Yeah, I don't plan on apprenticing for a good while now that I've thought on it a couple days, it's definitely gonna wait until I've made a few knives and decide whether or not it's something that I want to at least try to make some money on. If I
do eventually get all the stuff I'll need to fix one up, I will probably try to make it as original as I can, but take little ideas from lots of things.
Thanks for the steel advice, would an old car leaf spring be any good? If not I'll get some 1080 or something.
And I do have some other possible plans, I just need to decide on which one I want to pursue or like usual figure out something completely different.
Thanks again.[/QUOTE]
Your putting the wagon way before the horse man. Start out and buy you some old butcher knives at garage sells or flea markets, and practice fixing them up with new handles, reshape the blade, etc. That will give you a idea if you like fooling with it enough to know if its something you want to get ore serious about and not got crazy spending money on equipment.
I guarantee you there's not a knife maker out there that starting making knives with a whole shop full of tools. Those are all things that are acquired over time as your skills and knowledge improve.
Dres and jt have the best advice. Starting out, just have fun with it, dont attach unnecessary stress to it. AND. Starting out, use known materials. Leaf springs, saw blades, sure I guess... just for starting out. But if you dont know the make up of the steel, its impossible to learn anything about making a knife function correctly. That is the ultimate goal and point of it all.
Wouldn't that be good practice though? I mean, if its free and you can try your hand at a good beater and see how ya like it. I've seen lots of old files, saw blades, mower blades, all kinda good stuff you can get free esp from your dads friends and around the farm. And if you trash it, nothing's wasted but time and that time is really experience so you actually gained.
Read above. Yeah we've all made knives out of those materials.but don't expect to put them out on the market and be anything other than laughed at. Just starting out you have the freedom to do whatever you want. But if you want to take a serious swing at it, like JT says, do it with known materials so you can get the heat treat right. Because without that, it doesn't matter how well the knife looks. Its useless.
Personally, I wont waste my time on materials that wont make a good blade. All the effort going into something that wont function to me is pointless. Not only that, ut if your name is on it, and its non functioning, people down the road will reember that one crapper before they remember 100 works of quality. So keep that in mind.
I pissed a old family friend off years ago so bad he still wont talk to me. His loss really because the reasoning was stupid. But he just wouldn't listen to my logic. He brought me a old counter weight off of a old window that came out of his grandparents house. He wanted it milled down into a blank and a knife made out of it. I said "no way" when he asked why, I said it wont make good blade material and it will be a useless knife. He said he didn't care, it would look cool and be a good keepsake. Still told him no. What happens is years down the road, after he dies or gives it away, the knife goes to another user and if its useless, and your name is on it. Guess who gets the blame for it.
I will try to keep the whining down. 
