need advice!

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WhiteSavage

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Mar 1, 2010
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Alright so, I'm starting to make my own knives, I have 3,000$ saved up for machines- I want to know what certain machines you would buy! I'm making blades 4-8 inches long, pretty much typical knives will run me from 10 inches to 15 inches long!
Any certain grinders, polishers, sharpeners, heat treating ovens I should buy?
 
Let me be the first to say welcome to our addiction.

And of course the first to say that you should start by reading the stickies at the top. ;)

Patrice
 
My opinion....

1.) Buy or build a solid belt grinder. KMG, no-weld grinder, grinder-in-a-box, etc. You can set it up with step pullies if it's a NWG or KMG and save money over a true variable speed.

2.) Buy a solid drill press

3.) Send out your high alloy blades for heat treating for the time being until you can save up for an oven.

Of couse, if you're looking more at the forging side of it, you'll need to build a forge. I still think a 2x72" grinder and a drill press are the two tools I would hate to live without beyond all others.

--nathan
 
I agree with Nathan.A good solid grinder and drill press,all the oter equipment you can get along the way. Also good quality belts.A hand full of good files and your on your way.
Stan
 
This is probably a dumb question, but why a drill press? I have one, and used it to drill the holes in my handle for the pins, but I could have done that with my cordless drill as well.
 
zaph- drill presses can be used for sanding by chucking in a drum sander. Also, after drilling holes with a cordless drill on my first knife, I can say that it would have been MUCH easier using a drill press. I think they can also be used in sheath making by predrilling holes in extra thick leather, especially along the welts.
 
I've drilled holes in many things using a hand drill, and nothing beats a good drill press IMO. If you take time and square your table to the spindle, you are assured truly vertical holes with less wandering of the drill bit. You can control your depth precisely for corby bolts. You can apply a great deal of force in a directly perpindicular direction to the work. You can easily clamp the piece in place securely. You have better control of the force of drilling to reduce things like chipping out on the exit side.

I can set my blade down, line up the drill with my spot, clamp the blade in place, and just pull the handle to drill (adding a little cutting fluid from time to time).

Sure, you can probably get by with a hand drill for basic full tangs and pins, but once you move beyond that, a good drill press is worth it's weight.

--nathan
 
silver_pilate said:
My opinion....

1.) Buy or build a solid belt grinder. KMG, no-weld grinder, grinder-in-a-box, etc. You can set it up with step pulleys if it's a NWG or KMG and save money over a true variable speed.

2.) Buy a solid drill press

3.) Send out your high alloy blades for heat treating for the time being until you can save up for an oven.

Of course, if you're looking more at the forging side of it, you'll need to build a forge. I still think a 2x72" grinder and a drill press are the two tools I would hate to live without beyond all others.

--nathan
Click to expand...

Dead on

and with regard to forging, I say do 10, or 20, or 100 stock removal before you try to forge.

Variable speed on the grinder is nice and much more expensive to retrofit than install the first time.

Get the small wheel attachment for the grinder..1/2 or 3/4 or 1" wheel.

A drill press is a huge help;
a $ 200 import is not as good as a $1,200 make in USA industrial model, but not $1,000 better for your purposes.
Get what you can, hand drills are crap in comparison.

-and get a full set of drills,
Fractional by 64/ths, Numbers and letters.
You will get to know which ones you use most, but I think 1 of each is a minimum. It's nice knowing you have them all.

Bench vise - 6",

Allow $ for learning materials, books and videos.

If you don't have them, allow lots of $ for small hand tools, hammer, prick punch, a small machinist square, clamps...I just love Kant-twist clamps, their expensive but I love them.

You can make small specialized ones like a knife vise, filing guide, small hydraulic press for pin setting and stamping a logo...

Leave lots of $ for supplies: Belts, files, abrasive paper, steel, handle material...
I would hate to think about the $ I have in those items...

(with more discipline, I likely could have avoided much of this with better planning - ie plan out your first 10 knives, drawings, materials...and just buy those items...but pretty wood is pretty wood.)

Many many makers on here swear by a porta bandsaw, or 4x6" metal cutting bandsaw, but a good hacksaw with good blades will do a lot of cutting until you get one.

Forget a buffer, a nice satin is so much better than a poor mirror polish.
 
Why forget the buffer when the drill press can double as that as well. Get a arbor that can be chucked up and the wheels and you are in business. Variable speed also
 
True, argel. A drill press with a chucking arbor can get you by in a pinch, but it will be hard pressed to match the effectiveness (or the danger ;)) of a dedicated buffer spinning at 1800+ rpm. Since I don't really do mirror finishes, I only use my buffer to polish the edge when sharpening (if needed or wanted) and to very *briefly* buff handles when they're done.

--nathan
 
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