Profile blank material

Phil705

Phil705

Basic Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2007
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364
I thought I posted this new threat this morning, but can't find it. So, starting over... I usually draw up a knife on grid paper, cut it out, trace the outline on the bar stock, cut it out, and put the paper silhoutte aside. I' ve never made the same knife twice, so no problem. Now I have some knife designs that I like enough to repeat. So I'm asking for ideas on making blanks for future production. What material? Wood, plastic, steel? And hints or tricks appreciated.

Phil705
Winthrop WA
 
You could just photocopy the original design a few times and store them in a binder. When you want to make that knife again, grab a copy and cut it out, then white glue it on your bar to cut it out of steel.

I usually make my designs on manilla folders, then cut the pattern out and trace it on the steel with a fine tip marker. I save all the patern I've made in a drawer in case I ever want to make it again.

Brad
www.andersonknives.ca
 
Hey buddy. What i do is draft it up in a solid modelling tool on the workstation and print it out any timeI need it.
 
If I'm only making one or two I just photocopy the original drawing. I save all of my drawings (and photocopies) in a folder.

One nice trick is sometimes you'll have a pattern that you want to make a little larger or smaller. Most copiers will let you scale up or down so you don't have to redraw it to the size you want. You can also make a bunch of copies of different scaled sizes so you can cut them out and play with them a while to decide what's best.

If it's a pattern that I like and will do multiples of, I'll cut it out of 1/4" plexiglas. Plexiglas is cheap, easy to shape, and being clear will sometimes make it easier to lay out on the steel when scribing the shape.
 
I would make them out of 1084. Who knows, you could even make a knife out of your blade profile one day, if you ever find yourself very poor from this knifemaking hobby.
 
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Phil - I have a few different ways that I make a pattern depending on if I think the knife will be made many times or I might just want to mess with the pattern again sometime.

If I think I'll want to use the pattern many times, I'll just use a sheet of plastic. Any sort of plastic will work for making the pattern, for liner locks a plastic pattern is very useful. I just use spray adhesive, cut the pattern out, glue it and cut/grind the plastic to shape. Any sort of smooth plastic sheet will work, I like them between 1/8" and 3/16", depending on the size of the pattern.

If the pattern is just being kept in case I want to go back to it later, I'll usually just layer masking tape on the back of the paper and cut it out. It takes a little care to make sure that it doesn't curl if you do this, but for basically one-off patterns it works fine for me. These sorts of patterns are usually just getting ground until they look "right" anyways, so the pattern only has to give me an idea when marking.

If it's a one-off pattern or something that I can print out, then I simply glue it to the steel and cut it out. The thing to watch for here is that if you're getting the steel very hot you will either end up getting the paper too wet or burning it.

I also keep screwed up knives to pattern off of. Sometimes I will photocopy a profile that I want to keep also.

I have seen some guys make them out of metal, most that I know use plastic. Hopefully that helps.
 
Hay Phil,
OF course I am a carpenter, so I rip a bunch of oak or hickory strips
1 1/2 wide 18" long, run them through the planer to about 1/8 thick.
Then I lay out the blade on one of these, cutout with scroll saw,
I have a drawer full. [The remaining strips are left, sort of, within reach of my 2 yr old gr-son. He will FIND a way to get them]
Jerry
 
Good ideas all, thank you. A couple questions: 1. I've not worked with 1084. Is it cheap, hence its use for a blank? Yes, I am broke from this hobby. 2. What do you use to cut/profile plexiglas and plastic?
Thanks
 
I use balsa wood for profiles. It is possible to cut it with stanley knife. It is light and you can find it at any thickness. Sometimes I put bevel also on those. You can find from model makers' shops. It is a relatively cheap material...
 
1084 is not expensive for blade steel, but it's pretty steep for patterns - I think that was supposed to be a joke of some kind.

I cut the plastic on the same bandsaw that I cut my knives on.
 
skilldust said:
Hay Phil,
OF course I am a carpenter, so I rip a bunch of oak or hickory strips
1 1/2 wide 18" long, run them through the planer to about 1/8 thick.
Then I lay out the blade on one of these, cutout with scroll saw,
I have a drawer full. [The remaining strips are left, sort of, within reach of my 2 yr old gr-son. He will FIND a way to get them]
Jerry
Click to expand...

Making a 3D pattern out of hard wood or cheap steel could also be used to form the sheath for a fixed blade knife, while waiting for heat treat, etc.

If you don't make your own sheaths, you could forward your pattern knife off to a sheath maker of your customers choice, to speed up the delivery date and
for photographs.

My thoughts. Thanks for reading.
 
I received helpful responses from Canada, Australia, Turkey, and a number of US states. This forum rocks! Thanks.
 
Ive made some patterns out of 3/4 inch oak strips but mostly plastic . The kind of plastic the cheap duo tang are made of they will work excellent I have sheath patterns and knife patterns made on them and never worry about getting them wet. kellyw
 
I use thin gauge sheet metal, everything else I tried caught fire when held up to the blade while being forged...:)
90% of the time I do it from memory.
 
Plain old cardboard. Usually from old drink cartons, yogurt boxes, anything heavy enough to maintain shape. Then I file them in plastic folder.
That way if it's a long knife I can fold the pattern to fit in the notebook!
 
I bought very thin aluminum sheet material at Lowe's. I spray adhesive on the aluminum sheet and lay my paper copy on the sheet. I then use regular cizzers to cut out the pattern. I end up with my paper copy on one side and bare aluminum on the other. I then scribe the pattern onto either Micarta or onto A36 plate. I do find, however, that I get a better feel of the blade using A36 than with Micarta. Once I have what I want I scribe onto O1 or 1095 or 15N20 or 1084 and I cut it out EXACTLY like the pattern. In short - when I have the steel pattern I don't have to think about ANYTHING when I am cutting except accuracy. Nicholas Jasper
 
I use plexi glass because someone gave me several sheets for free. It cuts fine on a bandsaw, and they seem to last forever unless you accidentally step on them or something.

Once I run out of plexi glass, I'll probably switch to whatever carbon steel I can get the cheapest.
 
I do mock ups of most of my knives out of a piece of cheap cutting board (ASFI I think is what the plastic is called) and so I usually just hang on to that.

Also, I know this isn't really your question but there are a few makers I know who grind profiles for multiple identical knives by drilling pin holes through several pieces of steel, stacking and pining them, and grinding them together. Someone had a WIP a while back in which he used such a method if I remember correctly.
 
Try Formica. Easy to cut and grind ; not affected by water; provides a solid edge no matter how many times you go round; and inexpensive. Frank
 
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