The Basic Set of Tools Needed For Knife Making

Status
Not open for further replies.
oooo. So I read that this thing spins at 3450 rpm. Is that too fast. I thought most 1x42's spin at half that usually. ???
 
I'm a little confused, you spent your entire knifemaking budget on a forge... that you're not going to forge with?
 
69_knives said:
I'm a little confused, you spent your entire knife making budget on a forge... that you're not going to forge with?
Click to expand...
It's pretty simple really. I dont want to forge shape my knives. I got an extremely good deal on a gas forge. I wasn't planning on getting into knife making already, but I couldn't pass up the $75 gas forge.
 
Ok, you live in a apartment. I feel you. I do to. So you do not want a grinder. That's a statement not a question. Go buy so.e Nicholson files and spend the money you would on a work bench and vise, or like I do a c clamp and 2x4.

The harbor freight 1x is ok at best for very light work. No idea about the craftsman 2x 42. I have been using a 4"x36" and it sucks. Bad. About useless actually. Grinders are the most important tool in knife making if you do stock removal. Oh, get a file guide and use chainsaw files to cut the final plunge. You can get em by the dozen and they are also good for doing file work on the spine.
 
gixxer1237 said:
Ok, you live in a apartment. I feel you. I do to. So you do not want a grinder. That's a statement not a question. Go buy so.e Nicholson files and spend the money you would on a work bench and vise, or like I do a c clamp and 2x4.

The harbor freight 1x is ok at best for very light work. No idea about the craftsman 2x 42. I have been using a 4"x36" and it sucks. Bad. About useless actually. Grinders are the most important tool in knife making if you do stock removal. Oh, get a file guide and use chainsaw files to cut the final plunge. You can get em by the dozen and they are also good for doing file work on the spine.
Click to expand...
I like the C clamp and 2x4 idea. Have no shame. The people who tell you you need a vise, just aren't skilled enough to work without one.

I do crazy sh!t in my apartment with power tools. I don't mind using a sander as long as I only use it for knives. If it's for wood, I would just go outside with the portable.

I think I will go with the 1x42 craftsman. I'd feel "way cooler" using a 2" belt like the pros do. I wish I could find a used 2x42 for $20 more but I can't. I'd have to go with something new. The 1x42 seems fine to me. I haven't heard any actual reasons why it would be bad. All I have heard is, a few different people tell me what the internet is convinced is the end all be all starter grinder and nothing else will work.

I can get it for HALF the price of the 2x42 and with a stand. The platen looks very sturdy on the 1x42, and I image I can do more detailed work with the 1" than the 2". I just may have to change the belt a little more often. Oh well, they are cheaper belts. I ground my first knife on a 1.5 year old belt in our machine shop at work and it goes at blistering speeds. It worked great for me.
 
Where are you at? Chances are one of these guys lives close and would possibly be willing to at least let you see how they do it. I spent 1 hour in a master smiths shop and learned so very very much.
 
gixxer1237 said:
Where are you at? Chances are one of these guys lives close and would possibly be willing to at least let you see how they do it. I spent 1 hour in a master smiths shop and learned so very very much.
Click to expand...
That's ok. I saw how I did it. ...and there is utube. You can do anything with youtube. I know two knife makers near me I could probably bug but meh.
 
Honestly I'd say you're good with that 1x42 craftsman. Since you don't wanna spent 150 on a new 2x42 that will surely be better than the 1x30, which deffinitely is not ideal, however, a number of knifemakers have started out with those and have made plenty of knives with them. From the way it sounds and from what I can tell from your view on tools, not to mention learning to cope with workin in an apartment, you'll do just fine with it. You can still find good belts for a 1X42, and you can also get a glass platen from usaknifemaker and put it on to make it easier to get nice n crisp bevels using a jig (like the kind made from angle iron). So yea, don't feel bad about getting it. as for a bench, what I still use, lol, is a wooden sawhorse with a 12x1" length of board (real wood, not partical board etc.) srewed onto it and I have a pretty cheap, but nice swivel/rotating vise from harbor freight that I clamped to one end of it, it can be screwed down as well but it attatches the same way C-clamps do.

