My Knifemaking Process - by Daniel Koster

Daniel Koster

Daniel Koster

www.kosterknives.com
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 18, 2001
Messages
20,978
Here you go - I'll save the first few reply spots and add pictures/videos as I go along. This is going to be a big work-in-progress. Who knows how long it will take me...I've got too much to do already...:D....So, it might be a while as there are 30+ steps involved below.

Feel free to ask any questions about the process or let me know if I left anything out.

Subscribe to this thread to get an email when I update it.

Thanks for reading!!

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Phase 1 = Pre-Heat-Treat


  1. Order steel, ship to waterjet company
  2. Waterjet company cuts the profile, ships to me
  3. Grind the bevels
  4. Drill the handle holes
  5. Clean up any irregularities in the profile
  6. Send off for Heat-Treat
 
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Phase 2 = Glue-Up



  1. Grind bevels to 99% finished
  2. Sandblast flats on blades
  3. Tumble blades to remove heat-treat colors
  4. If a Scandi grind - finish the bevel completely
  5. Cut/prep handle materials
  6. Flatten the inside surface
  7. Glue up liners as needed
  8. Drill handle holes
  9. Shape and match handle fronts
    [video=youtube;_57RNwF1v4o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_57RNwF1v4o[/video]
  10. Finish handle fronts completely
    [video=youtube;G0EisPGcs2k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0EisPGcs2k[/video]
  11. Counterbore for corby pins
    [video=youtube;bb0868bU0RM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb0868bU0RM[/video]
  12. Glue-up
 
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Phase 3 = Rough Out



  1. Cut off excess tubing/pins
  2. Flatten handle outer surfaces
  3. Profile handles to match tang
  4. Chamfer top/bottom of handle slabs
  5. Clean up tang profile on small wheels
  6. Rough shape handles, contours
  7. Fine sand handles
  8. Countersink lanyard tubes
 
Phase 4 = Finishing


  1. Hand sand and finish handles
  2. Finish flat/hollow grinds completely
  3. Grind/finish pommel strikes & swedges
  4. Synthetic material handles = bead blast and clean
  5. Natural materials = sand to 600 grit
  6. Deburr spine/tang
  7. Etch logo
  8. Sharpen
  9. Apply final finish by hand (oil, WD-40, or Briwax)




Wish me luck as I try to piece this all together!


I will write-up a separate process for kydex sheathmaking.

Enjoy!
 
Thank you for the info Dan..... Extremely interesting! Can't wait for the pictures :thumbup:
 
Added the first few videos.

I will apologize ahead of time.....these will not be coming in order....nor will I be paying any attention to using the same knife. It will be just whatever I happen to be working on...when I get some free time to mess with the video recording/uploading.

Enjoy!
 
Pretty darn neat Dan! Thank you for sharing! It's very interesting to see how these things are actually made.
 
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