Its time- $500 budget...

M

MULDOON

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Aug 7, 2013
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I am just about ready to set up a forge and start making some knives. I have always wanted to make bladed things, I have done a substantial amount of reading and watching videos and am finally in a position to start.

Trying to start on a modest but decent budget of about $500 but currently have no tools (other than desire and ambition) that will be useful to a knifemaker/ bladesmith. Building forge with temp control/ pyrometer is going to tie up about $250 with stuff from High Temp Tools and Auber Instruments. I am going to be forging and heat treating with the forge so there wont be any skimping on these materials. I am trying to determine the best way to use the remaining $250. I will need an anvil of some sort, steel, hammers, tongs or something else to hold hot steel, files, vise, work bench, and abrasives. Things I would LIKE to have include a drill press, craftsman 2x42, and precision ground flat surface, (but I can probably just get that for free there are several granite suppliers right near my house.)

I realize there will be more things to get as I am getting ready to finish my first knives like sheath making tools and materials, both leather and kydex, epoxy, handle material etc. but that will be down the road just a little bit... I will upgrade my grinder and HT set up in the future as well but that's even further down the road.

The anvil is something I am a bit concerned about. Hope I can find something suitable at the scrap yards but its a bit of a gamble. I would like to have something at least 50lbs but obviously heavier is better.

How does my list look? Is there anything I should add or remove to get started? Other useful tips for a guy trying to get started that aren't in the stickies already, lol :D?

I appreciate any input guy, thanks

Corey
 
My advice here is that you start with stock removal and have the blades professionally heat treated.

I know $500 isn't easy to save up, so I'm not making light of that... but that won't go very far when it comes to knife shop tools.

Forging pretty much doubles the skill set required, as well as the tooling needed.

IMHO, you HAVE to have a solid bench with a good vise, files, hacksaw, clamps, at least a cheapy drill press, steel, sandpaper, handle material, epoxy.... That right there will burn through $500 pretty damn fast.
 
BTW- Please keep in mind that's coming from someone with a fully equipped hot shop, an addiction to forging hot steel, a proud member in the American Bladesmith Society (Js)....

So I'm not trying to squash your dreams or fail to promote the forged blade... I LOVE hammering blades to shape...

But I also know that your budget will vanish in a blink if trying to outfit a hot shop from a starting point of zero tools.

I'm just trying to propose a realistic approach for you... so you can get started, get addicted to making knives... and THEN I will help pull you to the dark side. ;) :D
 
I started with a very similar investment and made it back quickly enough that I was soon adding to my shop with proceeds from knife sales. I agree with Nick about stock removal. I forge blades NOW, but I made my first 100 or so doing stock removal. I built a cheap (free!) charcoal forge for heat treating and used steels like 1080 that could be adequately heat treated with that setup. My first proceeds went to a digitally controlled kiln. If I had it to do over, I could have done it cheaper.

Here is a list and approximate pricing of what I started with (or would, in the cases where I spent $ unwisely):

- Craftsman 2x42 grinder :$100 on sale. It aint the best by any means, but it beats the pants off using files. I made about 75 blades with mine, and though they instantly got better when I finally got a better grinder, I made a lot that were pretty dang good. You can't make knives efficiently without a grinder unless you're better with a hammer than anyone I know.

-Anvil: I lucked out in a big way and got a 104lb Peter Wright for $75. You probably won't do that, but if you're doing stock removal you don't have to have one. A piece of railroad track will work in a pinch, especially if you're just using it to peen bolster pins and such.

Tongs: $40 Some wolf jaws or somethign similar for handling hot stuff are essential, even if you arent forging. IF you are, you need more tongs, and good Tom Tongs run about $40-45 a set.

Steel: $100. Get 1080 from Kelly Cupples. For $100 you can get a lot of 1080, and free shipping.

Belts, sandpaper, pinstock, other consumables: $100 will get you started, but you can really spend a ton here.

Drill press: $75 Get one off craigslist. Anything is better than nothing, but this is a must have.

Handle material: To this day I still harvest a lot of my own from burls and whatnot I find, but you can figure $10-50+ per knife if you're paying for it. For the sake of illustration, let's put this at $50.

I'm sure I forgot something, but if so it isn't much. Add $125 for all the stuff I forgot.

That's $500 (not including the anvil) well spent.

I, like Nick, don't want to discourage you from forging at all (hitting things with a hammer is fun!), but I DO want to illustrate that it doesn't take a lot to make some high quality blades. If you make them well and price them fairly according to your skill and place in the market, even your first stuff can net you back some cash that can be put to advancing your hobby. Don't get caught up in fads, don't chase wild hairs, focus on building good knives and making them better, and before you know it you'll have a rewarding and self-sustaining hobby and an ever-improving shop. If you wish to stay cash flow neutral it takes a while to get new equipment, but I can promise you that it can be done.

