Making Your Own Folders

Nathan Ihrke

Nathan Ihrke

Joined
Sep 28, 2008
Messages
864
So, I have been a knife enthusiast for most of my life and was curious as to what equipment I would need to start making my own and any links to sites where I could start pricing the gear
thanks,
Nate
 
Get a 2"x72" belt sander and you're halfway there. Heat treat is outsourced easily enough, though doing it yourself certainly would be ideal (though heat treat is by far the most sophisticated and complicated part of knife making).
I've never made anything, my brother has, pretty good stuff.
(I just modify everything I get)
 
The price of making a good folder isn't so much in the materials as it is in the time used to make it right. Cost in materials is about $100 but, that is buying extra steel being because its hard to just buy the size you need. Tooling can be expensive, but that would be a one time expense that you be spread out over a number of knives.
One of the most important purchases for making a folding knife would be to buy Bob Terzualo's The Tactical Folding Knife. It is the bible of liner lock folding knives, I have a copy showing up this week. It is out of print and you will have to do some searching to find it.
This link is a shopping list I got from another maker on what to buy in the way of hardware
 
Buy a box of wood paint sticks and practice grinding your edge technique on them and not waste good steel until you have it down....
 
Thanks for the advice guys, sounds like the key steps to getting this project underway is to get good instruction, a belt sander, and a good design. Im curious about what tools are needed to make the handle though?
 
Depends on the type of handle. Bare minimum: Drill press, hacksaw, disc sander or surface plate(flat piece of glass will do) for flattening the scales, clamps, sandpaper. This will probably be moved to the makers section.
 
Nathan Ihrke said:
So, I have been a knife enthusiast for most of my life and was curious as to what equipment I would need to start making my own and any links to sites where I could start pricing the gear
thanks,
Nate
Click to expand...

Why go anywhere else?There is more info on knifemaking here on this forum than anywhere in the world.Also lots of friendly helpful people if you get stuck or have a question.Take a look at the makers section.There are tons of newbie links.You can start out with a few files and sandpaper or go up from there.
 
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