UPDATED WIP - My 1st knife (and now 2nd) with no workshop

M

MarinMTL

Joined
Oct 8, 2014
Messages
25
Hi everyone,

I am a brand new member and this is my first thread. First I'd like to thank everyone on this forum for educating me about knife making!
I am a complete beginner and didn't know anything about knife making up until a week ago. I didn't even know what the word tang meant (probably because I am a French dude living in Montreal, so please forgive the few english mistakes in this post :))

I literally woke up one morning, wanting to make a knife. Don't ask me why, I don't have an explanation.

I've always been pretty decent working with my hands but I work in the video game industry, sitting in front of a desk all day, so knife making is pretty much the opposite of what I'm good at.

So once I knew I wanted to make a knife, I came across this forum, along with various other youtube videos and articles about Knife making for Dummies.

The trouble is, I live in an apartment in downtown Montreal with no space for a workshop and certainly not for power tools like the ones I see on knife making videos or forums (belt sander, grinder...pretty much anything electric).

So I decided to start with what I had: a couple of files, a dollar store hacksaw with some replacement blades, a few pieces of sand paper of various grits, a couple of clamps, an Ikea drill (yes sorry...) and a small balcony with a wooden Ikea table (again, sorry). Here is the process :

I started designing the shape of my knife. I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted, but at the same time I didn't want a blade too big to work on without the proper tools. Here is what I came up with :

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I started by cutting out the shape of my blade with the hacksaw. I thought this would be the toughest part but it was actually OK. Even with my $2 hacksaw, I managed to cut the entire thing in about 40 minutes. I kept sanding the edges between each part just to keep my morale up by seeing shiny stuff.

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As I didn't have a proper work bench, I just used on of my clamps to secure the blade to the railing of my balcony.

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Once I had the shape finished I started shaping the edge with a file, making sure to leave about a millimetre in the middle.

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I went to buy a metal drill bit for my wonderful Ikea drill and started drilling 2 holes (a slight design modification).
It was actually easier than I expected, even with my crappy tool.

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So now I have a blade that's ready (yes I know it's not heat treated of tempered but I figured that for my first knife and mild steel I thought I'd keep it simple, plus I kind of hoped it would still cut something in the end).

So I went to buy some wood for the handle. I settled for Wild cherry wood as I wanted to have a very natural finish.

After cutting the shape with my hacksaw and drilling the 4 holes, I cut the 2 stainless steel pins to the right size and went on to see if everything fit together... YES IT WORKS !!

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I decided to start shaping the handle without gluing (epoxy-ing?) it to the blade in case I made a mistake during the process.

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This is the part that took the most time for me. I would suggest cutting the rough shape as close to the final size early in the process to avoid having to file for hours.
After an afternoon of work on my balcony, here is the result.

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This is where I stand. I will go to the store tomorrow to buy some epoxy and finalize my knife.

More to come very soon. Thanks for reading !
 
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It's kind of a shame that you put all that time and energy into a piece of mild steel that can't be heat treated because your knife is looking really good! Can someone local give this guy a piece of real steel?
 
Thank you sir ! To be honest I still don't know what kind of steel I am using. For all I know, it coud be some good high-carbon steel. I have the rest of the bar I used. I plan on going to the store and have them grind the bar to try a spark test. I was told that could help me figure out what kind of metal I have. I'll try to post pics for you to help with the identification.
 
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Looks like a lot of effort went into making that one, and the results look very good. Yes, too bad it's a "mystery" steel. Frank
 
Hi Frank, thanks for the reply ! That "mystery" steel might not be a "mystery" for long. I am heading for the hardware store tomorrow. Do you think that "Spark test" could help me ?
 
Where did you get the steel from? Home Depot or canadian tire? If so, it's just plain mild steel.

Chalk this up to the experience that you obtained by shaping your own blade. Then make a REAL knife from some known high carbon steel. Send it out for heat treat, and then finish the handle.

Eta- actually, if you buy a piece of 1084 steel it makes a great functional knife. Send it to me and I will heat treat it for you.
 
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I find it impresive what you manage to create with the little space and tools you have.
Looking forewards to see more from your hand
 
Yup, outstanding job. So many people get wrapped around the axel with what they "need" and get paralyzed. As in, "I can't move forward because I don't have (fill in the blank)". Kudos to you for making do and putting forth the effort. Yet another example for people to take that they can make a perfectly good knife for themselves if they really want to. I started with files and rasps, too. You'll learn great lessons that will help you down the road. If I was closer, I'd heat treat your next one, too. Take up that other Canadian fellow on his offer and do one with some good steel.

