My First

I

Idkx

Joined
May 22, 2020
Messages
34
Hello All, I am new around here and am slowly gathering up my materials and tools to try and make something that looks like a knife.

For my first I'm going small. I want to go larger but for the first few I plan to go small. I will be using 1084 Steel, zebrawood scales, mosaic pins.. And unless I change my mind I will be shooting for:

20200603-153712.jpg


The bevels and lines are just quick sketched on there, will straighten it up more when the time comes.

I will attempt my own forge with some fire blocks and propane/mapp gas. I will be building that in this thread as well. The plan for now, (part of my reasoning for going smaller) is I will be hand filling most of it, I plan to also construct a file jig.

So quite a bit of work before the fun begins but I may just start and acquire/build whatever I need as I go.

Immediate needs:
Vice, cutting wheels for my angle grinder, respirator and finish cleaning/sorting my "workshop" area. (We just moved in a couple months ago, its where all the non essential things tended to go).

Hopefully this weekend I can get started with the cutout. Any/all suggestions are appreciated, More to come!
 
Good choice on the steel, nice design. You will appreciate small(er) when you start hand filing. My first was about that same size.

My best advice (within my limited experience) is plan on taking your time and definitely don't rush to "get her done". You will make mistakes. Just go with it. It's a learning experience.

For instance, on my first knife:
  1. I have a couple nice gouges in the side of the blade from where the file slipped when I was trying to be too aggressive. Those marks are part of the blade now. Lesson learned.
  2. The plunge grinds are not symmetrical (by a long shot) and while they are not really ugly, I did rework them. Twice. Figured out how I would do things differently on future blades.
  3. Even with 1084 I did have to heat treat a second time. First was too cool - I used a magnet but didn't let the whole blade heat sufficiently. So even though this was stock removal, I did have to go through the process of (re)normalizing the steel.
Good luck,

-bill
 
Are you going with something like a two-brick forge? If so I recommend throwing it in the oven at 200F for a few hours and then let is sit overnight before you light it up for the first time - it will help remove the residual moisture in the fire brick and reduce cracking. Also, propane should be sufficient for this size blade - no need for MAP.
 
wrankin said:
Good choice on the steel, nice design. You will appreciate small(er) when you start hand filing. My first was about that same size.

My best advice (within my limited experience) is plan on taking your time and definitely don't rush to "get her done". You will make mistakes. Just go with it. It's a learning experience.

For instance, on my first knife:
  1. I have a couple nice gouges in the side of the blade from where the file slipped when I was trying to be too aggressive. Those marks are part of the blade now. Lesson learned.
  2. The plunge grinds are not symmetrical (by a long shot) and while they are not really ugly, I did rework them. Twice. Figured out how I would do things differently on future blades.
  3. Even with 1084 I did have to heat treat a second time. First was too cool - I used a magnet but didn't let the whole blade heat sufficiently. So even though this was stock removal, I did have to go through the process of (re)normalizing the steel.
Good luck,

-bill
Click to expand...

Thanks Bill! I appreciate the suggestions, I have a couple rare earth magnets I'm going to attach to some sort of rod so I can test with during the heat treat. I plan to try and heat as evenly as possible and will be using heated canola oil (220-240 degrees if I retained that correctly lol)

I am trying to keep my expectations in check, had hoped to gift my first one to my father, but I may have enough steel to make 2 so maybe I'll keep this one and give the second :). Hopefully it goes ok!

I tend to over think most things, so by the time I actually get to making something I'll have ran through the whole process 10 times I'm sure haha.

wrankin said:
Are you going with something like a two-brick forge? If so I recommend throwing it in the oven at 200F for a few hours and then let is sit overnight before you light it up for the first time - it will help remove the residual moisture in the fire brick and reduce cracking. Also, propane should be sufficient for this size blade - no need for MAP.
Click to expand...

