Knife Newbie here with a question

[SCMknives]

Similar to bottom knife...could be modified. FYI, I don't know any maker that would knowingly make a "cheap, dodgy" knife.

 

[SteelSlaver]

I do love the carbon reinforced part of the blade description.

 

[Atlas Knife Company]

Fill out your profile so we know where you are and find someone close by willing to help teach you.

 

[Blackmantis]

I do love the carbon reinforced part of the blade description.

It probably means nothing or is just the game creators trying to sound hardcore.

Still, it's a bloody big knife as seen ingame below.

If you look at the blade length and then compare it to his (already large) forearm, you'll see it's a fairly long blade, although I think it was only measured ingame as 11"

.

The grip of it reminds me a little bit of the M7 bayonet. I guess for a real cheap job I could combine a Rambo knife blade and an M7 bayonet grip. It'd be close enough X)

 

[Blackmantis]

Fill out your profile so we know where you are and find someone close by willing to help teach you.

Will do, although I'm in Australia so there's not many. I am getting a custom game knife from Paul Mayall knives though.

Out of curiosity (I should have come here first) how much do you guys estimate something like this would cost?

Just a basic Stag bowie, stag horn grips (I thought it was ivory but the creator says it was stag), basic bronze/gold handguard, butt etc, and just a normal steel blade.

 

[FTO_dude]

I would love to do that mate but I've never built a knife in my life. I am only 21 and usually more of a tech/computer geek but I'd love to give it a go. It's from the "Resident Evil" series which is well known amongst the gamer community so I don't doubt that photos of real deal Resident Evil knives would land a spot on the gamer news pages such as Kotaku.com.

story of my life pal! im 19, studying i.t. at uni and i started making knives last year!

 

[Blackmantis]

story of my life pal! im 19, studying i.t. at uni and i started making knives last year!

How much equipment etc is required, and is it expensive to learn / do?

The only knife I ever made was one simple bowie last year. I was out in the middle of no-where with friends staying at a lodge. I picked up a piece of random timber and used my swiss army knife to carve an awesome bowie out of it. It took a few days of nonstop whittling and a sore thumb but in the end I had a really nice looking bowie knife with a clip-point and hand-guard and the lot. I should really smoothen it out with sandpaper or something and perhaps paint it.

Still I'd love to start making knives, but I don't know if I'd have the technology to do it, and I'd have to find someone who could show me what to do. Any ideas where I should start?

 

[FTO_dude]

theres heaps and heaps of tutorials online.

for the size of the project you are talking about id be hesitant to recommend hand tools.
atm all i have is a bench grinder with one of these attached
https://www.alltools.com.au/shop/in...m_Linisher_Attachment_(_Suits_Most_Grinders_)
the attachment is around $200 and you could probably find a bench grinder pretty cheap somewhere...
and then other stuff like a drill, bits, steel
could be done for less than $500, easily

 

[Blackmantis]

theres heaps and heaps of tutorials online.

for the size of the project you are talking about id be hesitant to recommend hand tools.
atm all i have is a bench grinder with one of these attached
https://www.alltools.com.au/shop/in...m_Linisher_Attachment_(_Suits_Most_Grinders_)
the attachment is around $200 and you could probably find a bench grinder pretty cheap somewhere...
and then other stuff like a drill, bits, steel
could be done for less than $500, easily

Well I'd probably start with a really simple project. A small fixed-blade knife about maybe 25cm long total, basic grip basic blade et cetera, and work my way into more complicated designs. I'd guess that the saw-back on blades would be the most difficult part.

 

[FTO_dude]

only if you wanted it to be a functional saw.
by the look of the serations in the pic i dont think they would be too hard.
but then ive never tried anything like that

 

[Blackmantis]

only if you wanted it to be a functional saw.
by the look of the serations in the pic i dont think they would be too hard.
but then ive never tried anything like that

Truthfully they don't even look that sharp, just more of a looks thing I guess.

 

[Blackmantis]

Some slightly better pictures.

 

[James_Terrio]

The first thing to do is break that thing down into components. Reverse-engineer it. The blade/tang, hardware such as the guard and pommel which will be mounted to the blade/tang, and the handle to be mounted as well. Unless you want the whole thing cast as one piece, which I doubt.

I think the best way to tackle such a project would be to have a water-jet- or laser-cutting company cut the profile of the blade/tang. They will be able to include those serrations and sawteeth, etc. with a VERY high degree of accuracy. There are at least two knife-knowledgeable water-jet companies who are members of this forum, and are happy to start with a simple drawing/measurements or paper template. They're both based in midwestern USA, so shipping might be an issue; check around locally.

Next, contact a local machine-shop and ask for a quote on having the guard, pommel etc. made. They will need all the measurements involved. Some shops will design it for you based on a drawing or specs list, so everything will fit together properly, but of course they will charge for this service.

Then have a knifemaker grind the bevels, build the handle and assemble the whole thing. From your pics, it looks to me like the bevels are really the easiest part. Your local machinist may be willing to do this as well. Either may be able to apply any black/grey coatings you may require, or recommend someone who can.

Another idea is to have a knifemaker do all these steps for you, including the reverse-engineering, provide you a quote and charge you for his/her labor and time.

After the main investment in skilled labor, your budget will be determined by the materials you use.

If it's going to be simply a display piece, 300-series stainless steel will suffice for all the metal parts. It is useless for real blades, since it can't be hardened to keep an edge, but can be highly polished if you desire, and is quite resistant to corrosion.