If you're trying to do this for living money, that's a vastly different conversation.
 
I agree with everything mentioned above.

Honestly, and this isn't to disparage anybody, but stock removal has a much lower barrier to entry, than forged knives. Progress is initially much quicker, with a little practice grinding, and without trying to get too complicated with distal tapers and such you can produce a decent quality knife very fast.

I started forging from the get go. It took me a long while before I was able to produce a good knife that was straight, with all the compound tapers and crap that I wanted. If I had to do it all over again, I'd probably go the same way, but I was ok with spending everything I make on gear and it taking a couple years to see a return start trickling. It also set my grinding skill in the back seat compared to forging, which coupled with the difficulty of forging straight in the first place, made it doubly difficult to finish work.

I see way to many people trying to sell horrible forged knives, that aren't remotely straight, or true in any dimension. So unless you're prepared to not let the first couple years of progress never see the light of day, you're better of learning to make a knife via stock removal methods first, then adding difficulty and complexity one step at a time. It's easy to make a straight and true stock removal knife, comparatively, so it really looks especially bad for all people claiming to be bladesmith's when we espouse the idealistic pursuit of the forged blade, and then try to sell something that looks and performs half-ass compared to another novice knife that's been made using the stock removal method.

YMMV of course, but my advice, put that $500 toward building or buying a real 2x72 grinder, and then buy something else from the above mentioned lists of "essentials" every week or two as you can afford a $100 here or there.
 
Great advice from all, I started with stock removal and love forging and more than both of these I love scrounging but it takes a lot of time and networking. The more people you know the more opportunities become available to you. Now 20 yrs. later and literally a ton of stuff later with a modest $ output the shop is pretty well stocked and I have enough left over to help out others when they are looking for stuff. While not as frequent as it used to be older companies that are closing up always have a good selection of old tools for cheap. I picked up a 140 and a 125 pound anvil for $15 each and 2 swage blocks for $10 ea. Another place had a hand crank blower for $10. You get the idea. Patience is a virtue and it really keeps your wifes sarcasim to a minimum. Also if your at all handy most of your equipment can be made but the down side of that is you aren't working in the shop on knives. Enjoy the journey.
 
Gentlemen, I appreciate the dose of pragmatism... I was picturing myself forging knives to shape with good results within about the first 20' of bar stock. Perhaps that is too ambitious considering I am starting from scratch but i am willing to make mistakes and learn from them. The logical part of me says that stock removal is the way to start, but the little devil on my shoulder says jump in the deep end and do what you REALLY want to do and start forging.

Nick, I have been a knife/sword/forging addict since I was 9 and saw a modern fencing and broadsword demo in elementary school, I just didn't know it yet lol. The bowies you forge are amazing and have been an influence on my designs. I have also read all you tutorials and WIP's so your opinion comes with influence.

Travis, I appreciate reading about your experience and your proposed budget seems pretty on point. I recently had a friends dad (who is 80 so I would never take money from him) offer to invest over a couple glasses of scotch. I started out thinking that a grand would be incredible, but I soon was thinking that 5k would be better. Then I thought a power hammer would be nice...

Javand, absolutely right that stock removal has a lower barrier of entry. But distal tapers and interesting angles are part of the reason why I want to forge. I also agree that there are many "rough" looking forged blades that get produced, but I don't see myself putting anything like that out, but I may be a victim of my own arrogance and ignorance when I say that.

Paul, I am looking forward to developing some scrounging and bartering skills on my journey. I appreciate the advice!

Has anybody jumped into the deep end and started forging straight off the bat?
 
Yeah lots of us have. But a $500 budget will barely get you started with files and decent materials. Let alone forging, grinding, heat treating, etc.


If you're really serious about starting out forging, I would recommend you save $300 more, and whatever else it takes in accommodations, etc., and take the ABS Intro to Bladesmithing class, which is a 2 week crash course in bladesmithing. Which if you've got any innate talent, will have you leaving with the basic knowledge necessary to make a forged blade from start to finish. Of course, you still won't have the equipment to do such.


Otherwise, expect to be putting much more money, and time, into forging from the get-go.

If you're trying to have this be a self-supporting hobby, and not a money pit, the previous advice I think is really the best. If you're just asking, "What's the first tool I buy with $500, when I want to be forging blades?" Then that's a totally different question.
 
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