Yes, I have 3 total. From what I've seen I should be able to drill or cut out a chamber between the 2, then figured I'd use the 3rd as a back or something. Thank you for that tip! Are those things relatively safe to throw in our regular oven? The packaging makes it seem like it's going to kill me when I open it :D.
I may look for a small oven for the shop anyways, if I do I'll use it.

Which reminds me, I need a drill press as well.. Headed to FB Market place :). Thank you for the suggestions!
 
Just a side note, I got these files a while back for another purpose but have yet to use them. Hopefully they will suffice? Assuming the reviews were real lol, for my jig I may get another more expensive one specifically for that.

20200603-173518.jpg
 
Great looking design and awesome choice on steel. All too often first time makers have some crazy design and ask for advise only to ignore it. You have obviously read the many suggestions and taken them to heart.

Take your time and be methodical and you'll have a great knife you can be proud of and will be hooked.

Welcome to the community. There are so many great people here that continue to help me along.
 
scott kozub said:
Great looking design and awesome choice on steel. All too often first time makers have some crazy design and ask for advise only to ignore it. You have obviously read the many suggestions and taken them to heart.

Take your time and be methodical and you'll have a great knife you can be proud of and will be hooked.

Welcome to the community. There are so many great people here that continue to help me along.
Click to expand...

Thank you! And I most definitely will (take my time).
I saw your site you posted, beautiful work you do, if I can get mine to look within a quarter as good as those I'll be happy. Thank you for the reply and I look forward to sharing how this goes.

How do you go about making your Mark's? I've played with electrolysis in the past on other hobbys so I may try playing with that at some point. My wife likes printing vinyl stuff so maybe she can make me something up I can use as a stencil or whatever.
 
Idkx said:
I tend to over think most things, so by the time I actually get to making something I'll have ran through the whole process 10 times I'm sure haha.
Click to expand...
Nothing wrong with that. (depending on your definition of 'over thinking' I guess;)) I do it too and it's much better than not thinking and never running through the process. Especially when your dealing with explosive gasses and fire.
 
Idkx said:
Thank you! And I most definitely will (take my time).
I saw your site you posted, beautiful work you do, if I can get mine to look within a quarter as good as those I'll be happy. Thank you for the reply and I look forward to sharing how this goes.

How do you go about making your Mark's? I've played with electrolysis in the past on other hobbys so I may try playing with that at some point. My wife likes printing vinyl stuff so maybe she can make me something up I can use as a stencil or whatever.
Click to expand...
I use a printed stencil (laser cut stickers). I mask the blade with tape, stick the stencil in in the correct location on the blade, peel away the logo (it is cut,but not peeled away when I get them), then use H2SO4 acid to etch the steel. I use 5 minutes on stainless, for carbon steel you should do a test first. It is a very cheap and simple way of marking your blades.
 
Mark van Elteren said:
I use a printed stencil (laser cut stickers). I mask the blade with tape, stick the stencil in in the correct location on the blade, peel away the logo (it is cut,but not peeled away when I get them), then use H2SO4 acid to etch the steel. I use 5 minutes on stainless, for carbon steel you should do a test first. It is a very cheap and simple way of marking your blades.
Click to expand...

Where do you get those stencils?
 
Idkx said:
Thank you! And I most definitely will (take my time).
I saw your site you posted, beautiful work you do, if I can get mine to look within a quarter as good as those I'll be happy. Thank you for the reply and I look forward to sharing how this goes.

How do you go about making your Mark's? I've played with electrolysis in the past on other hobbys so I may try playing with that at some point. My wife likes printing vinyl stuff so maybe she can make me something up I can use as a stencil or whatever.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the compliment. I'm still quite new at this myself having only been at it for a couple years. For my logo I use a homemade etcher from a doorbell transformer and a bridge rectifier that allows me to switch between AC and DC. Lots of info online for this. I made my own stencils with the UV stencil material. They're passable but not perfect and hard to do small stuff. If I could do it over, I'd probably get a Cricket Vinyl cutter to do my own stencils with that. I think you can have stencils made up at Staples but I may be wrong.