Great job. :thumbup:


Jeremy
 
Great job!
Do you happen to know the name of who made the file, like Nicholson or any other branding?
 
Where did you get the steel from? Home Depot or canadian tire? If so, it's just plain mild steel.

Chalk this up to the experience that you obtained by shaping your own blade. Then make a REAL knife from some known high carbon steel. Send it out for heat treat, and then finish the handle.

Eta- actually, if you buy a piece of 1084 steel it makes a great functional knife. Send it to me and I will heat treat it for you.
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Thanks Shane. I bought the steel at Rona, a local hardware store/renovation center. They had no clue what the steel was but I plan to figure it our today or tomorrow.

Hengelo, McKinley, Jeremy thanks a lot for the support! To be honest, with the little tools I had I REALLY didn't expect to have a knife that looked like a knife. Worked out pretty well after all :)

Great job!
Do you happen to know the name of who made the file, like Nicholson or any other branding?
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Bill, if you're talking about the big file with the red handle, yes I believe it is Nicholson. I bought it at my local hardware store and went for the first big file I saw :)
 
Hengelo_77 said:
I find it impresive what you manage to create with the little space and tools you have.
Looking forewards to see more from your hand
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This!

I've woken up with the idea to "build something", and I can promise you, your results are much nicer. :D

Very cool!
 
Yeah we have rona stores here as well. The steel bar that they stock is just weldable steel, which is mild steel. They do not stock high carbon steels that are suitable for knife making. Check out knifemaker.ca for a canadian knife steel supplier. They will sell you smaller individual bars. Or you can go right to the source at http://newjerseysteelbaron.com

And feel free to pm me and take me up on the heat treat offer.
 
Your knife turned out really well! You should have a great sense of accomplishment for sure! Next one with some blade steel (I'm sure there will be a next one!) :)
 
MarinMTL said:
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I think I just figured out who painted that graffiti in the upper right of this picture :).

I'm really impressed with how clean this came out. I personally don't have the patience to hacksaw a blade for 40 minutes to get the rough outline. Definitely get some useable steel and repeat.
 
Marin, send me your contact info and I'll mail you a piece of 1084 and a few other supplies. You can send it back to me for HT.

I hope you catch the knifemaking bug.
 
Your knife turned out really well! You should have a great sense of accomplishment for sure! Next one with some blade steel (I'm sure there will be a next one!)
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thanks Jaid, there will be one for sure !

I think I just figured out who painted that graffiti in the upper right of this picture .
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That's actually pretty funny Zhyla ! I didn't notice the knife graffiti until I started to work on one ! (And I've been living here for over 2 years !) :D

Marin, send me your contact info and I'll mail you a piece of 1084 and a few other supplies. You can send it back to me for HT.

I hope you catch the knifemaking bug.
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Salut Patrice !! Great to hear knife making is well alive in our province !
I'll take anything you are willing to share, steel or advice, this is very appreciated ! I'll PM you tonight. Thanks again !
 
Also, quick question to you all. As you know I really don't have any space at my disposal, so I was thinking about buying a Dremmel rotary tool for some of the tasks. Is it safe to assume that a Dremmel with the proper cut-off wheel to cut through a 1/8. piece of steel (to cut out the shape for example)?
Thanks for the help !
Marin
 
MarinMTL said:
Also, quick question to you all. As you know I really don't have any space at my disposal, so I was thinking about buying a Dremmel rotary tool for some of the tasks. Is it safe to assume that a Dremmel with the proper cut-off wheel to cut through a 1/8. piece of steel (to cut out the shape for example)?
Thanks for the help !
Marin
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Yes. I used that for a while then moved on to an angle grinder. I now just use water jet. :D
 
The File would make a good knife, you would just have to have it annealed, shape it, then have it ht'd back up again. If it is an old Nicholson, it should be 1095 or close.
Patrice Lemée;14055141 said:
Marin, send me your contact info and I'll mail you a piece of 1084 and a few other supplies. You can send it back to me for HT.

I hope you catch the knifemaking bug.
Click to expand...

This is awesome, I love this place!
 
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