Also get a numer of C-clamps and spring clamps for epoxying scales on and other various things. No need to get a pricey scribe/ height gauge, you can use a set of cheap calipers from HF that are actually pretty nice or use the drill bit method mentions above. Get some good files regardless of having that 1X42 and get some needle files from HF. And if all you are goin to do with your forge is heat treat blades you can save on tongs by gettin a long set of vice grips (that HF also sells). Get canola oil for your quenchant (since you aren't going to put out the $ for a commercial quenchant obviously) and and candy thermometer to check the temp of the oil as you pre-heat it on you stove top (in a bread pan etc.) Of couse this is assuming that you aren't goin to send out you blades for HT :cool:

Keep us posted with your progess brother, and a "shop" pic would be nice, or interesting rather :D :p lol Take care!

-Paul
________________
(some of my knives etc. www.youtube.com/Lsubslimed)
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the info on the tools. At some point I was going to have to do some research on what to use for the quench. All of that was very helpful info. I m on my way to get my 1x42 now.
shop pics may come soon but right now I'm working on oil in up my $40 maple top workbench that I got!


interestingly enough I took a longer look at the grinder that I used at work to do my first test night and I realize that it was actually a 2x42 Kalamazoo and not a 3x? like I had originally thought.

it has a half horsepower motor 3450 rpm motor speed and it worked ok but the width of the belt was actually a problem for doing the inside of the handle.

I may end up keeping this one by 42 even if I get something better in the future
 
dzlvs8 said:
It's pretty simple really. I dont want to forge shape my knives. I got an extremely good deal on a gas forge. I wasn't planning on getting into knife making already, but I couldn't pass up the $75 gas forge.
Click to expand...

Your info doesn't indicate where you live but if you live in an area where you could go out to the boonies ala Breaking Bad, take an anvil and a hammer; hammer out some blades in the desert, heat treat them and bring them back to your apartment, do a little sanding to get the decarb off, shape handles etc, you'd be set.

I used to tote my 100 Lb forge to and fro my forging location every weekend.
 
Alot of people use 1" belts as well on their 2X72 grinders or any 2" grinder for that matter. Usaknifemaker sells a beltsplitter, and people use the 1" split belts on the slack portion of the grinder to shape handles etc. and there is also a popular special type of J-flex belt sold with scalloped edges that appearantly works great for handle contouring and smoothing etc. Just a lil fyi incase you upgrade in the future :cool: And nice score on the workbench!

-Paul
_______________
(some of my knives etc. www.youtube.com/Lsubslimed)
 
I'm pretty sure if someone I knew ran across me forging knives out in the middle of knowwhere, they would have me committed. Speaking of doing weird things, I played with my grinder a bit today and my shop vac really didn't grab much of the dust that was flying off the grinder. Luckily it came with a stand. I will probably put it outside or move it to the bathtub when I want to do some grinding. :D. You gotta do what you gotta do.
 
Get a big neodymium magnet and place it in the stream of the grinding swarf, it will catch quite a bit of the refuse.
 
Why are you even asking questions here? Obviously you have it all figured out.

The "belt sanders" you're asking about would be a waste of money. Good files will do more, especially in an apartment.

But you already know more than I do because you have youtube. :rolleyes:
 
NickWheeler said:
Why are you even asking questions here? Obviously you have it all figured out.

The "belt sanders" you're asking about would be a waste of money. Good files will do more, especially in an apartment.

But you already know more than I do because you have youtube. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...


;)

Yea.
 
PT Doc said:
;)

Yea.
Click to expand...

Why are YOU even posting here.

How is spending a $150 on a craftsman 2 x 42 smart, but buying the craftsman 1x42 with the same motor for less than half the price is worse than files when you dont have the money for the 2x42. I was looking for a cheaper (than the 2x42) grinder and wanted to know if anything was wrong with what I was looking at.

Convincing yourself that the only thing that will make a knife is a file or a 2x42 is duuumb. I need an option that is less expensive than the 2x42 and you can't come up with one suggestion for anything besides "the ideal starter grinder" or a set of files. If you read any of this thread, you would know that I got the grinder for a very cheap price WITH a very nice stand. The same grinder without the stand sold on ebay for $135 today. That's double what I paid. So, when its time to upgrade, I will be able to sell this one easily.

If you want to believe that this grinder is worse than a set of files keep lying to yourself about what is adaquate, but please keep it to yourself while the rest of us add value to the conversation.


