Setting Up Shop

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pineywoods

Joined
Jul 14, 2003
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I'm setting up a shop to make knives. What equipment do you all think is necessary and then just real nice to have a round? I will start with ats sticks, and so on. I have plastic patterns made up. Thanks.
 
Yup !
1. Drill press (at least one if not two or three)
2. Belt Grinder (Bader III, KMG, Burr King)preferably variable speed but not necesarry at first. In the end I think you need two, one of each.
3. Dust collection system
4. Bench Mill (depending on what you are planning on doing.
5. Blast cabinet and as powerful a compressor as you can afford
5. Storage shelving and drawers for your washers, oils, stones, rags, rivets, nuts and bolts, screw drivers, fasteners, eyelets, spare bolster materials,pivot pins etc..
6. Water bucket for under the grinder
7. If you don't have a sink in your shop...build one !
8. A couple of vise in different sizes
9. Hand files
10. First Aid kit !!!
:D
 
Don't forget = a place to hang your 4000 different types of belts...:rolleyes:

I still don't have a good system...:confused:
 
Yeah, that too ! A peg board or something like that. With different pegs long enough to fit enough of each type of belt you use. I just use long screws.
 
Perfect timeing!!

A buddy of mine is asking the same question as well as what the capitol costs would be, except he wants to forge as well.

What's the dream shop and what would it cost to set up (assume you only need to spec space and equipment requirements as the building is there).
 
That's only the beginning. I stopped adding up the $$$$ when I got over $5000. The guy with the most toys when he dies WINS. It is addictive. Then you start buying all different woods, horns and etc.
Then forges, press, anvils and etc. God Bless You, you are going to need it.
PS: It is worth every penny and then some.;) ;) ;)
 
Everything Indian George said.

Plus I find that when I don't have the courage up for putting the finishing touches on a knife I make a new shop tool.

I go to all the makers web sites I can find and get ideas. Then I make one of my own. This weekend I made a comination straight line filing jig and hard sanding block. Based on a design from Vagnino.

Funny thing is these people will drop a grand on a new grinder, but get more pleasure saying how they built something out of scrap in the yard and $1.50 in parts. For example, here's my knife vice:

vice.jpg


Steve

Visit http://www.dfoggknives.com/tools.htm
 
Originally posted by indian george
Then you start buying all different woods, horns and etc.
Click to expand...
I have fallen victim to this already, George. I have enough wood to make around 200 knife handles and I keep buying the stuff when I see it. Why!?!? Oh, why?!? The insanity! :eek:
 
I got started making knives with the following tools:

One $50.00 drill press from Harbor Freight (that you can now get for $40.00)

One Craftsman combination 2x42 Belt/8" disc grinder cost $189.00 (now sells for $199.00)

Two old swamp cooler motors as buffers. Motors free, adaptors for buffer wheels about $5.00 each.

One old Skutt kiln for heat treating. Kiln free, new element about $30.00.

One chunk of railroad track used as an anvil.

Various hand tools, hack saw and drill bits that I had collected over the years.

Devin Thomas as my mentor - Priceless.

Wife that puts up with the madness - Also Priceless

I now have over $10,000 worth of better equipment including a JL 2x72 Belt grinder, disc grinder, surface grinder, mill, metal lathe, air compressor, computer controlled heat treating oven, real anvil, bandsaw and assosiated stuff to make everything work. I had to build a shop to hold it all cost $7000.00. Now I've out-grown it and I'm trying to talk the wife out of the $20,000 grand needed for a new better/larger shop.

The madness never ends.
 
The knives I made for my first TK article were made with A Wilton Square wheel, a cheap drill press,and a buffer... Under $1K of machinery...
Many have made due with much less than that...
Now I have 4 drill presses, 3 grinders, 2 of them JL horizontal and vertical, and the ole Wilton..
A couple saws, a mill, 2 blasting cabinets, and MUCH more on the list to buy... Its like a disease or something....;)
 
I spend more money than I ever dreamed of getting ready to make more knives....................

Like Bob Loveless said: "Some day I hope to break even making knives"
 
Originally posted by hso

What's the dream shop and what would it cost to set up (assume you only need to spec space and equipment requirements as the building is there).
Click to expand...

Dream Shop?!

You name it. Power Hammers, rollers, foundry setup, salt pots, CNC machines both lathe and mill. Torches, welders, plasma cutter, presses... the list can stretch for miles.

Right now I am busily concentrating on building nice new benches. I'm using 2-inch square steel tubing 1/4" thick and leveler feet, with nice 2" maple tops from McMaster-Carr. Hell yes it costs some righteous bucks, but justifiable when you consider your work surfaces as a tool.
 
In other words, how many acres do you have? enough to build the shop you are gonna need, someday? These guys offer some humor as well as solid advice. All I can say, think about how far you want to go with the making, then multiply a few times, as far as space.Then consider customer parking, inlaws that will show up for a freebie throwaway, ect. You get the picture. Also, you might want a room for a fridge and the allotted spaces for that new updated machinery you just saw on the forum. Remember, visiting makers and fishing buddies usually drink beer and pop, so the fridge is first priority. Add dings and dents to the fridge as soon as installed, to match the decor. Trust me, you won't go wrong.
 
John - your post cracks me up...

darn in-laws... :D
 
I've got 2 fridges in the workshop. I was going to get rid of them because they take up too much space, now I'm not so sure...
:D

Peter
 
Actually, and underground lair (oops, I mean shop) built in an old volcano would be the ultimate shop. No wait... actually a shop built by Odin himself, and presented to you personally at the gates of Valhalla... now THAT's the ultimate workshop.

...then you wouldn't have to deal with the pesky relatives dropping by. Your customers would be the gods themselves. Sounds like a good gig to me!
 
not to mention, good access to a large "forge"...:rolleyes:
 
Dan, you must have some of them, also. If you don't have enough, I'd be glad to crate some of them up and send them to you. With no return postage.
 
Originally posted by John Andrews
Dan, you must have some of them, also. If you don't have enough, I'd be glad to crate some of them up and send them to you. With no return postage.
Click to expand...
volcano forges?

:D

you mean a fridge? I probably don't spend enough time in my lil' shop to warrant having a fridge. I guess I probably need to spend more time to "earn the priveledge". That's the game I play with my 2 yr. old. He doesn't get to touch anything until he earns the priveledge. So far, the kid's doing great. He has already swindled me out of a set of files, pliers and some stubby scissors. :D
 
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