If you want to actually cut things with it, you will need the blade/tang (not the hardware) to be cut from a higher grade of stainless or tool steel, then have it properly heat-treated, polished and sharpened up. Naturally, better steel and additional labor/services will add to the final cost.

I don't know of a "cheap" way to build a custom design like that, honestly. It's fairly involved. I suspect you're looking at several hundred dollars at least, if you want it built well.

I invite you to spend an evening browsing through tutorials here and elsewhere on knifemaking, to get a better understanding of how knives are actually built. Be careful, you might get hooked!

 

[James_Terrio]

How much equipment etc is required, and is it expensive to learn / do?

Heh. That's a big ol' can of worms there, friend! You can make a knife with two files, your kitchen oven, a C-clamp, scrap wood and a bit of epoxy... or you can drop $10K on building a well-equipped shop and invest a lot of time learning how to utilize it. Or anything in-between.

There are MANY ways to skin a cat, so to speak.

Please read through the stickies in this section for more details on various methods.

 

[Blackmantis]

The first thing to do is break that thing down into components. Reverse-engineer it. The blade/tang, hardware such as the guard and pommel which will be mounted to the blade/tang, and the handle to be mounted as well. Unless you want the whole thing cast as one piece, which I doubt.

I think the best way to tackle such a project would be to have a water-jet- or laser-cutting company cut the profile of the blade/tang. They will be able to include those serrations and sawteeth, etc. with a VERY high degree of accuracy. There are at least two knife-knowledgeable water-jet companies who are members of this forum, and are happy to start with a simple drawing/measurements or paper template. They're both based in midwestern USA, so shipping might be an issue; check around locally.

Next, contact a local machine-shop and ask for a quote on having the guard, pommel etc. made. They will need all the measurements involved. Some shops will design it for you based on a drawing or specs list, so everything will fit together properly, but of course they will charge for this service.

Then have a knifemaker grind the bevels, build the handle and assemble the whole thing. From your pics, it looks to me like the bevels are really the easiest part. Your local machinist may be willing to do this as well. Either may be able to apply any black/grey coatings you may require, or recommend someone who can.

Another idea is to have a knifemaker do all these steps for you, including the reverse-engineering, provide you a quote and charge you for his/her labor and time.

After the main investment in skilled labor, your budget will be determined by the materials you use.

If it's going to be simply a display piece, 300-series stainless steel will suffice for all the metal parts. It is useless for real blades, since it can't be hardened to keep an edge, but can be highly polished if you desire, and is quite resistant to corrosion.

If you want to actually cut things with it, you will need the blade/tang (not the hardware) to be cut from a higher grade of stainless or tool steel, then have it properly heat-treated, polished and sharpened up. Naturally, better steel and additional labor/services will add to the final cost.

I don't know of a "cheap" way to build a custom design like that, honestly. It's fairly involved. I suspect you're looking at several hundred dollars at least, if you want it built well.

I invite you to spend an evening browsing through tutorials here and elsewhere on knifemaking, to get a better understanding of how knives are actually built. Be careful, you might get hooked!

Well to be honest, if it's only "several hundred dollars", I'd love to have someone build one or both knives shown in my original picture. I don't think I could build them myself, although I will get into knifemaking, I'll probably begin with basic blades first.

Could you recommend somewhere/someone who could build it for several hundred dollars for me?

 

[James_Terrio]

Could you recommend somewhere/someone who could build it for several hundred dollars for me?

I could if I was in or familiar with Australia Google is your friend!

Or I could set it all up here and do the grinding and assembly for you, but I have no idea of the ins and outs of shipping knives overseas. I presume it would cost a lot less to have it done on your own continent.

 

[Blackmantis]

I could if I was in or familiar with Australia Google is your friend!

Or I could set it all up here and do the grinding and assembly for you, but I have no idea of the ins and outs of shipping knives overseas. I presume it would cost a lot less to have it done on your own continent.

Well shipping a knife here is no biggie 8)

Just slap it in a scabbard and wrap it up, stick it in a box and send to Australia, the postage cost is generally not that bad (I don't mind paying) I buy Lan-Cay M9 Bayonets all the time directly from AresEOD.

I don't think it'd be cheaper here somehow Australia has a very bad tendancy to charge a lot for little quality. You pay $3 for a Butterfinger bar here wheras it's 70c in the USA (to my knowledge).

So if anything I've always bought directly from the USA because it's cheaper.

If you're willing to do the knife I'd love that.

 

[james terrio]

Blackmantis, I had to re-register my name because the email associated with the capitalized one is no longer in use, nor do I have the old password. Up until tonight the site was "remembering" the password for me but apparently not anymore. Anyway...

E-mail me at: james.terrio@yahoo(dot)com if you would like to work out the details of a quote. I still think you should also check around locally, it never hurts to get more than one quote.

The reason for my hesitation is that I don't like to take deposits on orders, but I think I would have to for something like this.

 

[Blackmantis]

Blackmantis, I had to re-register my name because the email associated with the capitalized one is no longer in use, nor do I have the old password. Up until tonight the site was "remembering" the password for me but apparently not anymore. Anyway...

E-mail me at: james.terrio@yahoo(dot)com if you would like to work out the details of a quote. I still think you should also check around locally, it never hurts to get more than one quote.

The reason for my hesitation is that I don't like to take deposits on orders, but I think I would have to for something like this.

Replied.