Anyway, FYI - Here is a pic of the grinder. It was used very very little. I bought it off of an older guy why made one attempt at making model trains out of balsa wood with it and then never used it again. It still has the original belts on it and they still have good grit on them. ....meaning, this thing has barely been used. For $70 including the $30 in gas to get it, I think its a great deal....and you should too.
10281174703_ec2ffe7bc5_c.jpg



As far as tools go, I already have most of the hand tools. So besides the tool box in the pic everything cost me a total of $175 (work bench, vise, drill press, and grinder).

Now I just need a floor mat and a shower curtain (don't ask it's for weird apartment workshop setup).

10281048656_cb2f32e9e0_b.jpg
 
Last edited:
Nick has skill and talent and knowledge to share if you would listen. He's saying that files are better, something that's been said here several times. I'm broke too. I want a cheap alternative to a good 2x72. My intense research has yeilded very little. Your also just compairing a usable grinder to a smaller version of something that is just usable and only looking at horsepower. With a 2" belt you get twice the grinding area which means twice the abrasive and twice the belt life. Two times the area also eats some of the horsepower that will cause you to make mistakes at OMG belt speed. That's one of the big problems with the cheaper grinders/sanders is that they only go flat out. So you would be smart to just use it for profiling and go files for the bevels anyways.
Blades can be made on the cheap but not without effort. I have driven hours to talk to a Master Smith and it was worth the gas inside 10 minutes. And if you don't plan to use it a forge for a deal is a waste of money. I know it's hard to forge in a appartment, I live in one. What I do is use a friends garage. You would be surprised how many people are into making knives and don't know it.
People here are completely willing to share knowledge and help but they rarely spoon feed it and probably won't at all when you seem argumentitive. It's hard to convey emotion and tone thru text. Be cool man. Just be cool.
 
gixxer1237 said:
Nick has skill and talent and knowledge to share if you would listen. He's saying that files are better, something that's been said here several times. I'm broke too. I want a cheap alternative to a good 2x72. My intense research has yeilded very little. Your also just compairing a usable grinder to a smaller version of something that is just usable and only looking at horsepower. With a 2" belt you get twice the grinding area which means twice the abrasive and twice the belt life. Two times the area also eats some of the horsepower that will cause you to make mistakes at OMG belt speed. That's one of the big problems with the cheaper grinders/sanders is that they only go flat out. So you would be smart to just use it for profiling and go files for the bevels anyways.
Blades can be made on the cheap but not without effort. I have driven hours to talk to a Master Smith and it was worth the gas inside 10 minutes. And if you don't plan to use it a forge for a deal is a waste of money. I know it's hard to forge in a appartment, I live in one. What I do is use a friends garage. You would be surprised how many people are into making knives and don't know it.
People here are completely willing to share knowledge and help but they rarely spoon feed it and probably won't at all when you seem argumentitive. It's hard to convey emotion and tone thru text. Be cool man. Just be cool.
Click to expand...

I did my first test knife on a 3450rpm (same as this craftsman) Kalamazoo 2x42 and it took almost three hours to grind it down from a 1/4 stock (yes, doing thick knives). Yes I was going slow because of learning and doing my first knife but filing is definitely not going to take less time than a kzoo 2x42. So if YOU want to file for three hours, go ahead, but I would much rather grind for 5 hours than file for two. If you wouldn't, then you need to learn that you are not in the norm.

My grinder is on a pedestal. I can put it outside. I can put it in the bath tub. I can put a mat down on the carpet and put a shower curtain up in my bedroom...grind by the window with a fan pointing out and have a big ol magnet next to the grinder.

.... So if you still want to win????? and tell me that filing is better than what I have.....haha, have fun with that. I don't know much about knife making, but that doesn't mean that I don't have common sense. I don't care how much experience someone has. If they are saying irrational/illogical things, they they are saying irrational/illogical things.
 
I have used both the 1x42 and 2x42 to make knives in the past. Both machines were high speed woodworking machines. The 1x was a 1/2hp Rockwell. It worked okay but could get bogged down under heavy pressure. I only had AlOx belts for that machine, so it would take 5-6 60 grit belts to rough grind the bevels on 1/8 inch stock. The 2x machine was an improvement in that it was 1 hp (as labeled, anyway). Better ceramic and zirc belts could be had from the online abrasive shops. But, it's really easy to screw up a blade at high speeds. You can spend more time and money fixing mistakes because of a machine like that to the point that it takes a lot of the enjoyment out of the hobby.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top