Steel choice and tang question

J

Jlozo21

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Feb 1, 2016
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8
Greetings from Indiana!

I am new to the forum and have perused it for the past couple of days so I can start my first knife before too long. I just have a couple of questions I figured I'd ask.

I will start off by mainly making hunting knives.

Steel recommendation:
I have read that CPM154 and 1084 are good things to start on. I'd like to make a few knives for myself to get some practice and then I would like to make 5 good knives for my brothers, father, and uncles for before hunting season this year (or next). What steels would be good to start on and then a nice one to make knives for the family?

Hollow tang clarification:
I read about drilling holes in the tang or doing a hollow tang for great epoxy bonding. Does hollow tang mean that the tang is shallowed out a bit in the middle or do you cut it out completely so that the tang is a

Thanks for your time,
John
 
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Hi there John. Welcome to these forums. They are great if you are new to knifemaking or very experienced. i believe you will get a great boost in how to do things and be able to ask more particular questions if you read the "stickies" above .
Frank
 
I have been in the sticky thread and read a good handful of those links, and will continue to do so. I just was hoping for some clarification on the tang idea mainly, since I couldn't find an answer by searching. Thank you
 
I don't know what a "hollow" tang is either, unless it's for a Rambo style hollow handle for storing things. Maybe confusion with a hollow GRIND???? Don't lose sleep over it. You have a lot more important things to think about.

Heat treating steel is easy as long as you don't sweat quality. The more complicated the composition of the steel the more complicated the heat treatment is. It's also more problematic when you have more than .84% carbon in the steel. If you send out for heat treatment, pick out a treatment place and find out what steels they treat before picking what steel you are going to use. As you've probably read, 1084 steel is the most forgiving steel for home heat treatment.

The first knife you make is all about figuring out how to do things. Start small and simple, about the size of a paring knife for the kitchen. 1/8 thick steel is plenty thick for starting out. It's easier to build on small successes than grand failures. Do you have a design in mind for your first knife?

Good luck.

- Paul Meske AKA lonepine
 
Jlozo21 said:
Does hollow tang mean that the tang is shallowed out a bit in the middle
Click to expand...

Thats the way I do it, grind a hollow in the middle. As to what steel to use you first need to say if you are sending it out for heat treat or will you be doing the heat treat yourself. And if doing it yourself what kind of setup will you use.
 
Thanks lonepine and Spalted. I will be sending blades out for heat treatment. I am probably over thinking the "hollow" tang thing. I tried finding where I read it but it was talking about drilling holes in the tang or grinding it out for better epoxy bonding? Is this a good idea or nothing to worry about?

No design thus far lonepine. Like you said I will be keeping it simple but I don't know what I'll attempt yet.
 
Whats more important for a good epoxy bond are:

1) The quality of the epoxy. Use West system, Acraglas,etc. but stay away from whats at the hardware store/home center.

2) The flatness and roughness of the surfaces. Sand to maybe 120 grit, flat, true and chemically clean with no gaps.

3) The thickness of the layer of epoxy. Most manufacturers require maybe a .004" thick layer of epoxy.

Drilled holes, epoxy rivets etc. don't do any where near as much good as the points above. Some of the others may chime in with more advice or they may shoot me down.
 
Drilling lots of 1/4" and 3/8" holes through the tang will assure a strong handle bond. It reduces the surface of the tang, too, which makes sanding easier. On blades where I don't "Swiss cheese" the tang, I usually grind a shallow hollow down both sides of the tang. This makes sure there is a thin pool of epoxy between the tang and handle scales. If both are dead flat, the clamps can squeeze all the epoxy out.
 
If you are sending them out for HT both steels you asked about will work good.
 
Thanks a lot for the responses! Stacy that helped clarify my tang thinking, thank you. I feel like once I get a design made up and I get ahold of some CPM154 I am prepared to give the first knife a go.
 
Work on the design and post it in a new thread. Once it gets refined, I will be glad to cut the profile in CPM-154 and send it to you.
 
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