To little and to much...first knife build help

[drach]

First off i want to say howdy and aloha this being my first post.

Ive been building medieval plate armor for a while and was a machinist for a couple of years so I have some metal working back ground.

I currently have little room to work projects and may be moving around in a year or so, so I was thinking of grinding out a knife as it seems to be a more space efficient hobby. (sheet steel us rather large and hard to carry...and some of the really cool machines are to big to carry)

I do have a small anvil, a leg vise, buffing wheel/grinder, hand tools.

So anyway after reading so many posts that im ready to :barf: I think I have come up with a small list of things I need to get rolling.

1. What kind of steel and where to get a hold of some. Im just gussing maybe 1095. I wanted to make a tough knife that wasent stainless. So a high carbon steel would be the best ticket I think...Easier to work shape in then heat treat to harden and finish grinding edge.

I was thinking I would use drill, hack saw, angle grinder, sand paper, and files to get the shape of the blade...maybe buy a small belt sander to speed things along as my old belt sander ended up at a buddies shop.

2. Im really new to heat treating... So i figure i can A. wing it...or B. find someone that would heat treat for a fee if I do end up with something that at least resembles a knife.

I know there is a ton of stuff to take into account but i would just like to grind out a small neck knife and then maybe a larger medium knife. Does this sound reasonable? Any info would be great

Thanks for your alls time.

 

[Chris Meyer]

My suggestion would be to get some 1084 from the New Jersey Steel Baron, Aldo Bruno. He just posted something the other day about getting in a new batch of 1084FG. The 1084 will be easier to heat treat then the 1095, which gives you little or no time to get it completely quenched. Kevin Cashen wrote some heat treating info for 1084. It's still floating around the net and can be found here. (Incidentally, I believe that the question marks in the text result from some program's inability to handle the degree sign.)

 

[J.S. Carter]

your local Fastenal carries PGF A2 & O1, but I'd buy off of Aldo to, since 1084 is the BEST steel to learn on. Also dont be afraid of using some mild steel to practice on first. that way you didnt waste any good steel. Now about your degree marks, here's the proper way to do it press "Alt" and then 167 on your number pad to make the degree symbol º

(play with the Alt and number pad (Alt 1 Alt 2 Alt 3 etc etc) there's 256 different charecters it'll make in Win Word and most are transferable to everything else.)