Ottawa Ontario knifesmithing

J

Jorad

Joined
Oct 4, 2010
Messages
12
Hey Guys!

So I've been looking around for a general purpose knife that I like and I haven't found one that's exactly what I'm looking for. I wouldn't mind paying the money for the exact knife I want but since I cant find one I might as well make my own. I've actually dreamt about making my own for about a decade now but haven't really looked into it.

So I'm planning on making one out of O1.... in the future. Right now I'd much rather make one out of spring steel and make my mistakes there instead of messing up some quality steel.

I got myself a large piece of spring steel from an old trailer and I was wondering if anyone has some tips for straightening it out as its quite curved right now. I'm not planning on doing a forge as I'd much rather file, grind and sand it to it's intended shape.

Thanks guys.
 
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Never mind... I was an idiot and didn't use the search function first

mdoyle said:
If you REALLY want to use the springs you have, I have done it on many leaf springs. Take a piece of leaf spring, clamp it down to a steel table or a table with some straight steel clamped to it, heat it up with a torch or rosebud, til about cherry red, and gradualy clamp the piece you are straightening down onto the table. A little bit at a time is the key here or you will pucker the material. That's not what you want.:mad: Go slow and you will not have problems and you just might learn somethin on the way. Doesn't take that long. Once you have the entire piece clamped down flat, remove the clamps, heat the whole piece back up,(this will take a bit) and clamp another flat piece of steel on top of your spring. You are kinda making a hot spring sandwich at this point if that makes sense. Clamp at each end and in the middle, then let cool to room temp. This whole process is infinitely easier if you decide ahead of time that you need say a 12" piece of steel and cut it off first, instead of trying to heat and straighten an entire spring.
Good Luck,:thumbup:
Matt Doyle
Click to expand...
 
The PG O1 I buy 1/8 x 1 1/2 is still about $1 per inch & perfectly annealed
It cuts, files and grinds like butter.

Straightening a spring without a forge will cost you in terms of fuel and Oxygen too.
- and you will still will find it harder to work than PG O1.





Have you seen this ?

The Standard Reply to New Knifemakers v13

The answer to a 13 year old student is different than to a 40 year old engineer.
We may recommend a local supplier, or you may have a helpful neighbour; but that depends on where you are. We have members worldwide.
Fill out your profile with your location (Country and State at least), age, education, employment.

Look at the threads stickied at the top; many are expired, but not all.

The basic process in the simplest terms

Absolute Cheapskate Way to Start Making Knives-Printable PDF-Right Click and Save
Absolute Cheapskate Way to Start Making Knives-Website


Web Tutorials
Detailed instructions by Stacy E.Apelt

The Things I Advise New Knife Makers Against-Printable PDF

Handle Tutorial - Nick Wheeler-Website

http://www.engnath.com/manframe.htm

Books

A list of books and videos

BladeForums - E-books or Google books


I like:
David Boye-Step by Step Knifemaking
Tim McCreight-Custom Knifemaking: 10 Projects from a Master Craftsman
These are clear, well organized, widely available and inexpensive too.

Knife Design:
On the Google books thread, you can find
Lloyd Harding drawings
and
the Loveless book with large variety of proven classic styles.
Google books thread


Forging Books:
Lorelei Sims-The Backyard Blacksmith
An excellent modern book with colour photos for forging in general - no knifemaking.

Jim Hrisoulas- has 3 books on forging knives. Check for the cheaper paperback editions.
The Complete Bladesmith: Forging Your Way to Perfection
The Pattern-Welded Blade: Artistry in Iron
The Master Bladesmith: Advanced Studies in Steel

Machine Shop Basics -Books:
Elementary Machine Shop Practice-Printable PDF

The Complete Practical Machinist-Printable -1885-PDF
It’s being reprinted now, you can get it for $20 ish

The $50 knife Shop
It confused me for a long time.
Forging is NOT necessary; you can just file and grind to create a knife (stock removal)

The goop quench is total Bull, commercial quench oils are available, even grocery store canola oil works much better.

