Where?

R

Rayko

Joined
Sep 24, 2005
Messages
6
Tell us, where did you start out making knives and how? what tutorials/books or anything did you use? and how did you get the stuff together to make the knives? i am going to start with this in a while i guess so i wanted to know
 
I had a friend (knifemaker) show me the basics, working in his shop. When I was ready to buy my own stuff I knew what I really needed, and what I could get by without. I started with a Craftsman 2x 42", It is a good starter. I read all the big books, and learned alot that way. Frank Eaton
 
I started by looking at pictures in gun magazines in the 1970s. I read every article about every knifemaker I could find, read every book I could find, and drew pictures of knives on everything all the time. I made my first knives by grinding files on a bench grinder, eventually got a 2X48 belt grinder from a knife supply house. I used that grinder, a hand electric drill, and a claw hammer to make my first "real" knives from 440C. I had them heat treated at Texas Knifemaker's.

A good way to see if you have the patience to do this is to buy a kit knife from one of the supply houses and put a handle on it. If you're really brave you can try hand sanding a good finish onto the blade before you build the handle. Maybe even make your own sheath. You can do all this work with sandpaper, files and a drill, probably stuff you already have around the house. That way you haven't sunk a lot of money into specialized tools before you realize how much freakin work making a knife is!

The best way to get information here is to ask very specific questions, one at a time, for each step as you're working on it. You'll get the benefit of an unbelievable amount of experience from the fine craftsmen here. You cannot find a better place to get advice than Shop Talk, as far as I'm concerned. ;) Good luck and Have Fun.
 
In addition, there are some awesome knifemaking DVDs out there. They really show in great detail the process. Frank Eaton
 
I decided to make some knives for my kids for Christmas. I had a used power hacksaw blade that I cut and ground down into a skinner blade. After Acra Glassing some antler and some knotty Osage orange, plus about a dozen assorted spacers of pure silver and brass onto the tang, I put a mirror polish on the blade with my Dremel. Yes, a Dremel, one of the cheap single speed ones. I did most of the work at the kitchen table and spent some serious time cleaning up. As I was hand sanding on the handle (I had the polished blade taped) a guy stopped by and saw it. He had to have it, he said. Now comes the freaky part. I didn't have any idea of what to charge him. So, I asked him what he thought it was worth, after I untaped the blade to show him. He offered me $375 for it. I was stunned. I played it real cool, and told him he just bought himself a knife while I did my best Indian poker face. He paid me the full amount (cash) and paid half down on another $375 knife (again, cash) and went his merry way. I never considered making custom knives until that guy offered me the cash. He spread the work around, and overnight, I was in the custom business. That happened just a few weeks before Christmas, and Christmas was certainly good that year, 1991.
 
Rayko said:
Tell us, where did you start out making knives and how? what tutorials/books or anything did you use? and how did you get the stuff together to make the knives? i am going to start with this in a while i guess so i wanted to know
Click to expand...

When I was about 18 or 19 I got the Atlanta Cutlery catalog. I ordered a blade and some micarta. Then I got the David Boye book. I didn't have the tools needed to grind blades though. I bought a couple of Bob Engnaths blades and put handles on them. I took a metal smithing class in college. It was focused mostly on jewelery but I learned to use a file properly and efficently, Polish metal. Braze, Rivet, I made my first blade around that time. That was about 1989 maybe 1990. I bought a 1x30 belt grinder around that time, I bought a drill press about 5 years ago. Before that I used one of those drill press stands you put a electric drill in. Going to buy a KMG soon. And some dust collection equipment.
 
I already had a shop set up because I'm a farrier and do some blacksmithing. One day I decided to try my hand at forging a blade from a piece of coil spring that I got from an iron-in-the-hat at a local hammer-in. I used an angle grinder and files for final shaping and it came out ok. That got me interested and I just finished my first pattern welded knife. Not perfect yet but getting there.

I baught a cheap combo belt/disk sander but I'm not so good with it. I mostly use the disk to set my flats and do the rest with files. With a nice soft piece of steel the work goes pretty fast but I have control and it's not so noisy and dusty.

I made a crude filing jig for setting gard shoulders. It works but I want to make a better one.

I have a gismo that I made for use in cutting horseshoe pads that's basically a big c-clamp with a piece of angle iron welded to it. The angle iron goes in a vice giving you a choice of orientations and a shoe is clamped in the c-clamp by the pad. I use it for blade making too. I bolt the blade to a piece of wood with wood screws through holes in the tang and clamp the piece of wood in the c-clamp. On the first knife I just used the vise and needless to say that left much to be desired.

The only "knife making book I baught was "The pattern Welded Blade"by Jim Hrisoulas. There is an awful lot of info on the net though. While waiting for my last "regular job" to close down and go to Mexico I had nothing to do but sit at my desk and surf the net so I read everything I could find on blade making. There are a couple of books I'd like to have but...

I'm not too good at making it to hammer-ins and stuff. They're fun and informative but I'd rather be home in the shop.
 
I kept going to Tom Mayo's house and bugging him until he agreed to show me a few things just to get me to go away ; )


Seth
 
John Andrews said:
I decided to make some knives for my kids for Christmas. I had a used power hacksaw blade that I cut and ground down into a skinner blade. After Acra Glassing some antler and some knotty Osage orange, plus about a dozen assorted spacers of pure silver and brass onto the tang, I put a mirror polish on the blade with my Dremel. Yes, a Dremel, one of the cheap single speed ones. I did most of the work at the kitchen table and spent some serious time cleaning up. As I was hand sanding on the handle (I had the polished blade taped) a guy stopped by and saw it. He had to have it, he said. Now comes the freaky part. I didn't have any idea of what to charge him. So, I asked him what he thought it was worth, after I untaped the blade to show him. He offered me $375 for it. I was stunned. I played it real cool, and told him he just bought himself a knife while I did my best Indian poker face. He paid me the full amount (cash) and paid half down on another $375 knife (again, cash) and went his merry way. I never considered making custom knives until that guy offered me the cash. He spread the work around, and overnight, I was in the custom business. That happened just a few weeks before Christmas, and Christmas was certainly good that year, 1991.
Click to expand...


great story, great story...
that must be a really good moneymaking hobby you got there (it is your hobby right? or is your job by now?)

EDIT: lol allmost forgot, to all the other guys who made the effort to reply here, thanks so much :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top