The issue with the homemade UV stencils is that I'll get an occasional mark outside the lettering. I think gas can build up under the stencil and electricity can get to areas you don't want it to. This may not be an issue with the professional stencils though. I just like having the ability to put custom marks on the knives if the customer wants and always mark before the handle is mounted. Vinyl should work great because there should be no way to mark outside of the intended area and they stay put. Even though I tap my stencils down, I'm always worried they'll move.
 
Idkx said:
Yes, I have 3 total. From what I've seen I should be able to drill or cut out a chamber between the 2, then figured I'd use the 3rd as a back or something. Thank you for that tip! Are those things relatively safe to throw in our regular oven? The packaging makes it seem like it's going to kill me when I open it :D.
Click to expand...
Personaly I wil use that three briks in setup like on this picture /red is knife with spine up / and I will use weed burning torch. Moving torch over blade , you wil have more control on temperature and more even temperature /you see color of steel/ then moving blade inside chamber in that two briks ....Works flawless for me some yeras ago
lzwsqYY.png
 
Idkx said:
and will be using heated canola oil (220-240 degrees if I retained that correctly lol)
Click to expand...
You don’t need the canola oil that hot, that’s starting to get to the point of almost being dangerous, you only need to warm the oil to around 120 degrees Fahrenheit, and I agree with Natlek if you have a good torch you can set your blade inside your 3 bricks holding it with some long pliers and heat with the torch manually, it will help you not over heat the tip, start off heating the spine side just a little bit so it’s not pulling heat away from your edge, in low light/no sun look for a dull red then flip the blade and start heating your edge up just past non magnetic, this should be around a dull orange, bring it up a touch higher to a medium orange then go straight into the quench. The tip will heat up the fastest so try to avoid heating the tip as much as the rest of the blade then once you are really close to your target temp go over the whole edge evenly. Also if you use color to gauge temp make sure to move the flame away or move the blade where it’s dark so your eyes aren’t tricked by the color of the torch or firebricks.
 
Natlek said:
Personaly I wil use that three briks in setup like on this picture /red is knife with spine up / and I will use weed burning torch. Moving torch over blade , you wil have more control on temperature and more even temperature /you see color of steel/ then moving blade inside chamber in that two briks ....Works flawless for me some yeras ago
lzwsqYY.png
Click to expand...

Joshua Fisher said:
You don’t need the canola oil that hot, that’s starting to get to the point of almost being dangerous, you only need to warm the oil to around 120 degrees Fahrenheit, and I agree with Natlek if you have a good torch you can set your blade inside your 3 bricks holding it with some long pliers and heat with the torch manually, it will help you not over heat the tip, start off heating the spine side just a little bit so it’s not pulling heat away from your edge, in low light/no sun look for a dull red then flip the blade and start heating your edge up just past non magnetic, this should be around a dull orange, bring it up a touch higher to a medium orange then go straight into the quench. The tip will heat up the fastest so try to avoid heating the tip as much as the rest of the blade then once you are really close to your target temp go over the whole edge evenly. Also if you use color to gauge temp make sure to move the flame away or move the blade where it’s dark so your eyes aren’t tricked by the color of the torch or firebricks.
Click to expand...

Thanks Guys! I appreciate the replies, I will try that setup out with the bricks, and yes I should have said 120-140, not 220-240 :D make some fries while I'm at it lolol.

Clearing out the rest of my work area tomorrow then I'll get started! Cutting the thing out at least.
 
Whew. That took longer than I thought it was going to. Got a rough cutout.. hopefully a little grinder and file work will clean it up

20200607-131953.jpg
 
Getting closer. Bout to go fishing for the rest of the day, gonna try and finish this up if I can. Whew this is fun lol, glad I went small :D

20200607-141905.jpg


20200607-141913.jpg
 
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