- Joined
- Oct 15, 1998
- Messages
- 3,556
Hi everyone!!
I've been toying with the idea of making my own knife from scatch for awhile now. This knife would be a kitchen knife. Five to six inch blade. Not your traditional french blade nor shape of a japanese vegtable knife. Something that could combine both.
I had a basic idea of what the blade shape should be but the handle design was kind of up in the air. I knew that I wanted full tang, scale handles.
One of the first places I found after I got my computer several years ago was Bob Engnath's. I went there in search of inspiration. He had a blade that looked " sort of, kinda, maybe" what I wanted to do...but the handle wasn't what I envisioned at all. Farther along in his catalog/site was an interesting handle on a totaly different blade. I free handed a drawing of both the blade of one knife and the handle of the other. Still not what I wanted but closer to the mental image that i had started with. After "stretching" the blade and angling the handle downward it was close. This rough drawing was then fine tuned again.
Next was the process of making the model knife itself. I wanted to go through the same steps that an actual knife would need. I wanted to learn the steps and look for any problems that might come up during the making of a real knife.
I went to a hobby center and bought a 2"x3/16"x36" balsa strip for about $1.25. It's cheap and very easy to work. It does require a light touch. A fingernail will scar it.
I drew the profile on to the strip then cut it out roughly with a saber saw. Here i learned that I have a good light set up. I only had to move one light to eliminate the shadows. The small work bench I have is large enough...barely.
I have a 1hp craftsman belt sander mounted upside down on the bench top. I began profileing the blade. The balsa produced lots of lightweight sawdust. Here i learned that the ventilation needed a serious up grade. I set up my shop-vac next to the sander. Added some pantyhose as a filter on that. Opened a window for cross-ventilation and added a window fan to exhaust what the shop-vac missed.
The shop-vac sander combo is loud so the hearing protection came out.
I profiled the blade, then used a magic marker on the spine of the blade to show grind marks. I also marked the centerline for the edge after the profile was done. I then ground the blade. It is a simple flat grind. I took the edge down to the thickness of a penny and the spine down to just leaving a hairline of the magic marker.
The handle was profiled with a drum spindle in a drill mounted on the benchtop.
The shop-vac had to be moved but duct-tape is cheap.
I rough shaped the handle scales to the general profile of the handle then tape them together and finished the leading edge to what I thought would be a good shape. The scales were just superglued on. I considered going all the way with the process and drilling/inserting pins but I could see no obvious problems with passing that step. It might come around and bite me later.
The scales were then sanded down to the shape of the profile then sanded down to a shape that filled the hand but allowed a light grip with the thumb and fore-finger.
If i can figure out how I'll put up a pic of my model.
As you can see I learned a lot just from making the model.
1 lighting needed minor adjustment
2 ventilation needed major overhaul
3 I had enough room to work...barely
4 after handling my model for a week I found out that I needed to change the leading edge of the scales. After a few minutes work with an emory board it felt much better.
5 For the light work that it is intended the 3/16" thickness would be too much. The strength and the weight wouldn't be needed.
6 A few edges of the handle needed to be rounded. Everything you do to the handle will affect the overall feel of the knife.
The handle to blade ratio seems good.
I'm glad i went through the steps with a wood knife. I learned a lot of things that would have set me back aways or even stopped me if I had just started in with a piece of steel. This way I know the design will be good even if it turns out that I can't grind well.
Still learning here...
Tom
------------------
~~TOM~~
I've been toying with the idea of making my own knife from scatch for awhile now. This knife would be a kitchen knife. Five to six inch blade. Not your traditional french blade nor shape of a japanese vegtable knife. Something that could combine both.
I had a basic idea of what the blade shape should be but the handle design was kind of up in the air. I knew that I wanted full tang, scale handles.
One of the first places I found after I got my computer several years ago was Bob Engnath's. I went there in search of inspiration. He had a blade that looked " sort of, kinda, maybe" what I wanted to do...but the handle wasn't what I envisioned at all. Farther along in his catalog/site was an interesting handle on a totaly different blade. I free handed a drawing of both the blade of one knife and the handle of the other. Still not what I wanted but closer to the mental image that i had started with. After "stretching" the blade and angling the handle downward it was close. This rough drawing was then fine tuned again.
Next was the process of making the model knife itself. I wanted to go through the same steps that an actual knife would need. I wanted to learn the steps and look for any problems that might come up during the making of a real knife.
I went to a hobby center and bought a 2"x3/16"x36" balsa strip for about $1.25. It's cheap and very easy to work. It does require a light touch. A fingernail will scar it.
I drew the profile on to the strip then cut it out roughly with a saber saw. Here i learned that I have a good light set up. I only had to move one light to eliminate the shadows. The small work bench I have is large enough...barely.
I have a 1hp craftsman belt sander mounted upside down on the bench top. I began profileing the blade. The balsa produced lots of lightweight sawdust. Here i learned that the ventilation needed a serious up grade. I set up my shop-vac next to the sander. Added some pantyhose as a filter on that. Opened a window for cross-ventilation and added a window fan to exhaust what the shop-vac missed.
The shop-vac sander combo is loud so the hearing protection came out.
I profiled the blade, then used a magic marker on the spine of the blade to show grind marks. I also marked the centerline for the edge after the profile was done. I then ground the blade. It is a simple flat grind. I took the edge down to the thickness of a penny and the spine down to just leaving a hairline of the magic marker.
The handle was profiled with a drum spindle in a drill mounted on the benchtop.
The shop-vac had to be moved but duct-tape is cheap.
I rough shaped the handle scales to the general profile of the handle then tape them together and finished the leading edge to what I thought would be a good shape. The scales were just superglued on. I considered going all the way with the process and drilling/inserting pins but I could see no obvious problems with passing that step. It might come around and bite me later.
The scales were then sanded down to the shape of the profile then sanded down to a shape that filled the hand but allowed a light grip with the thumb and fore-finger.
If i can figure out how I'll put up a pic of my model.
As you can see I learned a lot just from making the model.
1 lighting needed minor adjustment
2 ventilation needed major overhaul
3 I had enough room to work...barely
4 after handling my model for a week I found out that I needed to change the leading edge of the scales. After a few minutes work with an emory board it felt much better.
5 For the light work that it is intended the 3/16" thickness would be too much. The strength and the weight wouldn't be needed.
6 A few edges of the handle needed to be rounded. Everything you do to the handle will affect the overall feel of the knife.
The handle to blade ratio seems good.
I'm glad i went through the steps with a wood knife. I learned a lot of things that would have set me back aways or even stopped me if I had just started in with a piece of steel. This way I know the design will be good even if it turns out that I can't grind well.
Still learning here...
Tom
------------------
~~TOM~~