Junkyard steels require skill and experience to identify the steel and heat treat it properly.
You can buy proper steel like 1084FG from Aldo very cheaply.

I like cable damascus, but that advanced project has no place in a beginner’s book.

The home built grinders are the best thing about this book, but there is now a huge amount of info for 2x72” belt grinders on the web, including free plans.


Videos

Heat Treating Basics Video-downloadable
Right click and save this. Watch it once a day for 10 days and you will understand it much better.
http://www.archive.org/download/gov.ntis.ava08799vnb1/ava08799vnb1_512kb.mp4

Many specific how to knifemaking videos are available, some are better than others.

The best overall Knifemaking video I have seen is
“Steve Johnson-Making a Sub-Hilt Fighter”

The best video on leather sheath making I have seen is
“Custom Knife Sheaths -Chuck Burrows - Wild Rose”
-(Paul Long has 2 new videos, his sheath work is fantastic. I hope the videos are too)
Green Pete's Free Video
Making a Mora bushcraft knife, stock removal, hand tools, neo tribal / unplugged heat treat.
"Green Pete" posted it free using torrent files.
Be sure to look at the other titles too-The account index has disappeared, but search for LOTS of info.
Greenpete Knifemaking Basics-on TPB

You can see a list of videos and reviews at this rental company; some are worth buying, some renting…
http://smartflix.com/store/category/9/Knifemaking

Draw Filing Demonstration
YouTube video -Draw Filing-for a flat finish

Steel
The “welding steel” at Home Depot / Lowes… is useless for knives.
If you send out for heat treating, you can use O1, A2, D2, CM154, ATS34, s30v, 440C, plus many others.

If you heat treat yourself, find some 1070, 1080, 1084,
1084 FG sold by Aldo Bruno is formulated just for knifemaking.
http://njsteelbaron.com/
Phone # 862-203-8160

You can find a list of suppliers here

Heat Treating
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=9143684&postcount=7

You can send blades out for heat treating at $10 or $15 per blade for perfect results, and avoid buying the equipment.

This PDF brochure gives a good overview
http://www.buckknives.com/resources/pdf/Paul_Bos_Brochure.pdf

http://www.petersheattreat.com/cutlery.html
http://www.texasknife.com/vcom/privacy.php#services
http://www.knifemaker.ca/ (Canadian)


Grinder / Tools

Hand Tools
You can do it all by hand with files and abrasive cloth like the Green Pete video.
Photo of a nice bevel filing jig

Entry Level Grinders
Many makers start with the Sears Craftsman 2x42 belt grinder

Commercial Production 2 x 72” Belt Grinders
http://www.prometheanknives.com/shop-techniques-3/grinders

Mapp arm – Grinder Toolrest


DIY 2 x 72” Belt Grinders

KMG Clone Free Plans
http://www.dfoggknives.com/PDF/GrinderPlans.pdf

NWG No Weld Grinder
http://www.usaknifemaker.com/plans-for-the-no-weld-grinder-sander-nearly-50-pages-p-723.html

EERF Grinder (EERF =“Free” backwards)
http://wilmontgrinders.com/EERFGrinder.aspx
http://blindhogg.com/blueprints.html
http://www.atlasknife.com

Buy the kit
http://polarbearforge.com/grinder_kit.html


Safety Equipment
Protect your -Eyes, Ears, Fingers, Lungs - take off jewelry and put on safety gear.
Respirators
Chronic lung disease and cancer really suck the joy out of life.
The minimum I would consider are the 3M 7500 and North 7700 silicone half masks with a P100 Filter.
Use a VOC & P100 combo cartridge for protection against acetone and solvents.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=788837
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=726309


V13 Edited dead links
 
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I have actually. I have been going through a lot of the material listed here on the site. O1 for me is probably going to have to be shipped to me here in Ottawa from knifemaker.ca in Alberta which is going to cost quite a bit as well.... the thing I am trying to do is to use what I have available here to mess up on and then I can get some nice O1 to do a final... if I make a mistake on O1 it'll be like a 15$ + shipping mistake (even more if after the HT send off)... if I make a mistake on some spring steel all I've lost is time.

