Knife making material

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Noahs12321

Joined
Nov 2, 2016
Messages
9
So, I've never made a knife before. And I don't have a lot of money to make one, I don't want to forge the knife. I'd much rather it if I used the material removal method, to make a knife, which is fine and dandy. I know my design I have most of the materials and tools, it's just, I don't want to have to heat treat it, I can temper it just fine. Perhaps I could use my gas stove to heat treat the blade, but besides the point, I need a cheap material. That I won't have to heat treat. I have seen people use farriers rasps, and they just have to Temper it afterwards, but I don't know if I can get one, but I was wondering. If I don't over heat the knife, could I use a pry bar as my material, and not need to heat treat it?
 
I'm a rookie so take this with a grain of salt. OK first off heat treat is the heart and soul of a knife. It is the single most important aspect about a knife. Not something I would recommend.
Second, what is your end goal? Do you just want to make one maybe two knives and be done? Or is this going to be a bigger hobby? This isn't the easiest or cheapest hobby. But it sure is a lot of fun!
 
The first knife I ever made was from a file. I drew it back a little in hardness and worked all right. My second knife was from another knife. I found a beat up Solingen kitchen knife at a garage sale and reground it into a skinner with a stag handle and even saved the tang roll mark, so that might be an option for you.
 
First, welcome to the forum. Second, check out the stickies at the top of this subforum for all the information you need to get started. On to your question: No, you can't use a gas oven to heat treat steel. You can use it to temper steel. Heat treating requires temperatures around 1500 °F. Tempering, done to relieve the stresses created in heat treating to make the steel less brittle is done in the 400°F range. The only way you can get around heat treating is to remove stock in a manner that will not heat the steel past 400°F or so. Hand filing will work, but if you are starting with a file as your stock, you will be at it a long time. Your best bet is to start with annealed steel (soft) and then send it out to heat treat. If you tell us where you are located, someone may be willing to help you out. Or you can send it to Peter's heat treat, I believe they are reasonable. DO NOT use mild steel from home depot, it won't harden.
 
valknut said:
I'm a rookie so take this with a grain of salt. OK first off heat treat is the heart and soul of a knife. It is the single most important aspect about a knife. Not something I would recommend.
Second, what is your end goal? Do you just want to make one maybe two knives and be done? Or is this going to be a bigger hobby? This isn't the easiest or cheapest hobby. But it sure is a lot of fun!
Click to expand...

Eventually a hobbie, I am out of work right now, so once I get a job I'll be able to make knives properly.
 
kdogmcg said:
First, welcome to the forum. Second, check out the stickies at the top of this subforum for all the information you need to get started. On to your question: No, you can't use a gas oven to heat treat steel. You can use it to temper steel. Heat treating requires temperatures around 1500 °F. Tempering, done to relieve the stresses created in heat treating to make the steel less brittle is done in the 400°F range. The only way you can get around heat treating is to remove stock in a manner that will not heat the steel past 400°F or so. Hand filing will work, but if you are starting with a file as your stock, you will be at it a long time. Your best bet is to start with annealed steel (soft) and then send it out to heat treat. If you tell us where you are located, someone may be willing to help you out. Or you can send it to Peter's heat treat, I believe they are reasonable. DO NOT use mild steel from home depot, it won't harden.
Click to expand...

Thanks! And I don't know how hot the stove top gets, but I meant a gas stove top. I can probably get a propane torch, but it'll take me a while to get everything I need.
 
Noahs12321 said:
Thanks! And I don't know how hot the stove top gets, but I meant a gas stove top. I can probably get a propane torch, but it'll take me a while to get everything I need.
Click to expand...

Yeah, forget about that. Just outsource your heat treat for now.

Worst case scenario you could do it in a BBQ of some sorts with LOTS of air blown into it to stoke the fire. But anything less than that isn't doable.

I'd say just send away for heat treat for now.
 
If your wanting to really get into this and want to heat treat your own stuff then just save up for some 1084 from NJ steel baron. Or get some steel in whatever you want and just send it off to get heat treated. To me it's worth the extra few bucks to make something and not have to worry about the variables. You know what steel your using you know the HT was done right.
 
Noah,

Let us know what part of the country you are in. I would be happy to help out anyone close to where I am located.
 
I believe you can heat treat a knife in a campfire. Based on the color of the burning logs, that should be around the right temperature (1500 F). Don't quote me on that though.

If you really want to avoid heat treating but want something usable and easy to make, try bronze. It's a tad more expensive but the good side about it is that it will be:

1) Unique and beautiful.
2) Very easy to work with as it is soft. Good quality and non damaged steel tools will go through it without resistance.
3) Does not require a heat treatment to harden (that I know of). You can harden it by cold working. Hammer it against an anvil or something hard while it is cold and it will harden slightly. If you need to soften it back up for more work, heat it over your gas stove to anneal.
 
There are many different ways to make a knife. Personally I never considered making a knife until I could get a 2x72 grinder because I know once I started anything else would just cause frustration.


If you want bare bones knife making take a look at Greenpete's video on how he does it. It is about as bare bones as anyway I know to make a knife that actually is worth making

https://vimeo.com/21484124
 
If you can find an old crosscut saw hung up in a shed or barn, attic, etc, you would be able to cut a blank out (over sized) and shape it down with some silicon carbide sandpaper.

It wouldn't be ideal, but it would be functional.
 
You really ought to read the stickies at the top of this subforum from start to finish like a text book. While doing that lurk often but post seldom. That way you get a better idea who has enough experience or expertise to provide sound advice.
 
I have a crude firebrick forge that I used when I just started out, you're more than welcome to it if you'd like to pick it up. I probably have some 1084 too if you want a piece. If you think it's something you want to continue, you can always upgrade. For a small forge I would check out the atlas mini.
 
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