My first proper knife build, lots of pics

A

Alfazulu

Joined
Mar 24, 2016
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Sorry if this is not the right forum. I was torn between General, Custom/Handmade, and Gallery, but ultimately decided to put this here.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to make a knife from an old Dewalt planer blade I had sitting around. I bought a $50 1"x30" belt sander from Harbor Freight and went to work. It turned out ok given the crappy blade material. It had holes every 2", was only about 1/16" thick, and about 3/4" tall. It wasn't ideal. After that, I wanted to make a proper knife, so I purchased some CPM 10V from AKS. I've always wanted a knife in CPM 10V, and figured it would be an ideal steel to learn on (hahahaha). I don't know if it's the best choice for a medium-large fixed blade, but it's what I wanted.

I drew up a couple of designs, settled on one, and went to town with the cheap-o belt sander. I wanted the handles to be removable so I used pivot screws from AKS to attach them instead of pins and epoxy. For the handles, I used black and white ebony. I picked it up from the local Woodcraft. It was a 3.5lb block that I found in their $2.50/lb exotic wood scrap bin. I got these handles and enough left over for another 3-4 knives. I'm very happy with the results for my first time.

Now I just need to send it off to Peters Heat Treat to be hardened. The edge is ground to 0.030", which is the minimum that Peters recommends. I'm hoping to grind it down to about 0.020" after heat treat, but know it's going to be a bear to work with. I tried to do 99% of the finishing before sending it off so I won't have much to do after but clean it up, maybe grind a bit, and sharpen. Now I just need to make a sheath for it.

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And here are some pics from the process:

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Nice work! It will be interesting to see how that harbor freight sander holds up after the heat treat.
 
Looks good. Nice work. I would prefer a round butt vs. how it is now, but I can see where it could be useful as well.
 
onojoe said:
Nice work! It will be interesting to see how that harbor freight sander holds up after the heat treat.
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It's not bad for $50, but I have a feeling I'll basically just be using it to scrape the scale off. I doubt it's going to make much of a dent in it. I enjoyed the process enough that I'm going to build a proper 2"x72" belt grinder. So, even if I don't get the edge down to the thickness I want right now, I should be able to later.

Jstrange, I wanted a shape that I could use for hammering (hence the longer, flat side), but also breaking stuff if necessary. I don't see myself ever breaking glass with it, but it will find a use. I do outdoor guiding (backpacking, rock climbing, etc.), so this knife should see lots of use.
 
Nice knife, nice steel. :thumbup:

Mind if I ask how much $ you will have invested in materials and heat treat?
 
jpm2 said:
Nice knife, nice steel. :thumbup:

Mind if I ask how much $ you will have invested in materials and heat treat?
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Not at all. The steel was $21, the heat treat will be $28.50, the wood cost $7.50, the screws were maybe $10ish. So, total materials cost is around $67.
 
Looks good! Sounds like we're about in the same boat equipment wise. I just finished a couple of 1095 blades hardened to 59 on my hf 1x30. I was actually surprised that I could finish the bevels out pretty easy. Just sent out an o1 kitchen knife getting hardened to 62 and I'm doing all the grinding post heat treat. We'll see how that works. I would think you could look around and find somewhere more reasonable to heat treat a blade it two at a time. Looking good and best of luck!

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 
josh81 said:
Looks good! Sounds like we're about in the same boat equipment wise. I just finished a couple of 1095 blades hardened to 59 on my hf 1x30. I was actually surprised that I could finish the bevels out pretty easy. Just sent out an o1 kitchen knife getting hardened to 62 and I'm doing all the grinding post heat treat. We'll see how that works. I would think you could look around and find somewhere more reasonable to heat treat a blade it two at a time. Looking good and best of luck!

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
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The little planer blade knife I made before was M2 already hardened to 62-64. I ground it in its hardened state. It was not easy, but was doable because the piece of steel was so small. It straight up ruined a band saw blade. I hope your kitchen knife is pretty small, or it may be a nightmare! Another thing you will certainly have issues with is drilling it. I hope you at least drilled it before heat treat. I couldn't even put a scratch in that stuff even with brand new cobalt coated drill bits. I eventually had to use a diamond tipped dremel bit to drill it. It was a pain. If you can get a carbide bit it should go through pretty easily. A kitchen knife is definitely in my near future. And as far as heat treating prices go, Peters will do 4-10 blades for like $114 or something similar. They have to be the same or similar steel, but that's a good way to save.
 
