Step Up To The Grinder!!

RandyW

RandyW

Joined
Dec 10, 2005
Messages
706
While I was down in Wilfred last..I mentioned to Reese that I needed a sheath to go with my dagger..I thought we could turn out some quick leather work in a few hours..RIGHT :rolleyes: So Reese says "Lets just get you started on a knife"..OK..it goes like this..First I cut out the basic pattern of a nice little drop point hunter..I hand it to Reese.." That looks pretty good for your first time"..Then you put it up to the grinder and start to shape it to the edge..I hand it to Reese "Hey..not bad. Now its time for the work to get started.." Well..I am not sure what they call that 3rd step in the process but that is where the belly meets the grinder..He gets me started just to show me how "easy" it is, then hands it to me. After a few minutes I hand it back to Reese for my critique. "What the heck did you do to it!!" Reese says. I spent the next 2 hours on two different grinders trying to flat grind and hollow grind. HEAVY INFAAASSSISS on the trying part.

I never thought it was easy to make a knife..but when you watch Tony, Reese and now Kerry do it with relative ease, it gives you a false sense of just HOW HARD it is to do with NO guides, jigs or magic knife making machines. I gained a total new respect for the guys out there making these knives by hand. It is truly an art and precise craft, not to be attempted by the squeamish, and I am not even getting into slip joints!!! :eek::eek:. So here's to you, knife makers of this forum..

If you ever wondered where the price comes from, for a custom slip joint or fixed blade. Just step up to the grinder..I guarantee it will open your eyes..:eek::eek:

I think KHam has a pic of what my mental shape was after 2 hours of grinding..He has my permission to post it. ;)


Tony said that this early folder, 1977-78, was probably ground on something he made out of a washing machine motor, setup on a picnic table. I guess with 35 years of blade grinding its not hard to make it "look easy". Heck..Looks like he had it down in pretty good in about 3 years..
 
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Confession time. :D.

Been to a couple of hammer in's, and all I can say is that this desk jokey can not forge or grind worth a hoot. Trying to make a knife is a humiliating journey for me. :thumbup:

I can say the the knives I have made are in the hands of A.B.S. Master Smiths or maybe buried in their back yards or stashed in the tent stake bag. :eek:

Have to also confess that there is now an anvil in my basement. Who knows maybe someday...I'll get a grinder and make some more tent stakes.
 
I can appreciate craftsman, no matter the craft.

I was an apprentice, starting officially at age 13, though lessons started before then.
One started with a broom and then dustpan, and graduated to a file.

One did not use a powered tool, until they learned to do by hand.
I am going back some years, back before Dremel tools for instance. I have never used or owned a Dremel tool.

Back then we had Foredom Flexshafts and electric "buffing" machines, still I was not allowed to use these, until I could do by hand.

We often made our own tools for our tasks, so carbon and tool steels were used.

I guess I was in the first grade when I wanted to make a ice pick with a squarish wood handle.
I mean how hard can a ice pick be, like the ones the Ice House had?

I am handed this piece of steel and wood by a Mentor with a grin.
"All right, you have seen me make a ice pick, go ahead and take your time".
Brain Fade set in the minute he walked off. *lol*

I could not remember what to do first, he happened to step back in and "how we coming on getting that wood prepped?"

(There was a clue where to start)

Well...for some reason that piece of wood was not very good, it sure would not square up, and I made an executive decision to make a round handle.
<taps head> Smart huh?

That piece of steel was not very good either, as it would do not right either.
" I thought you wanted to make an ice pick?" Mentor said.

I had "changed" my mind and made a awl. *ahem*
Ice picks are traditional, I ain't gonna share my first knife, you folks think I am that stupid?

One cannot have too many tent stakes or awls I say.



Steve
 
Good for you for at least trying it! most think about it, but don't ever get there. I did and then spent the last 3 years(hard to believe its been 5+ since my first blade..) trying to make a go of being a selling "maker". I thought it looked easy to grind, and found it easier than it looked, but i grew up running the same tools on wood; I had good training; Dads a old school hand tools carpenter, he has some stories that resemble the ice pick mentioned above. I just got out this month, the stress got to me. You think the learning curve for grinding is steep, try making a living at it...

What gets me is slipjoints. In a single blade its only one, OK, 2 moving parts if you count the spring... How hard can that be? BLOODY HARD! I say its magic. It has to be... no one can have that steady of a hand to grind and fit all the precission in these things. Magic.(maybe divine intervention is closer..)

Lets see your knife!

G.
 
Or has grinder envy...not sure which.

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Nice tent stake Randy.

That looks like a great self defense knife. I'd hate to have you throw it and whang me upside the head with it.
 
Not bad at all Randy.

Your tent stake would go for a heck of a lot more than mine would. :D.
 
&#8220;Many of the great achievements of the world were accomplished by tired and discouraged men who kept on working.&#8221;
-unknown

Keep on trucking my friend you can do it!
 
Not bad at all.

I have a buddy that decided one day he was going to become a knife maker, went out and built himself a propane forge, got a grinder, belt sander, etc, and has to date ground and attempted to harden 2-3 steak knife sized pieces... Even talked me into buying a hunk of steel.

Which reminds me, I have a couple of kits I need to assemble some day... :)

-- Sam
 
Wish I could take credit for what you see in the pic..but that is after Reese cleaned it up..I did leave a bit of skin, blood and a chunk of finger nail on the belt.. Its still fun and if I had time I would probably get set up and start working on a few for fun..one of these days.. ;)
 
Randy, I feel your pain. Last year, Jerry Halfrich let me do some grinding on a paring knife he was giving my wife for xmas. I was grinding away, thought I was doing good. Then Jerry looked over and yelled, "What the hell are you doing?!?!" Grabbed the knife from me and said, "You didnt leave enuf room for me to put my logo, and I'm not sure I'd want it on that knife anyway!" Took him twice as long to fix it up than if he'd ground the whole thing himself. The part that was hardest for me is that I couldnt see the part of the blade I was grinding, since it was pressed up against the wheel. I have a lot of respect for what knifemakers do.

If you want a sheath for that dagger, let me know. I'm getting the hang of the leatherwork.

Nice to see my ball and chain still hanging in the shop. At least I've learned how to use a knife.
 
RANDY, YOUR KNIFE LOOKS GREAT & YOU GUYS HAD FUN!!!!
Are you going to go with bone, ivory, stag...?????
Thanks for the progress report & look see!
 
Randy, you are lucky that you get to learn at the feet of the masters! But I personally would feel more comfortable if one of them didn't have that mallet in his hand!!
 
Hey, nobody's perfect. Takes time to train those muscles in the hands and wrists to hit the belt at the right angles and with the right pressure.

I started grinding out blades when I was 11 or 12. Just convexed a guy's lockback today. Much better knife now. Been really busy with other projects lately, and haven't been doing any steel work. Gonna have to keep doing it.

That's the key for anybody. I look at it as a hobby, but one that I had to keep working at to be any good at it. My dad is retired, and stays very busy making blades. If you want to be a successful commercial knifemaker, I've heard that the smartest think to do is get yourself hypnotized and pay the hypnotist to convince you that you don't ever want to make another knife.

On the other hand, if you want to make good knives, and make them better each time, and just do it for the love of the steel and the craft, then you really ought to. It is a mental and physical discipline that produces working art, in the form of one of man's most basic and oldest tools. That is why I love working on and making blades.
 
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