-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
knife making
- Thread starter ryan f
- Start date
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2002
- Messages
- 3,409
get an old file or a section of a car's leaf spring. use a charcoal forge with a blower to raise it to non-magnetic status, beat it to shape with a hammer, let cool in dry, heated sand. grind and file. heat it again till a magnet ignores it, dunk in warm motor oil. heat it in a propane stove for several hours till it turns bluish. put on a handle and sharpen.
- Joined
- Oct 3, 1998
- Messages
- 4,670
Moving to Shop Talk...
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2000
- Messages
- 5,548
Here's a link that has almost all the suppliers of all the knifemaking materials.
http://www.knifeforums.com/ubbthrea...=126540&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0&fpart=
http://www.knifeforums.com/ubbthrea...=126540&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0&fpart=
Ryan
Hank isn't all that far off but he summed it up in only a few lines. I would recommend using leaf springs or coil springs if you are starting out. These can be found at the local salvage yard. Get a 70's and above Chevy leaf springs. I started with Ford Cougar coil springs. Coil springs are good material for smaller knives.
The forge doesn't have to be anything special to work. I took a car wheel rim and welded a twyre(a pipe laid down on it's side with holes in a line).I have another pipe welded perpendicular to this and it goes down into the throat of a blacksmith forge with a hand crank blower on it. I used to use homemade coal(in other words, wood with the volatile gases heated out), but now I am in the process of getting blacksmithing coal which puts out 15,000btu per pound. Homemade coal works fine, don't get me wrong.Tia Goo and Tim lively use it for everything they do. If you are going to attempt Damascus, you need the extra heat.
Depending on the "look" of knife you want, your forging will vary some. If you want a pitted rustic look, then forge the profile 93-97% completed. On the other hand, makers like Ed Fowler forges the profile thick, leaving the un decarbed metal on the inside. Then he grinds away the outer metal, removing all blemished and hammer marks.
Heat treating is art. I still have SO much to learn about it after 5 years of making knives. I can tell you what I know though. The higher the carbon content in a steel, the lower the critical temperature. In other words, your critical temperatures for 1095 and 5160 are going to be different. The magnet test is one way to check for the proper quenching temp. Don't use the "cherry red" idea as your standard for quenching temp. If you do your HT at night, cherry red will be a different temp. than in the middle of the day. You can use a temp stick which is like a crayon that you apply to the metal and heat til the crayon mark disappears. As soon as it disappears, the metal is at the Temp stick's designated temp. You can buy them for any temperature. I have always used a magnet. As soon as the magnet stops sticking, go a bit hotter and then quench in 120 degree oil. Then after this draw three times at 350,375 and 400 for an hour each time. Ofcourse this tempering process varies from steel to steel so you will have to do some trial and error. Hank was mistaken... DON'T draw the temper to blue. This would be okay for the spine of the blade but not the cutting edge. The cutting edge should be a straw brown color. Ofcourse the hardness of the edge should be adjusted some depending on what the knife is used for.
Hope this helps. If you have any questions somebody more knowledgeable here will be able to help you, but if I can help you with anything you can reach me at cyclebiker@hotmail.com.
Luke
Hank isn't all that far off but he summed it up in only a few lines. I would recommend using leaf springs or coil springs if you are starting out. These can be found at the local salvage yard. Get a 70's and above Chevy leaf springs. I started with Ford Cougar coil springs. Coil springs are good material for smaller knives.
The forge doesn't have to be anything special to work. I took a car wheel rim and welded a twyre(a pipe laid down on it's side with holes in a line).I have another pipe welded perpendicular to this and it goes down into the throat of a blacksmith forge with a hand crank blower on it. I used to use homemade coal(in other words, wood with the volatile gases heated out), but now I am in the process of getting blacksmithing coal which puts out 15,000btu per pound. Homemade coal works fine, don't get me wrong.Tia Goo and Tim lively use it for everything they do. If you are going to attempt Damascus, you need the extra heat.
Depending on the "look" of knife you want, your forging will vary some. If you want a pitted rustic look, then forge the profile 93-97% completed. On the other hand, makers like Ed Fowler forges the profile thick, leaving the un decarbed metal on the inside. Then he grinds away the outer metal, removing all blemished and hammer marks.
Heat treating is art. I still have SO much to learn about it after 5 years of making knives. I can tell you what I know though. The higher the carbon content in a steel, the lower the critical temperature. In other words, your critical temperatures for 1095 and 5160 are going to be different. The magnet test is one way to check for the proper quenching temp. Don't use the "cherry red" idea as your standard for quenching temp. If you do your HT at night, cherry red will be a different temp. than in the middle of the day. You can use a temp stick which is like a crayon that you apply to the metal and heat til the crayon mark disappears. As soon as it disappears, the metal is at the Temp stick's designated temp. You can buy them for any temperature. I have always used a magnet. As soon as the magnet stops sticking, go a bit hotter and then quench in 120 degree oil. Then after this draw three times at 350,375 and 400 for an hour each time. Ofcourse this tempering process varies from steel to steel so you will have to do some trial and error. Hank was mistaken... DON'T draw the temper to blue. This would be okay for the spine of the blade but not the cutting edge. The cutting edge should be a straw brown color. Ofcourse the hardness of the edge should be adjusted some depending on what the knife is used for.
Hope this helps. If you have any questions somebody more knowledgeable here will be able to help you, but if I can help you with anything you can reach me at cyclebiker@hotmail.com.
Luke