Made my First Knife!!!!!!!

T

theaxel

Joined
Feb 27, 2013
Messages
86
I have a feeling i've just started a really expensive hobby.
I found some steel in the workshop and decided to have a go at making a knife. its pretty basic but I was pretty happy with how it turned out.
all I had to make this with is a 6" bench grinder(used it to get the shape) and two metal files(used it for the blade)
I haven't heat treated the blade, I was wondering if there is a way of doing this that doesn't cost a real lot and is easy to do.

and the best thing is my dad said that I should take up knife making as a hobby!!! means ill need to save up a bit to be able to buy some good equipment and be able to buy some better steel I reckon this is going to cost a lot!!




 
Looks sharp! Nice work.
If it's a simple carbon steel you can get a half decent heat treat with a couple blowtorches and a cup of vegetable oil. Get the blade cherry red and then quench it in the oil. Might be fun to experiment with.
 
While it's appearance is somewhat crude (it's your first knife......better than my first attempt came out).........I'd actually enjoy that blade. (I don't care about looks if the performance is there). Like someone else said, that would be a hell of a neck knife.

My only suggestion is to have a bigger guard/bevel to keep your index finger from sliding onto the blade, but the overall shape & design is actually quite nice.
 
Not bad! Congrats and I hope you had fun.

Now use it and see if it works. Like Moxy noted, you may learn that heat treat matters! :)

After you did that, make another one. And show it to us. :thumbup:
 
Way better than my one (and only!) attempt at knifemaking back in my late teens. Well done. :thumbup:

Looks like a decent neck knife.
 
Thanks guys, if i had more time and some more tools i might have finished it off a bit more. My grandad has a blow torch so i might try heat treating the blade and then finish it properly(bigger finger guard, sand and polish the blade)

This certainly wont be the last i try and make!
 
If it was steel found in a workshop, chances are good that it's just a mild steel (A36?) and won't take any appreciable hardness or edge, no matter how you heat treat.

Fortunately, a few feet of medium to high carbon steel like 1075, 1080, or 1084 is relatively cheap, as well as easy to heat treat. You can make a rudimentary "forge" out of some soft firebrick and a propane torch, and be heat treating in no time. As for shaping the steel, you'd be surprised how nice of a knife can be made with little more than a couple of files and some sand paper.

Knife making is one of those hobbies that can be as cheap or expensive as you want it to be.

I'd suggest going over to the Shoptalk forum and reading through the stickies. Lots of great information put together over there.
 
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