New guy looking for a knifemaker

P

Phylodog

Joined
Jan 1, 2006
Messages
3
I just registered and have been looking around for the last few minutes and noticed that there are quite a few knifemakers that are making some beautiful knives. I'm a little hesitant to stick around because the last thing I need is another expensive, time consuming hobby and I think I could get sucked in pretty easy!

Ive been a LEO for seven years and I am hoping to get back on my S.W.A.T. team after a two year break. I have been looking for a good "tactical" knife for the last several months to use in that capacity (which means that it most likely won't be used unless things are really bad). I've not seen exactly what I want so this weekend I decided to try to come up with a design that I like. I created a wooden replica of the knife I'd like to own. I will admit that I know nothing about knives or metal and I would like to find someone who could make this knife for me but I have no idea where to start, that's why I'm here.

What I am after is nothing complicated, 8 1/2" fixed blade tanto, holes in the handle to wrap with para cord and sharpened only from one side. I really like what I came up with but I do not know what makes a good knife or a junk knife so it may need to be changed by someone in the know. It will most likely be stored in a kydex sheath attached to my load bearing vest and not used as a cutting tool on a regular basis. I would probably lean towards a slightly stronger metal vs a better edge.

Any advice or offers to build for me would be greatly appreciated as well as any opinions about why what I'm talking about is nonsense :) (like I said, I know nothing about knives, I'm mostly a gun guy).

I'll be checking back for responses or feel free to email me at mcsdcop@comcast.net

Happy New Year!!

Phylodog
 
Well i can tell you i have been on this board only a short time myself..I have three projects on the go. Two knives (sort of) and a hachet(again sort of)
I picked up the hobby from a welder at work who has made knives since 1976..And i was lucky enough to find this site..
These guys are artists and craftsmen. And are glad to answer all the stupid questions i have thrown at them so far..
Unlike you i will take out a second mortgage to outfit a shop..LOL
And the friendlyness I feel on this site is unreal..
I have purchased one knife from Jim moyer, and am counting the days until it gets here.. I have looked a many others.Money being an object I can only purchase maybe one a month or so...
The collection is started with a damascus sidekick from Jim...
I Would say you will find no problem getting one of these fine craftsmen to custom build you a fine knife.........

Good luck and stick around...
 
That is encouraging!! As far as the money thing goes, I would love to be able to get into another hobby but I just got hit with a $15K/yr pay cut!:eek: :eek: :eek: So it'll be awhile before I can get into anything new, but I do need a good knife and I recently sold one of my other toys so I could get one. I thought about trying to make one myself but after reading about tempering, heat treating and different types of steel I figured I'd better call on someone with some experience since this thing may have to save my life one day. Bad time to find out I messed up a step in the process!! Thanks for the nice words Mike!

Phylodog
 
You know something I dont really know anything but i read alot... books and on here..But something tells me Knife making is alot like the guns you know about or tying flys or anything that takes skill..
It all takes time... There is a thread on the ugliest knife on here somewhere..These guys are humble enough to show us newbies what they started like, These guys are unreal helpful.
Have a look at some of the knives they started with..you might be making knives for all S.W.A.T team members in a few years......LOL
 
are you sure you would want the knife left flat ground on 1 side. those style blades make a cut that curves into and then away out the object being cut. it takes chunks out of the object instead of slicing cleen through it. but if you're going to use this in a knife fight scenario i guess you might want to take chunks out of the assailent. where do live i could give it a try but to get a propper heat treat we would need to send it off to a professional i think texas knife supply has a service on it and we could get the steel there. what type of a handle would you want on it? they have a wide selection from woods to micarta to ivory. if your interested give me a shout day_walker74003@yahoo.com or call me 1-918-907-0533 ask for Dale
i live in oklahoma

if your interested you could buy the materials and have them sent to me. and i can send you pics of the work in progress on here!
 
Lot'sof great makers out there that can help you with your Knife.Burchtree knives are great but here is another for you to check out that will work with you and makes great tactical knives.

Check out Bob Hankins here is his website,
http://www.urbansteelknives.com/

If you really want to make your own Blade you can have the steel heat treated for you by the Proffesional heat treaters so you dont have to worry about it not being done correctly.Allot of makers use these guys to heat treat the new steels.

Good Luck and welcome to the great world of Knives,
Bruce
 
I too would question the use of a chisel grind .Would you use the knife for other than just cutting ? chopping, prying ? If you want a really tough knife steel use L-6 or CPM 3V and suitably thick.
 
To be honest, this knife will spend most of it's like in a sheath. If I do need to use it, it may be for cutting, chopping, stabbing or prying. It won't be a knife that I use on a daily basis, I have a few others for that already. This one will be for getting me out of a bad situation where a gun won't help.

I appreciate the recommendations, if I can get it completed I'll post a pic or two for everyone to see. Thanks again!

Phylodog
 
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