Making my very first knife

T

The_Guide

Joined
Feb 1, 2009
Messages
604
So as one who has spent thousands and thousands of dollars on others knives, I have decided to take a stab (seriously, no pun intended) at making my very own..

I dont want to invest in anything too expensive, and have decided to do it with files, sandpaper, hack saw, clamps... um anything else?

Here is my proposed method... let me know what you think:

1. Cut out shape of knife with hack saw

2. Grind to rough shape with files (double cut mill bastard, single cut mill bastard, any other files I should grab? I hear a half round is nice... any others)

3. Continue removing non-knife metal with sand paper on block from 60 to 400 grit wet-dry paper until no scratches...

4. Heat treat (where? i have no idea...)

5. Finish sanding from 100 to whatever grit makes it look nice

6. Make handle scales out of really nice looking wood (i am a pro with wood, worked in a wood shop for many years, so no probs here, but what about mounting and pinning?)

7. Sharpen and use...

anything I am missing?

After i do this a few times I may wish to invest in some power tools... what would be the best order to buy things in? The tools that I know I need eventually are a belt grinder, a belt sander, a buffing wheel, band saw... what else? Considering I will probably only buy one at a time what is the best order to buy them in? Which one first?

Thanks alot!

Cheers!
:cool::thumbup:
 
Do you have any hobby makers near you? In my experience most are more than willing to have you visit and take a stab at grinding out a knife, just build a good relationship with them first........
 
Go to ebay or Blade and order the book "How to make Knives by Loveless and Barney.

It has the answers you are looking for.

Any maker worth his salt has it on the shelf.

Mike
Maker
The Loveless Connection Knives
 
Any maker worth his salt has it on the shelf.
Click to expand...

i've often suspected i wasn't worth my salt. i wouldn't mind buying a copy of that one though.

my first knifemaking book was Step by Step Knifemaking: You Can Do It - by David Boye. i found it pretty helpful.
 
Have you seen this ?

The Standard Reply to Newbies v6

The answer to a 13 year old student is different than to a 40 year old engineer, and you may have a helpful neighbour. We can often recommend a local supplier, but that depends on where you are.
Fill out your profile with your location (Country and State at least), age, education, employment.

Look at the stickies at the top, many are expired, but not all.

The basic process in the simplest terms
http://www.hossom.com/jonesy/

This is a very detailed set of instructions by Stacy Apalt.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=694673


Books

A list of books and videos on the KnifeDogs Forum
http://www.knifedogs.com/showthread.php?t=5285

BladeForums - E-books or book previews
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=603203

I like:
David Boye-Step by Step Knifemaking
Tim McCreight-Custom Knifemaking: 10 Projects from a Master Craftsman
These are clear and well organized, widely available and inexpensive too.

Knife Design:
On the google books thread, you can find
LLoyd Harding drawings
and
the Loveless book with large variety of proven classic styles.

Forging Books:
Lorelei Sims-The Backyard Blacksmith
A good modern book with great photos for forging in general - no knifemaking.

Jim Hrisoulas- has 3 books on forging knives, Check for the cheaper paperback editions.
The Complete Bladesmith: Forging Your Way To Perfection
The Pattern-Welded Blade: Artistry In Iron
The Master Bladesmith: Advanced Studies In Steel


The $50 knife shop
It is popular, but it confused me for a long time.
Forging is NOT necessary, you can just file and grind everything away to create a knife (stock removal)

The goop quench is total Bull, commercially made quench oils are cheap and easily available. Even a grocery store canola oil works much better.

Junkyard steels require the skills of an experienced smith to identify the steel and heat treat it properly.
You can buy proper steel like 1084 very cheaply.
(Mentioned in the new edition)

I like cable damascus, but that is an advanced project for an experienced smith and has no place in a beginners book.

The home built grinders are the best thing, but there is now a huge amount of info on home built 2x72 belt grinders on the web.
The revised edition of this book should have included this.


Videos

Heat Treating Basics Video-downloadable
http://www.archive.org/download/gov.ntis.ava08799vnb1/ava08799vnb1_512kb.mp4

Many specific how to knifemaking videos are available.
Some are better than others, but all better than nothing.

The best overall Knifemaking video I have seen is
“Steve Johnson-Making a Sub-Hilt Fighter”

The best video on Leather Sheath making I have seen is
“Custom Knife Sheaths -Chuck Burrows - Wild Rose”

You can see some titles and their reviews at this rental company,
Rental wait times are measured in months.
You can reviews and buy some of the good ones much faster than renting.
http://smartflix.com/store/category/9/Knifemaking

Green Pete's Free Video
Making a Mora style bushcraft knife with simple stock removal using hand tools and a neo tribal / unplugged heat treat.
"Green Pete" posted it for free distribution.
It is available here for those who can use torrent files. + plus more too.

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4995247/Greenpete_s__Knifemaking_Basics_-_Make_a_Mora_Bushcraft_Knife
You can also find it on YouTube broken into 4 parts.


Steel
The “welding steel” at Home Depot/Lowes… is useless for knives.
If you want to ship out for heat treating, you can use ATS34 or 440C, plus many others.

If you want to heat treat yourself, find some 1070, 1080, 1084,
1084 FG sold by Aldo Bruno is formulated just for knifemaking.

You can find lists of suppliers here
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=699736

Aldo’s website inventory is unreliable, call instead.
http://njsteelbaron.com/


Heat Treating
You do not have to buy a lot of equipment to start with.
You can send out for heat treating, 10 or 15 $ per blade
http://www.buckknives.com/resources/pdf/Paul_Bos_Brochure.pdf
This is a PDF brochure which gives good general info

http://www.petersheattreat.com/
http://www.texasknife.com/vcom/about_us.php
http://www.knifemaker.ca/(Canadian)
and others


Grinder / Tools

Hand Tools
You can do it all by hand with files and abrasive paper.
The Green Pete video does it this way.

Photo of a nice bevel filing jig .
http://www.flemingknives.com/imagesPrime/FileStation/KPicB007.jpg


Entry Level Grinders
Many makers start with the Sears Craftsman 2x42 belt grinder.



DIY 2 x 72” belt grinders

KMG Clone
Free Plans
http://www.dfoggknives.com/PDF/GrinderPlans.pdf

NWG No Weld Grinder
http://www.usaknifemaker.com/plans-for-the-no-weld-grinder-sander-nearly-50-pages-p-723.html

EERF Grinder (EERF =“Free” backwards)
Free plans
http://wilmontgrinders.com/EERFGrinder.aspx
http://blindhogg.com/blueprints.html

Buy the kit
http://polarbearforge.com/grinder_kit.html
 
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