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Uh, oh! Not a knife, yet.

Lorien

Lorien

Nose to the Grindstone
Moderator
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Dec 5, 2005
Messages
28,880
A knife making friend of mine recently sent me a care package.

I'm super stoked to get going on it, and I just wanted to thank my Secret Santa for being such a cool cat.:cool::thumbup:

I guess we'll see what comes of this down the road. Hopefully it doesn't take too long!

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hehehe, i hope that file is what your gonna use to shape the whole thing, start to finish...hehehe, the blisters to come......:D:p

good luck, hope ya make a real stabby,choppy, sharp thingy do!!

andrew
 
Keith Montgomery said:
Your knifemaker friend has a cruel streak.
Click to expand...

Cruel? Perhaps... not for me to judge.

Lorien, if you take that file and chunk of stock and make a decent blade out of it, I promise you won't regret it. You will remember the sore muscles and the goofs you WILL make and you'll learn a lot about blade geometry once you get it finished and heat-treated and beat the dickens out of it. That, friend, counts as "paying your dues", even if you never attempt another project.

If you decide that kind of work isn't for you, that's fine too! If everybody made their own, where would us knifemakers be? :D
 
I'd really really really really make a sen. Did I mention making a sen?

Have fun. Keep that one sell the 20th you make :p
 
Keith, I don't think my knife making friend even knows what cruelty is! He is one of the nicest guys I've had the pleasure of talking to. I just wished we lived close enough so I could drop by his shop and help him wear out his tools:p

Will, I don't know what a sen is, but I've already started cutting, so it might be too late for that. I'm all about the goloks these days. This one is going to be fairly little. And let me tell you, there is no way in hell I'm going to sell any knife I make. I need another occupation like I need another hole in my head.:D

James, I'm right there with you. I wouldn't dream of using power tools, (well, except maybe a drill):D:barf:

Andrew, I love pain. Making knives could be my calling:p This one will be much more choppy than stabby. I have another one in the works that's a bit more stabby.

This is no WIP thread! I just wanted to share the joy and excitement of picking up a new hobby. Since I can't afford the hobby of Collecting, I figure an even finer venture for me is making these things for myself and maybe for my family and friends.

Wore out one hacksaw blade already:D
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Loren one good thing about making a knife this way, especially your first knife, the mistakes you make are going to be slow ones. :D Gives you more time to recognize them and get them corrected. Have fun, don't get in a hurry.
 
Excellent Lorien! Looks like your friend came up with the 1% inspiration. All you need to do is supply the 99% perspiration and it will be a work of genius!

Reminds me too of the words passed on to me to the effect that a guy should decide right at the start whether he wants to make knives or collect tools.

Cheers,
Dave
 
A sen is a Japanese tool that is basically a draw knife for shaving metal off. Used properly it moves metal almost as fast as a grinder.
 
Lorien, here's a free tip for you. You'll go through fewer hacksaw blades and files if you remove that gray stuff on the outside of the bar first. ;) If you have an angle grinder, that works great, or you can soak it in acid overnight.

On the other hand, if you want to enjoy learning all the fine points yourself, forget I said anything. :D

I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product.
 
Phillip Patton said:
Lorien, here's a free tip for you. You'll go through fewer hacksaw blades and files if you remove that gray stuff on the outside of the bar first. ;) If you have an angle grinder, that works great, or you can soak it in acid overnight.
Click to expand...

Thank you Phillip!

Harry- I appreciate your words of wisdom! Truer words were never spoken:thumbup:

Will, I think I know what you're talking about. Now I know what to call it so I can research that too. I have a feeling you've just saved me about 4 hours of time and some of my remaining hair.

Dave- "a guy should decide right at the start whether he wants to make knives or collect tools", is another awesome thing that I will ruminate on:thumbup:

Stuart, I have no idea what kind of steel it is. I think it might be an old mattress frame. Haha. My buddy is going to heat treat it for me once I'm done, so I don't really need to know;):D.
 
SBranson said:
This is an inspirational thread. What kind of steel is it?
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Canadian hacksaw resistant :p

Phillip.... shouldn't the new guy learn what that "funny black stuff on the steel" is on his own? :p

Lorien, vinegar works also if you don't have acid.
 
well, I had some acid, but...ok, I'll leave that joke alone. But thanks for the tip! I was wondering what kind of acid I'd need and where to get it. Now I can just pilfer the ole pantry:thumbup::cool:
 
I've been wanting to make knives for some time now and it never occurred to me to start so simply... wow...
Now I wonder if one of my neighbours would miss a leaf spring from their truck. :p

Hey Will, wanna send up a couple American hacksaws?
 
Phillip's and Will's advice is solid! Etching in vinegar overnight will eat that scale right off there... which WILL make it much easier to work. I'm thinking your knifemaking buddy is kind of evil, or he would have told you that.

Looks like a bar of 1084 to me. Maybe the famous Aldo's???

A sen really does work well. Funny thing about sens, people don't want to believe they will work, but I think a lot of folks forget that if you can remove chips with HSS lathe bits, drill bits, end mills, etc... that you can do it with a sen too. :)

That looks like a big 'ol Nicholson 14" file. I've got a couple dozen of them in my shop. You can REALLY lean on a file like that and move some steel. Keep in mind, the half round isn't just for filing round shapes. The round side has a smaller area of contact, and will really bite in when you want to hog material off. Then flip it over when you want to start blending everything in.

I'm excited to see what you come up with. :thumbup: :)
 
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