Where Did You Start

M

me2

Joined
Oct 11, 2003
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I would like to start making a few knives and try to sell them, but I have no idea where to start. Where did you all start? I mean here would be an obvious choice, but there is so much good competition. There are a couple of gun/knife shows here every year, but the makers there dont seem to do terribly well. As is often the case, getting started is the most difficult part, at least for me.
 
I think the best resource for starting making knives is to get inspired to do so by reading as many books on the subject as you can.

I'd recommend getting Wayne Goddard's $50 Knife Shop book. I was intimidated by knifemaking at first because I thought you needed alot of fancy tools. After reading that book I was hacksawing and filing a piece of steel clamped on the picnic table in my backyard, much like Wayne was doing in the books pictures
 
After you do the reading. Get yourself a couple knife kits and one of the cheap 4x36 belt sanders. You can make the blades later. Epoxy the handle to the blade. Start sanding and watch the knife materialize.
 
I started in my moms dirt basement. Never intended to sell anything. I just wanted to make a knife to take backpacking......now I rarely backpack but make knives in my sparetime :)
 
I bought a blade blank from Bob Engnath; his catalog had 3 pages of how to information, this is where I started.

Bobs information is on line, do Google Bob Engnath. There was 35 pages in the catalog when Bob passed on. This information is comprehensive and economical. You too can enjoy Bob's dry wit as it permeates the catalog...Take Care...Ed
 
I might suggest you start by just making your first knife and your first knives. The deeper answer to your question will come as a result of you making your first knife and knives. You may be supprised. Just from my limited experience I believe anyone starting in order to make a living is at an automatic deficit. I made my first knife because I was too poor and anyhow too cheap to pay the price for what I wanted. That is the why. This forum and specifically this portion of the forum is the how I was able to (on my second attempt that is - my first grinding attempt was a disaster, blade wise and finger wise).

RL
 
I was in the 10th grade in high school. Bored stiff in a Plumbing class at the Vo-Tech in the afternoons. The plumber took the older students (beyond high school years) and always did jobs leaving us high school guys to ourselves. The class was in the same room as the shop class so we had the shop teacher there but he had such a big class he never knew if we were there or not. It was a joke really but it did get me a start into making knives. I used scraps from around the shop and some plumbing stuff we had pulled or had left over from job sites.

My first knife was a Bowie made out of an old leaf spring, some oak from the shop class for a handle and a brass float bowl rod from a junked toilet tank that I cut up for pins to put the handle on and peen for retention. It got such raves from other people that I liked that more than the knife I think and I did more later. After a few years I was making several a week and later on I moved into folders. I don' t make many these days but I still do about 6 to 12 a year and keep busy with pocket clip and other misc jobs involving knives. Even when I was rocking and rolling and making them my knives were never a big expense. I used what I had and never worried much about recycling. I gave away more than I ever sold.

My first love has always been guns but with the expense of guns I moved to knives to save a few $ and keep the wife off my back. Even still cutlery has always been important to me also. I've always loved knives and particularly folders.

STR
 
It's not competition, it's inspiration :) If I was you I would not gear your thoughts to selling if your new, instead, set your goals in knifemaking to quality. As the other guys stated quality books are a sound investment. I own about 15 and they are hardly ever in the book shelf. I constantly double check myself. Once you have a sound product that will stand up to the tests of life the buyers will appear. It's very hard to sell something that you can not back up. Push for quality, not quantity, we have enough of that in this world. Good luck and happy grinding!!
 
I make knives, but I consider myself a tool maker. I can think up 20 new tools I need a day. So that gets me started on an original line right off the bat. I'm not copying other people's designs because the reason I got into this was to make things I couldn't buy. Then other people see what you have and some want it. I think that is one possible way to go about it vs. just riffing styles off what the other knifemakers are doing.

The other thing about it is performance rules with tools, and with tools you really get to test your work. If you make a woodworking gouge, and carve a violin peghead with it, you will learn whether the heat treat is good or not. Same with kitchen knives, or butcher knives.

Also get some simple steel you can heat treat yourself, otherwise it takes too long to get things done.

These are just suggestions there are lots of paths.
 
