Recommendation? Newbie

G

Gornith

Joined
Dec 3, 2017
Messages
5
Hello all. Newbie here, and to knife making in general.

I've been interested in making knives myself for quite some time, but never had the means to get into it. I have a few tools in my shed now, and this Christmas is looking to maybe finish what hand tools I need. I doubt many, if any, power tools will be added to my growing selection, but at least I should be able to start something.

With that in mind, does anyone have a recommendation for an easy beginner knife that can be done with just hand tools? I was thinking something in 1095 that I can heat treat myself using my small, home made charcoal burning forge. I'm wanting to be able to do everything myself, without shipping it off to be heat treated.

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
If you have files and an angle grinder, a simple drop point with a full tang is fairly easy. Grind lines can be tricky so you may want to do a full flat grind. Just keep things fully FLAT. :)

My buddy has a video of making a knife using simple tools. He uses a forge for heat treat but other than that just an angle grinder, files and some sandpaper. http://www.beckerforge.com/videos.html (Fourth video down on this page.)

hope this helps, have fun :thumbsup:
 
1084 would be better for home heat treating than 1095. About the only power tool you need would be a drill (drill press would be better). Files and sandpaper and a lot of elbow grease. A hacksaw would help to take material off for profiling.
 
I would read the stickys at the top of the page. They have the info you need.
But 1084 for steel, hacksaw, or angle grinder, and a hand drill. It's tough. But it can be done
 
A filing jig is essential I think to bevelling the blade using only hand tools. I've bevelled with and without a jig, and no matter how good you are with a file, you can't beat the jig. It cost me $5 i think to make the jig.
 
Awesome, ty for all the replies...I'm looking into making a jig now, and also looking at a small brick propane forge I found on these forums thanks to a youtube video...looks like it would work much better than my charcoal forge.

I tried reading the stickies, but had trouble there. So many of the links are broken, or lead to dead ends, or sites that no longer exist. I was having problems figuring out what was good info and what was not.
 
I agree with Randy above. Make yourself a filing jig. Aaron Gough has directions on how to make one on YouTube. It's cheap, easy to make, and well worth your time. Unless you have some kind of natural filing skills, there's little chance you can get the kind of bevels freehand that you can with a filing jig.
 
I too am a newbie and made some progress on my first knife over the weekend. I put a Gough-inspired jig together in no time after a trip to the store for the right eyebolt and an aluminum rod. I can vouch that filing a bevel freehand would be impossible for a first-timer, but the jig makes it pretty straight-forward. My issue was not having a good free-standing workspace with decent lighting to clamp the jig to... you'll need more space than a typical workbench will provide. I ended up just clamping it to the kitchen table. The mess is nothing a shop-vac can't handle.

I used an angle grinder with a cutoff wheel to do the bulk of the material removal on the profile, which I think saved a lot of time. If you don't have an angle grinder, I'm sure you can substitute a hack saw and some elbow grease. I also used a bench grinder for a bit, which created more work than it saved, but I managed to get the gouge out eventually. Good luck!
 
Awesome, thanks all. I looked up the jig, and I think once the holidays are over and I have some free time I'm going to get everything together and start working on building a bigger, better workbench, the one I have now is kind of small and wobbly, and get that jig together to help with the bevels.

I'm also looking at a blacksmithing class that is available near my home for a decent price. I don't think they focus on blades, but being able to go to their shop and bang on some steel to get the feel of it, maybe I can start forging blades on top of stock removal blades. I have some of my friends around here keeping their eyes out for decent anvils, or anvil like objects, at some of the farm auctions they go to. They know what to look for, so I won't end up with a soft ASO.

I also found a woodworking store that isn't too far from my home. I went and checked it out, and it looks like they have some nice wood and stabilized wood available for handle scales.

With any luck I'll be ready to fully dive into blade making soon.
 
I'm actually already subscribed to Walter Sorrells, lol. He was one of the first I came accross and I've watched many of his knife making videos already.
 
1095 facepalm. Where does this keep coming from. Nothing against you at all. It seams like every new person that comes to the forum says thy want easy so thy are using 1095. 1095 is picky about heat treat and a back yard heat treat is almost garenteed to give you performance around the 1084 range if it does not crack. pick up something with a tad less carbon. Most people say 1084 but there are others that are simple to heat treat and have good performance. Take 5160 for exzample. It's a good steel and will quench in just about anything. Has a VERY low chance of cracking and preforums quite well. Yes it needs a little soak time but if your doing it in the back yard I'm guessing by the time you realise your at temp you have soaked a good amount of time. Also the nice thing is it's a common steel that most steel suplyers carry not just one. Not saying anything bad about 1084 but there are other options besides it.
 
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