New hobby .. Need help / advice

F

Franck D

Joined
Jul 15, 2020
Messages
3
Trying to learn about knife making and try this as a new hobby. Want to try a chef knife, mostly by hand, and with a DIY mini forge.
Few questions:
1) I hear 1080 is easier to heat treat for beginners, and not too difficult to file or grind. would you agree?
2) What thickness of plate do you recommend to start with considering the final product would be a chef knife, and would be either mostly hand filed and ground with an angle grinder
3) saw on YouTube few DIY sfor hand filing the blades and a couple tutorials for mini forge made out of specialty bricks. Are they worth it ?
4) any other advice would be appreciated. I live in southwest Houston and would love to connect/meet a local hobbyist to get some pointers.
Thank you all.
 
Welcome to Shop talk.
Now that this is moved, it would be good if you fill out your profile info so we know where you live and a bit about you.

You need little more than a couple files to make a chef's knife. You can use a simple forge, or (if we knew where you are) someone may offer to do the HT for you.

Post some sketches of your idea and let the chaps here help fine tune your project.
 
There are a ton of knifemakers in your area. There may be one who will offer help, and maybe even materials.

Another good idea for new makers is to learn one skill at a time. Make the knife and let someone like JT do the HT. That way you will have a straight and fully hardened knife to finish up after HT. The cost is low and the quality is high.
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/jts-heattreating-service.1709977/
 
After hrs and hrs of research, learned 1084 is a great beginner steel for those who want to do their own heat treating. I think 1080 is in same boat.
 
jeepseahawk said:
After hrs and hrs of research, learned 1084 is a great beginner steel for those who want to do their own heat treating. I think 1080 is in same boat.
Click to expand...

8670 is super easy to heat treat, is cheap, and comes in thin stock for kitchen knives.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top