making yo-ur own tools

N

Nathan Gould

Joined
Jul 21, 2008
Messages
361
How many of you make your own tools? Today i made some tongs and a scratch guage, tommorrow i'll make a hardened file quide for filing ricassos, i've made vice jaws, a stick tang clamp, a bending jig for hook knives, my forge, etc.

what have you guys made, and what have you found to be useful?

cheers

Nathan
 
:D I made my shop ...
Not joking, I built my shop from ground, I built my forge, tongs, belt grinder, chisels, an anvil from a rail piece, anvil hardies, disk sander, electro-etcher, guides, jigs etc... It's not ending process, maybe I spent 3-4 times more time and effort to improve my tools and work space than making knives. I suspect it is so for almost all makers here...
 
yep:D i also built my shop, benches, am building an anvil, i made my own copper hide hammers, various driling jigs, and quite a few of my green woodworking tools, i also built the computer i'm typing this on- well, i assembled it, but i reckon most of it's probbably ancient history by now
 
Have only built the following so far and there is much more to go...

-2X72 VFD grinder
-table similar to MAP arm
-9" disk grinder
-knife vice
-filing station
-hardened filing guides
-copper clad sanding sticks
-electro etcher
-cyro tank for use with acetone/dry ice that holds -100 F for 8 hours
-air filtration system
-one horizontal forge and one vertical forge
-salt pot
-rolling anvil stand
-rivet flairs for kydex sheaths
-kydex press
-electric heat treat oven
-mini 20 ton press
-compressed air distribution system for entire shop
-welding bench
-pin press
-emergency stop systems for various machines
-quench tank
-portable PID that can control whatever I plug into it (e.g. temp in quench tank, salt pot, forge temp, temp of my coffee or simply taking a forge temp reading in a non-temp controlled forge)
-wood dehydrator that doubles as a fermentation heat regulator when brewing beer for the shop fridge. :thumbup:

I'm sure there is more but, that is all I can think of right now... :D

Eric
 
I am cheap. Actually I just take pride in being able to make what I can myself. I have built my 2" x 72" grinder, forge, kydex press, several jigs etc. I am currently building a heat treat oven and a disc grinder. Heat treat oven plans from British Blade forum btw. Just like galadduin, I have probably spent more time building and tweeking than actually making knives. Keeps me out of trouble though.:D
 
I have built a pile of tools. I think I spend as much time making tools as knives. some of them are

HT oven
KMG like grinder and some of the wheels for it
rotating platen
variable speed disk grinder with 12" and 9" disk
sanding blocks
a adjustable center line scribe
a jig to hold guard tightly in place for soldering
electric etcher
A filing jig for plunges and tang shoulders with carbide faces
my own forge
some of my tongs
wheeled bases for most of my equipment

here is my knife vise and a support bar. The vise has brass mounts in a regular vise (it has homemade brass jaws also) that is mounted off my small anvil. Jaws are brass and the top one springs up and clamps down via the T bolts. it also rotates by loosening the center bolt. I just made the bar. It has a line of staggered 1/4 20 threaded holes with brass bolts and wing nuts. That way once the blade is clamped in I can adjust all the bolts to touch and support the blade and lock down with the thumb screw. The bar was last nights project for my Oosic fighter project.

kniveviseandbar.jpg


kniveviseandbarx.jpg
 
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wow, you guys have made some pretty serious tools, i'm going through an engineering apprenticeship at the moment so hopefully i'll be able to get quite a bit more done after i've had my turn on the lathes and mills and learnt to weld. So far nearly everything i've made has been done with basic hand tools, i'm looking into a small disc grinder using a 1 hp motor and having a very simple "on/off" arrangement to save on fiddling wiht speed controls etc.

how have you guys made your grinders?
 
It would seem that quite a few knife makers like making their own tools. Sometimes it is because you can't afford to buy it, something high price like a 30 ton hydraulic press. Instead of paying a few thousand dollars, you can make one for probably less than $1000. Other people make their own tools because THEY CAN! :eek:, not caring if the time they spend making tools probably adds up to the cost of just going out and buying them :thumbup:, my hats off to those.

I've made a press, the stand for my leg vise, the stand for one of my anvils, the tables for all my big stuff, a couple of sets of tongs, forges, a killer stand for a real funky drill press, several fixtures for my mini mill.

You can see most of the stuff I made for my smithy by checking out my web site (listed below) :D
 
Mine is simply welded on top of my steel table. The parts are very cheap pieces but works well for me ...

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Changeable drive wheel attachment (either a Disc grinder or a buffer)
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I've built a number of things, but some that stand out are: a pretty serious injection molding machine, an automatic drilling machine that drills sixteen holes from two directions at once, and a CNC retrofit on a mill.

This is why I bought my KMG. If figure, if you can buy something off the shelf (for a reasonable cost) you should just buy it and save your energies for special projects you can't buy.
 
Kathan the machinist's point is valid. I just like to make things and sometimes have more time than money or another place for the money. LOL.

Nathan G. I did my mechanical engineering apprenticeship in my dad's shop, then went to Oilfield Exploration University and then continued my schooling with a bridge assembly fellowship, followed by metal fabrication shop classes. I took a couple sabaticals to study boat engineering applications in Commercial fisheries. I am currently taking mechanical applications, modifications and failures in an Oil refinery maintenance study group. :D Enjoy your education. I did enjoy a lot of mine.
 
I enjoy making things. I've made my house, my shop, a lot of furniture. In the shop I've made:
2 forges
30 ton forging press and many dies
digital heat treat oven
belt grinder
set up my coote grinder with a variable pulley setup (not step pulley)
shoulder filing guide
knife vise
electric etcher and stencil light box
all sorts of jigs, tool rests
stand and setup for gear reduction for one vertical bandsaw to cut shapes in metal
hardened stamps for leather or hot steel
wire feed welder cart
Disc sander
Of course benches and cabinets and all sorts of storage, stands etc.
Too much to think of. I make things instead of buying them for the satisfaction of creating things.

Alden
 
Man, you guys rock. Sometimes I think I'm pretty clever but then I turn around and get humbled like this! :thumbup: I love making stuff and naturally some of my tools are included, but I'm always hampered by not being able to weld. That's something I have to find the time to learn, just because there's so much more I could do.

Anyway. I made my variable speed disc grinder, all my benches (their tops are mostly bowling alley lane, which is great!), my anti-flinch stamp holder, a centerline scribe, a custom-angled angle for dovetailed bolsters, miscellaneous scribes and chisels and stuff. I even made my own shop knife! :D

I remember watching a Bill Moran DVD and being awed by the leather working knives he'd made himself. Some work like that is on my list now. It just goes on and on, doesn't it?

My hat is off to you men who have built so many of your major tools. I think that would be very satisfying, to both the wallet and the soul. Way to go! Thanks for the inspiration.
 
A good way to learn to weld is to start making things, then when you keep screwing up ask some one that knows what they are doing to point out what you are doing wrong,start burning rods then whack it with a hammer if it stays together its welded, if not grind it off and try it again
 
the thread said tools but it seemed to spread out to other things. I have been known to call them monkey boy and his sister. :D
But yes kudos to those who build it from scratch.
Cheers Ron.
 
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