Ya it's drilled and ready to roll. It's not huge but I'm sure it will be a bear.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 
So, I had asked a question about this knife in another thread, and got an answer today. I'll post it here since it may help someone in the future.

My issue was that Peters Heat Treat, to whom I will send the knife for heat treating, says that you shouldn't grind the edge thinner than 0.030" for oil-quenched steels and 0.015" for air-quenched steels (if you go thinner than that, you risk potentially irreparable warpage during quenching). I had not acquired this information before I started grinding, and I also did not have my calipers with me while grinding, so I was just eyeballing it. It turned out that my edge was mostly 0.030"-0.038", except for the last 3/4" towards the tip. I had gone down to about 0.020" there. I was worried about this, because I assumed CPM 10V is oil-quenched, and this could lead to warping.

I received an answer from Brad at Peters today, and he informed me that they quench CPM 10V with nitrogen gas. That means the minimum thickness is 0.015". I am very happy about this, because that means I can grind the rest of the blade down to my desired 0.020" before heat treat. I was afraid I was going to have major problems getting it ground down after hardening. Anyway, problem solved.

I've also decided that I am going to add some 1/32" (or 0.030") spacer material under the handles. I counterbored the screw holes just slightly too deep, so the handles are not as tight as they could be. There are some very small gaps in between the handles and the tang, which I'm afraid would lead to water entering and corroding this non-stainless steel. The spacer material should solve this.
 
Not too bad. Just a heads up, iirc Peters rates hit a flat rate for 5-15 knives if you want to recoup your costs. Make a few knives (with stabilized handles or micarta) and sell them locally.

You might even turn a bit of a profit covering the cost of the grinder build.
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An option for your liners is some hard felt, not the soft squishy stuff.

Stick the felt to the scales with CA glue (cyanoacrylate adhesive) and epoxy that to the tang with your bolts to secure and hold it in place while it cures.

The felt will compress slightly and take up the small marks left in the spine and leave little, if any visable gap.
 
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NJBillK said:
Not too bad. Just a heads up, iirc Peters rates hit a flat rate for 5-15 knives if you want to recoup your costs. Make a few knives (with stabilized handles or micarta) and sell them locally.

You might even turn a bit of a profit covering the cost of the grinder build.
-----
An option for your liners is some hard felt, not the soft squishy stuff.

Stick the felt to the scales with CA glue (cyanoacrylate adhesive) and epoxy that to the tang with your bolts to secure and hold it in place while it cures.

The felt will compress slightly and take up the small marks left in the spine and leave little, if any visable gap.
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Thanks for the advice! My wife was also telling me I should make and sell some. I don't give a damn if I sell a single knife. When the wife tells you to spend money and time making knives, you do it!:D Worst case scenario I end up with 15 more knives that I can give away to friends. My toughest challenge will be deciding on one steel to make all of them from (to qualify for the Peters bulk discount). Dang that's going to be tough. I want to try one of each steel. Maybe one day.
 
Kwon Kwang said:
Beautiful knife! I'm inspired!
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Thanks! You should try one yourself (if you haven't already). It wasn't the easiest thing I've ever done, but it wasn't the hardest either. Plus, there's definitely something special about a knife you made yourself.
 
For your sake, look for ease of machining...

Good luck.
 
NJBillK said:
For your sake, look for ease of machining...

Good luck.
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Will do! The 10V wasn't easy, but then again, I've only ever ground on two steels, one of which was hardened. I have a feeling if I tried something easier, I would fall in love.
 
So after hearing from Peters that I could safely thin the edge down to 0.020", I did just that. For those that were wondering about the little cheap-o belt sander, I actually found out that it's much better than I thought. I bought decent belts. I had originally purchased some belts from Harbor Freight when I bought it. I now know they are absolute trash. I can't even describe the difference in the new ones (Diablo from Home Depot). I could have ground this knife in 30 minutes instead of 1-1.5 hours.
 
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