Good question. I'm presuming from your other posts that you aren't quite ready to go out and buy a belt sander. No problem - use what tools you have and borrow what you can. I'd recommend starting out with one of the stainless steels such as 440C or ATS34. Both are widely available and a knife size piece will cost you about the same as a modest lunch. Nomatter how rough that first one turns out you will still be showing it off 25 years from now. You don't want it to rust. Also, this knife may take you longer and more work than any that follows. For the handle, consider either micarta or dymondwood. Both are easy to shape and finish and are very durable. Brass pins are attractive, cheap and easy.
You'll need a hacksaw to rough out the outline of your blade from the bar stock. A big coarse file to shape the outline and a finer file to clean it up a bit. The coarse file will take care of the main blade bevel and the finer file will also clean that up a bit. If you have one at the mill, use a drill press to drill the holes for the handle. If not, use a normal electric drill and try to keep it straight. A sanding block and mountains of emery paper follows. When it looks close to what you want and you have it to about 220 grit, send it off for heat treat. The only thing you'll need for handles that you haven't already used is clear epoxy.
Sorry to run on. The list then is
1 pc. stainless steel
1 set scales (handle slabs)
1 piece brass rod (handle pins)
1 hacksaw
1 coarse file
1 not so coarse file
1 drill or drill press
1 mountain of assorted emery paper
1 epoxy glue
much desire
you can work in almost any power tool you own to some extent. A palm sander might help remove the rough exterior of the bar stock. Your grinding wheel may not give good results but it may remove some of the stock before you start filing. A dremel is great for tight places. A table saw or angle grinder can be fitted with a cut-off wheel to reduce the hacksaw work.
Hope I didn't miss anything on the basic list. Welcome - and one last time - run away while you still can. (grin)
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Rob Ridley
Ranger Original Handcrafted Knives
