Need advice

J

Jagged

Joined
Aug 15, 2001
Messages
355
My son (13) and I have watched quite a few Forged in Fire episodes and would like to try it. I thought we might start out buying some cheap old knives to sharpen, replace handles, reprofile, and etc before really diving in.
Would like to have nice grinder or something to sharpen knives, hatchets, axes, etc.
Not looking to ever make money or sell anything. Just mainly something to do with my son.
Any advice / recommendations on any of it?
 
Forget 90% of what you saw on Forged in Fire. It's a scripted TV show.
Go to the Shop Talk forum and read.
You don't need a forge (you can get one if you want) as there is no real advantage to forging a knife. Knives can be made from readily available bars of steel.
Heat treating anything except high carbon steel will require a temperature-controlled heat treating oven, or you can send blades out to commercial heat treaters fairly inexpensively.
There are finished blades available that you can put handles on. This is a great way to start out.
 
I recently bought a vevor 2x82 belt grinder, while 4x your budget it offers quite a bit of value for the cost and is easily modified to use 2x72 belts. I also bought one of their 1x30 belt grinders which I am using for sharpening but it seems to have all the same features of the 82 inch grinder but with a smaller belt. it came in at under 200 dollars and I have been finding it quite capable.
 
You can do a lot without power tools. A set of files and a good vise (pad the jaws) go a long way. Cut resistant gloves are a good idea for those who sometimes come too close to the edge :rolleyes: .
 
You can start with carbon steel blanks and do stock removal and work your way up.
 
The first knife I made was on a whim because it seemed like a cool idea. I had a couple knives made by my grandfather and my wife's grandfather that were made from old power hacksaw blades. That's how they rolled in the first half of the last century. I used an old hacksaw blade that was dull, some wood from the yard, and existing tools in my garage. The knife came out looking great, but make no mistake: power hacksaw blades aren't great knife steel. Nevertheless, the homemade knife still sits in the kitchen among my good knives and is used for mundane tasks like opening boxes. The exercise was fun and cost nothing.
 
RustyIron said:
The first knife I made was on a whim because it seemed like a cool idea. I had a couple knives made by my grandfather and my wife's grandfather that were made from old power hacksaw blades. That's how they rolled in the first half of the last century. I used an old hacksaw blade that was dull, some wood from the yard, and existing tools in my garage. The knife came out looking great, but make no mistake: power hacksaw blades aren't great knife steel. Nevertheless, the homemade knife still sits in the kitchen among my good knives and is used for mundane tasks like opening boxes. The exercise was fun and cost nothing.
Click to expand...

I like how you are resourceful. I have a knife made by my grandfather too.

But I will argue that powerhacksaw blades Do make excellent knife blades. In fact, I'd argue they are better than most knives out there.....

I make knives out of all kinds of steels, but it's still fun occasionally using PHS blades. Their high carbide content and high hardness makes them cut, and cut, and cut....

*Just make sure the blade is HSS, and Not bi-metal ones
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20250919_115238258_HDR.jpg
    IMG_20250919_115238258_HDR.jpg
    151.5 KB · Views: 4
Jagged said:
My son (13) and I have watched quite a few Forged in Fire episodes and would like to try it. I thought we might start out buying some cheap old knives to sharpen, replace handles, reprofile, and etc before really diving in.
Would like to have nice grinder or something to sharpen knives, hatchets, axes, etc.
Not looking to ever make money or sell anything. Just mainly something to do with my son.
Any advice / recommendations on any of it?
Click to expand...

If you get some way of grinding, I could donate a hardened blank for you and your son to grind?
 
My most versatile grinder is a Rikon 1x30 variable speed sander. I used a Ken Onion with the blade attachment for a few years. It can do a decent job. My nod goes to the Rikon though.
Now most of my sharpening is done via Tormek. There are several Tormek knock off’s out there, I used a Wen till I got my T-8. If you do get a knock off the Tormek jigs are considerably better than the knock off’s.

Oh yeah, heat is the enemy! Don’t go slow or use excessive pressure, let the abrasive do the work. Make passes at 5cm a second. Belt grease isn’t a bad idea, especially learning.

For stropping, 1x30 belt loaded with Tormek honing paste will do the job. You can explore all the zillions of other emulsions as you get time. The KO has stropping belts available as well.
Good Luck!

Also, if you’re just getting started I HIGHLY recommend “Knife Deburring” as a critical read. If you’re anything like me, I had no idea…. You will never get your knife as sharp as you imagine it should be unless you can completely remove the burr. It can be challenging.
 
Crag the Brewer said:
I like how you are resourceful. I have a knife made by my grandfather too.

But I will argue that powerhacksaw blades Do make excellent knife blades. In fact, I'd argue they are better than most knives out there.....

I make knives out of all kinds of steels, but it's still fun occasionally using PHS blades. Their high carbide content and high hardness makes them cut, and cut, and cut....

*Just make sure the blade is HSS, and Not bi-metal ones
Click to expand...

My grandad made literally hundreds of knives out of power hacksaw blades from the 1940s-1990s. They were made from M4 steel, which is an excellent steel. He would buy them by the pound from a tool seller at a flea market. He had his favorite brands for blades; I think because some manufacturers would heat treat them harder (or not be differentially heat treated). He did have to grind them carefully to not mess up the temper. More than a few of his early ones were carried overseas in WWII and then Korea.

OP, I would recommend a small grinder like a 1x30 and getting a few ground and hardened blanks to put handles on first. Shaping handles can be a challenge; a lot of newbies will have thick, blocky handles. USAknifemakers and Jantz and a lot of suppliers have blade blanks.
 
Last edited:
Before I tried making a knife out of tool steel, I made one out of colored plastic (acetal scrap from work) all done with hand tools to see how the shaping process works. First knife I made was 01 tool steel all done with hand tools. Made a 1 brick forge from soft fire brick for hardening and a $1 toaster oven from a garage sale for tempering.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top