New guy, looking for books, ect

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panzerman

Joined
Feb 26, 2007
Messages
12
Hey yall,

I just ordered a knife kit, always wanted to try it. Its a cheap POS kit, but I just want to make sure its something I want to invest time into. I was hoping someone could point out a few exceptional books and videos for a beginner. Whether I enjoy the kit or not, I love learning new skills.

I had a few questions that will surely be answered by any book, but if you have time and dont mind, Id appreciate it-

1. I have been looking for a vertical grinder for some time, and since Im getting a knife kit, nows a good time to get one. I am on a budget, but I dont want to buy something I will want to replace in a year, any suggestions?

2. A mortised tang just means the tang is completley contained in the handle, right?

3. If I decide to attempt making a blade using stock removal, how hard is ATS-34 to work with?

4. When using bone/antler as handle material, is it cut into scales or used whole? I have been unable to find a tutorial on this.

Just wanted to add that this is far and away the most informative forum I have found thus far, kudos.
 
1. Coote belt grinder if your poor (relatively speaking, I went with the coote). KMG if you have the cash.

2. Not shure of this terminology, will let others handle it.

3. easy to work with, not so easy to HeatTreat. If you plan to send the blade out for HT then the sky is the limit, but I would start with cheap steel till your grinds are up to your own standards. 1080 and 1095 are easy to find and cheap, 1080 is a little easier to HT both are much easier than stainless. Some steels like CPM M4 have super low grindability and will eat up belts, but most knife steels grind pretty easy. 01 is a nice combination of price/preformance/ease of HT imo.

4. Either, deppends on the bone/antler and your prefferences on how they look. Also if you are makinga blade with a fully exposed tang scales will be wanted ect. Also if you are buying from a supplier they may only have certain horns in full and others only as scales.

http://www.cootebeltgrinder.com/

http://www.beaumontmetalworks.com/grinder.html

Edit: also good books
1. $50 knife shop
2. How to make knives
3. Blades How to make knives (diverse info, not all for the beginer. Still a great book and answers lots of question I had.

others will suggest more, but theres a start

there is a site that will rent you knife making videos for $10 a week I think it is, someone else will post a link, I cant remember the name of teh place. Videos are great because you can really see what the maker is doing.
 
Go to the public library. If they don't have any good books, you should able to do a search of nearby libraries and have your librarian request it for you.

I checked out the $50 knife shop from the library and liked it. It's written for beginners who don't have expensive shop tools.

take care
 
panzerman said:
2. A mortised tang just means the tang is completley contained in the handle, right?
Click to expand...

A mortised tang is a narrow one, using two slabs instead of a single piece of handle material. A "mortis" is cut into each slab to accept the tang. ABS MS Jerry Fisk says this on his website: ( http://www.fisk-knives.com/fiskcutlery.htm )

"I use both one piece handles and mortised tang handles for my concealed tang knives. Many times the mortised handle is better on natural materials. Natural materials has a tendency to move with the weather or as they dry out. Having the handle mortised allows the handle material a natural fault line so that it moves instead of cracking. When I mortise the handle, I cut the handle materials so that there is only a maximum total of .004 inch between the handle material and the tang thickness of the knife. This allows a good fit with a bare minimum of bonding materials."
 
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