Welcome to the forums.
Please finish filling out your profile so we know a little about you and where you are (might be down the street from me?).
Read several books on knife making. The stickies at the top of this forum are full of New Maker info.
Best advise is to find a maker near you and see what it is all about. Don't buy any tools or materials until you have read up and understand the whole process. Attending a hammer-in is one of the best ways to get started,too.
Again ,welcome
Stacy
Not to side track this thread, but there is a big difference between zinc sickness,often called metal fume fever, caused by breathing burning off galvanization, and metal poisoning, which is far more serious.
The worry about fumes and dust comes from other far more severely toxic metals ,like cadmium , mercury, lead, and beryllium, which is why home melting of brass, copper, and silver can be dangerous if you don't know the source of the metals.
Metal fume fever is caused by breathing zinc oxide, which is what zinc turns into when hot zinc hits air (blue/white smoke). It will sicken you with a flu-like illness, which you will recover from.Not pleasant, and to be avoided, but not fatal.
Zinc poisoning, which is more severe comes from ingesting metallic zinc (breathing zinc dust) or absorbing it through the skin by extended handling/grinding. It is potentially deadly, by rare.
The confusion on zinc often comes from the fact that it is quite toxic to birds. Small amounts of zinc will give birds a fatal dose. If you google on zinc poisoning, you will see many hits on veterinary and bird sites.
Stacy
and I laughed when my grinder said "Do not grind magnesium"
