Most and least favorite parts of knife making

Sean Yaw

Sean Yaw

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Apologies if there is a recent thread on this topic. I could not find one when I searched. I was wondering what people's most and least favorite parts of making a knife are? Here are mine:

Most favorite: Hands down, shaping handles. I love getting a blocky liner/cover/bolster in my vise and contouring it with files and sandpaper. That is when the handle material finally comes alive.
Least favorite: Starting. I don't like cutting steel on the bandsaw, profiling, and doing preliminary slipjoint fitup. I'm not sure why, but I never liked that part. Historically, most of my knives that don't see the light of day die in this phase.
Honorable mention: Hand sanding. I enjoy hand sanding (little slipjoints at least). The shop is quiet, I don't have tons of PPE on, it's peaceful.
 
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What I enjoy the most is holding the almost-finished blade in hand, and picking the material for the guard/handle/spacers from my stash, mixing and matching the colors and textures and grain directions and whatnot. I can't say I enjoy hand sanding as it most often reveals problems.
 
I like cutting out, shaping and drilling the blade blank. This is where the steel starts becoming a knife. After that I like grinding the bevels. After that I like cold stamping my name onto the ricasso. Then I do enjoy doing the jimping on the spine. Those are my favorite parts of knife making. I love making the blades. Then it's all down hill from there!
 
Favorite, first fit up on a folder.
Least, shop cleanup.
 
Most:
Sketching out the next blade I want to make.
Forging
Shaping the handle and the first time I wipe a finished handle with oil

Least:
Grinding and sanding plunge lines
Clean up after epoxy work
 
3fifty7 said:
Most:
Sketching out the next blade I want to make.
Forging
Shaping the handle and the first time I wipe a finished handle with oil

Least:
Grinding and sanding plunge lines
Clean up after epoxy work
Click to expand...
I forgot about that. I hate epoxy work.
 
Shaping handles is a favorite. While handle glue up is probably me second least favorite task I really hate surface grinding mill scale of PM steels.
 
Chossing handle material, oiling and buffing the handle is definetly on the top of the list.

Cleaning the shop is at the bottom, together with cutting the profile.

Hand sanding the blade and the handle can be zen.
 
Love drawing days when I get to create new designs.

Love profiling a rough blank and holding it in my hand as it should be for the first time

Love handle/liner/pin choice time

Love laser etching my makers mark and anything else on the blade

Love hitting a nice wood handle on the buffer and seeing it come to life

Love when I put a blade’s secondary bevel on and sharpness test.

Love when I finish a kydex sheath and the first pull and push are nice and snappy as they should be

Hate drilling holes

Hate glue up time. So messy and you pray the next morning no squeeze out occurred after the 90th time you wiped the bolster area.

Hate chasing mistakes

Hate kydex sheath day. If it was affordable I’d farm out all of my sheath making.
 
Great question, I was going to ask something similar......

My favorite part is the idea of actually making someone else happy by giving them something that they want. Hopefully I can do That.

What I have a problem with is still wanting to Keep the knife I made them.
I feel a little empty and sad once it leaves my hands.
I wonder if they really love them as much as I do?

I wonder if that is common with other makers?

Here is this week's sorrow.....



 
least favourite part is screwing something up so bad I can't really make it go away and just have to finish the knife and live with the knowledge and evidence that nothing I make will ever be perfect
most favourite part is finishing a knife, screwed up or not, so I can move on to the next one
 
My favorite thing so far, has been sharpening a finished blade. Especially particularly hard steel, ground thin. It takes a great edge, so easily compared to the mostly cheap knives I get in, to sharpen for others.

Least favorite. making sheaths. Leather work has been pretty much a completely new thing for me, not a lot of the skills I've had from other types of work have applied to it. I'm basically just learning as I go, and it can be pretty frustrating at times. Though it is still good to learn new things.
 
I do not like epoxy, it is messy and I just do not like it.

Nothing beats going up the grits sanding a handle and make it smooth and shiny with micro mesh 12.000!

I also hate it if life requires me to stop before I am ready.

I also love having a good idea in my head and being able to jump in and start it.
 
I hate straightening. I've become very picky about my chef knives being very straight and it's something that needs correction at seemingly every step of the process.

I wish this worked on knives.
 
I don't really like guard fitting. It's just fiddly and i can never seem to get the result i want.
I'm a big fan of handle shaping and finishing, it's enjoyable even with materials i don't like.
 
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