Actually if anyone knows of a Knife maker/blade smith or a place to get decent steel somewhere in Ottawa Ontario please give me a heads up so I can possibly get in touch with them.
 
12345678910 said:
The PG O1 I buy 1/8 x 1 1/2 is still about $1 per inch & perfectly annealed
It cuts, files and grinds like butter.
Click to expand...

I agree 100%. Precision-ground O1 is wonderful stuff to work with and it makes an excellent blade. It will SAVE you time and worry, and that's money.

If you're not set up for pro-level HT, send it to Peters'. The small cost involved will pay for itself in quality and peace of mind. :thumbup:
 
hey, just go to the local welding shop to get your O-1 its roughly $9 a foot and they will cut whatever size you want
 
In my opinion, you have received some excellent , experienced advise. Trying to work as a stock remover with recycled materials and not even having a good belt grinder to work it with can be a game stopper right there. Frank
 
well thanks a lot guys! Those are some great suggestions... I am su used to not being able to find what I need locally that I just assumed there were no good places to check. I'll try to find a welding place or fastenal
 
general grinding limited
22 irving avenue, ottawa, ON K1Y 1Z4

(613) 729-3011 ‎

looks like they can help ya
 
theevilmike said:
general grinding limited
22 irving avenue, ottawa, ON K1Y 1Z4

(613) 729-3011 ‎

looks like they can help ya
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up. I'll give them a call tomorrow. I think for now fastenal is my best bet. I'll be sure to update you guys with some cool ideas I've had a couple ideas that my be of interest to some of you.
 
Jorad welcome to the forum! You can buy o1 from here Metal Supermarket (613) 248-1444 2413 Stevenage DrUnit 6. Ottawa, ON K1G 3W1.
If you need to get it heat treated let me know when you get the knife ready to h.t. and i will do it for you.

Bob
 
Hey Bob that sounds great! I'll contact you when I get my affairs in order... its neat to know there are some knife makers around here
 
Jorad
Go to Acklands Granger and order Stairett O1 Flat stock.
Or Fastenall and do the same thing.
They will not charge you shipping and you can pick it up locally.
Dan
 
i pick up my O1 from KBC tools.. sometimes their precision ground stock goes on sale .. so far i think its the cheepest in ont for precision ground (at least that i've found so far )

unless your getting into forging, the old spring is too much trouble
- getting a piece of o1 tool steel is easy and easy to cut and file to shape, and send out for heat treatment .. .. it would be the quickest way to getting the knife you want
 
I live a few hours south of you in St.Catharines and iv had a hell of a time trying to find a dealer for steel. I understand your worry in messing up a nice chunk of steel but id agree with alot of these guys id buy the O1 right of the bat exept id order 2 pieces, learn on one and hopefully get the second one right aha. either way be sure to share your work and what you learn.
 
the local welding fabrication shop is where i get mine, not a bad price, like $8 a foot 01 tool steel 1/8 thickx1.5 inch
 
Greg Obach said:
i pick up my O1 from KBC tools.. sometimes their precision ground stock goes on sale .. so far i think its the cheepest in ont for precision ground (at least that i've found so far )

unless your getting into forging, the old spring is too much trouble
- getting a piece of o1 tool steel is easy and easy to cut and file to shape, and send out for heat treatment .. .. it would be the quickest way to getting the knife you want
Click to expand...

Greg thanks for that info!

Bob
 
welcome

i shoulda mentioned that it gets alot cheeper the wider the stock... so i tend to buy the 3/16" x 6" wide (36" long ) which is bout 100.27 ...but if you buy it only 1 inch wide and 6 pieces (to equal the same steel ) you pay 154.14 ...
- so you save bout 54 bucks ( every bit counts )

i also see their w1 drill rod 1" round is not bad price... fastenal w1 went way up in price now... too bad

on a side note ... Bob, are you going to the CanIron this summer ?

Greg
 
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