can be used for knife making but it has its limitations. The platen is not the best if you're planning on using it for flat grinding. The wheels are also too small to hollow grind (unless you want to make a really small knife). You can use it for convex grinds, but its hard to control the plunge cuts at the high speed. It works for hogging material with low grit belts if you want to do the plunge cuts with files and finishing with files and sandpaper. It's also makes short work of shaping handles if you're careful with it. Mine uses 1" x 30" belts so you might want to double check the size.

Another thing to think about is a way to cut out the knife blank. It can be done by hand with a hacksaw, but if you plan on making more than just a couple of knives you'll be looking for a faster and easier way.

The most important thing to have for your first knife is lots of patience. I agree with not using the ironwood until you're happy with the grinding, and don't expect it to be perfect the first time around. Good luck.