New here,

[gabrielrivera]

Hello,
I am new to this forum board and to making any type of knives. Made my first knife completely on a spur of the moment purchase. I make wood pens and the supply store was selling Tonto styled knife blanks for $10 so I thought what could it hurt, so I bought one...well now I've bought 20 knife blanks and love working on them.. So far I have only put kits together from Woodcrafters in Austin, Texas (kit is a knife blank and a wood knife scale).. I was just wondering how many people started out with kits like myself, and if there are any do you still build kits or have you moved up to making your own blanks as well?
I would also like to ask for some advice from some of the more seasoned knife makers here. Just a few questions if you don't mind.
1. Does everyone here make knives from scratch or are there others that use the knife blanks, and if so who has the best prices and best costomer service?
2. I am located in Central Texas (Ft Hood/Killeen) area and would like to know if there are any workshops I could attend in my area to learn how to make my own knives. If so, who would you recomend?
3. I understand that asking questions about pricing is not allowed here, but if there is an experienced knife maker here that wouldn't mind contacting me privately to answer some questions I have that would be great..

Gabriel Rivera

 

[Squirrel442]

Welcome to the forum.

Good to see you read the rules! That sure is a lot of questions, I like pictures myself. Reading was never a hobby of mine.

I don't have any answers for you as I only collect use knives, but once forum members know you are here to help out versus make a quick buck you'll get a lot of feed back.

Can you post a picture of the coolest knife you put together? Tell us why you like it ... etc.

I am new here also, the more you participate the more answers you'll get.

Look forward to seeing pictures!

v/r

Squirrel

 

[texas gun person]

Welcome to the forum. I am up to the north of you. I'm just getting into knife making. I have several blanks cut so far, and I've removed metal on a few of them. Been on hiatus the last few days as the fire department has kept me busy when I'm not at work. We took the big hit from an F4 tornado just last week here in my town that killed 6. Picked up a new drill press last night from Lowes, but didn't even have a chance to put it together because of more threats of large hail last night.

There are loads of custom makers here on BF. Check out this area, which is for the makers http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/806-General-Knife-Maker-s-Discussion

Here is the exchange where makers can post their work for sale if you want to look around, or buy something for yourself. Just be aware of the rules on posting things for sale if you want to sell some of your own things. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/672-The-Knife-Exchange

 

[gabrielrivera]

Thanks for the welcome guys,
Squirrel442- Here are a couple of knife kits I finished. Feel free to express your opinions...

This first one had a slim sheath made to fit inside a boot.. so this one is being used as a Boot Knife..

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I had a friend ask me to make him one with earth tones and this is what I came up with... the Sheath was left natural tan and clear coated.. looks great..IMHO


This is a picture of a Tanto Knife I made.. the picture was taken before I put the clear finish on it.


This last Picture is just the handle of a Tanto knife I just finished 3 days ago...