Is there a budget shop thread?

Marion David Poff said:
http://www.livelyknives.com/
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That is a fantastic DVD. His forge design works great and is CHEAP. Here is mine. Used it to make the two unfinished knives in my previous post.

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Hello, I use a craftsman 2x42, Home Depot Ryobi Drill Press, and a Porta bandSaw from Harbor freight. It was at or around $350 bucks. They are not ideal. I used a burr king at a knifemakers shop and the 2x42 suck compared to it. It will still make knives but the belts won't last and there is not much of a selections. I have made nice knives using these cheap tools. There are better but if you really want to get started try them out then save for some good stuff if you like knifemaking.

-frank
 
I know ive said a few things allready but the main thing is to get started grizzly has a cheap 2x72 lots of guys here use its like 300 and that would leave you some money for other things or buy a 4x42 with the 9 inch disc king they are about 250 . Ive been looking at one just to square up wood but could be used for steel. I think a hand held belt sander is a waste of money they are like 75 bucks and wont take the beating you want to give it.
 
If you start with a 1x30 or 1x42 belt sander , keep your blade steel thin , if you try to start with 1/4" or 3/16" stock , you are going to be there for a long time and use many many belts to make a knife , if it doesn't frustrate enuff to give up. The HF grinder run fast , and go thru belts like crazy.

I still have a couple 1 x 42's in the shop , that sometimes get used stuff , but never for grinding steel.

Indeed you can make a decent knife with less than a coote, grizzly , kmg or Bader , but it sure doesn't make it any easier. If you can get the grizzly , go that route , just be sure to research it's limitations.

I have never found the angle grinder useful in profiling blades , not a safe way to do it in my opinion . I would instead suggest drilling many holes around the profile and hacksawing to connect the holes.

I find the metal cutting bandsaw a huge plus to the shop , of course if you have a better grinder ( KMG , Bader , Grizzly ) you can use it to profile as well as grinding the bevels.

The more simple you can keep your designs , the easier it will be when using a 1x30 , 1x42 or Sears 2x42.

Know your tools , know their limitations and more important , know YOUR limitations.
 
Talk about timing! As of today I'm going to second John's warning against angle grinders, at least with a metal cutoff wheel for heavy stock removal.

I was doing just that today and had a wide peice of A-2 clamped to my bench. I was using my little angle grinder with cutoff blade to cut some of the bulk out of the handle.

All of a sudden the grinder was on the ground and shut off. I didn't feel it binding in the cut or myself stepping on the cord. It fell blade down onto the cord, severing it. The guard was of no help.

It scared the hell out of me because it could have fallen on my foot or leg. I still don't know why it happened, but those things are powerful for their size.

This may never happen to anyone else but I feel I should put it out there on this thread. I'm using my Coote for all profiling from now on.

Gerry
 
Thanks. I immediately shut everything off and went inside to ponder what might have happened.
 
FWIW, all I use my angle grinder for is straight cuts. I do all my profiling and beveling on the belt sander.
 
I was finishing up a straight cut when this happened and thought I was being attentive. I've never had anything close to this happen before, even when I slightly twisted the grinder in a straight cut and caused it to bind and jump.

Maybe I moved forward and the cord caught. It just scares me that I don't know what caused it. Since this is the last piece of really wide steel I have left, I'm not going to replace the grinder.

I'm also accident prone so I'll take this as a sign.
 
C Bryant said:
That is a fantastic DVD. His forge design works great and is CHEAP. Here is mine. Used it to make the two unfinished knives in my previous post.

1130081615.jpg


1130081622a.jpg
Click to expand...

Things have progressed slower than I thought, when I got the video....

But, I have my blower, my forge body, a rail anvil, 2 post vises and I should be up and running early Nov or shortly there-after. I got my blower and the better of the two post vises by barter for a knife to be forthcoming.

Very inexpensive way to begin. I think I have 40 dollars into it. The rest has been scrounged. And I owe a guy a knife once I am up and running. But, the same guy is also buying at least one knife, once I get going.

Marion
 
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