My first knife was from O1, thanks to inspiration from B. Goode. I couldnt get it to etch like his, but I polished it and it looks pretty good. It seems to hold up so far, but I havent really tested it yet. I've thrown it a few times, and it takes a very sharp edge. No damage yet. It'll get the real test when it comes turkey season. I heat treated it at home w/ some olive oil, and it seems to be about 57-58. We have a hardness tester at work, but the edge was the only thing I quenched, and its at an angle, and a little thin to try on the Rockwell machine. The guy at work I made it for is gonna be hard pressed to get it back if he doesnt claim it soon. I like it myself, but others may differ. The thing is, I have all these ideas, but it's really frustrating not to try them out. I'd like to try a big blade from S-7 (inspiration from Razorback), but that stuff is a little expensive. I guess I'll just keep plugging along and see where it takes me. Thanks fellas.
 
Is there any way to quote a whole thread? :D These guys have nailed it from every direction.

nozh_scrap said:
I think the best resource for starting making knives is to get inspired to do so by reading as many books on the subject as you can.

I'd recommend getting Wayne Goddard's $50 Knife Shop book. I was intimidated by knifemaking at first because I thought you needed alot of fancy tools. After reading that book I was hacksawing and filing a piece of steel clamped on the picnic table in my backyard, much like Wayne was doing in the books pictures
Click to expand...
That's exactly what got me started making - looking at pictures of the knives all those historical figures from the 70s were making. God, those guys rocked! One book I'd add is Knifecraft by Sid Latham. You new guys won't remember him but he was one of the original knife writers. You might find it in a library; I did, and photocopied the whole damn thing about 17 years ago. The pages are yellowing now but it's as good as it ever was. Fantastic book.

The next thing is just - make stuff. Personally, I've never built a kit knife (except DDR folders), just started in grinding. My first few knives were done on a wheel grinder out of files from my employer's tool stash. ;) One of those knives has been dubbed "The Mad Slasher Knife" by virtue of its having been the only blade so far that has resulted in my blood spurting across the room... Gone now, I miss that beast.

The point is, just make something! Roger said it and I second it. You'll be proud as all get out of your first knife regardless its "charms." Many folks start out with a hacksaw, file, drill and sandpaper. My first hammer was just the claw hammer I'd absconded with from my Dad's toolbox years before. I used a hand drill before I had a drill press and a hobby 2X48 grinder from TKS before I had an industrial one (which I also bought from TKS). You don't need specialized tools though those make the job easier; all you need is patience and desire.

Go for it!

(PS - don't worry about selling anything right off. Your work won't be competetive for a while and your time is worth more than anyone else's money. Make em and give em away or use the crap outta them. Sales will happen if you make enough knives. I no longer have anything I've made...but that wasn't always the case! ;))

Good luck and happy trails. You've come to the best place there is to learn and learn to make knives.
 
I started in the forge. I was a farrier first and then got interested in the blacksmithing end. It was only a matter of time before I got around to forging a blade. After I made the first, I started reading and getting more serious about it. I've made some junk...the scrap pile grows, and a few I like. I haven't tried to sell any but folks keep talking me out of them and I don't have a single one in my possession at the moment so I have to make another.
 
As you have just heard ....... Make a knife....how ever, where ever, do it the best you can with what you have....when finished with that piece...you will have just educated yourself as to what is required......thats either going to hook you or kill you.....either way will then know what it takes.

Good Luck:)
 
Personally the best way for me to learn anything is by OJT, I have to make mistakes and then try and figure out how to correct them or eliminate them on the next try. My first few knives resembled knives, in a way, but they did get better. For me it’s a creative out let. My entire family was very talented and I was the black sheep as far as artistic talent. It took a lifetime of trying different things and after 60 years I found I could make a passable knife and continue to do so. It’s a real bonus when you suddenly find out people will actually give you money for them. That’s nice, but not why I do it. If your like me I would say just jump in and do it after reading as much as possible off these knife boards.
 
Peter I like that link
http://gbrannon.bizhat.com/#links
I didn't
I know my knife making site was on there..it does add to it greatly. now I have another link I can add it to mine :)
(with sellable knives)
I started in the Navy 1974 as an MR (Machinist )
I thought I could do a better job than what I was buying
.. I was right:o :D
 
Dan Gray said:
I thought I could do a better job than what I was buying
.. I was right:o :D
Click to expand...

Exactly. The knives I see in department stores are crap. They're uncomfortable, ugly, and soulless. I'm too poor to buy the knives I really want.

So I started making them.
 
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