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Young Knife collectors/users?

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Our kiln has about a 8 inch by 8 inch firing chamber, and about 4 inch thick walls. It is electric. We bought a pyrometer to measure the temperature--it goes by 25 degree increments and shows a range of 50 to 2,500 degrees. It really seems to be about the perfect option for heating knives--you can fit a medium sized blade in, but you don't need to have a huge batch.
 
Does anyone know if Spyderco sounds out screws? My Para2 has two stripped body screws and a stripped pivot screw. :(
 
spydercobenchmadekai said:
Our kiln has about a 8 inch by 8 inch firing chamber, and about 4 inch thick walls. It is electric. We bought a pyrometer to measure the temperature--it goes by 25 degree increments and shows a range of 50 to 2,500 degrees. It really seems to be about the perfect option for heating knives--you can fit a medium sized blade in, but you don't need to have a huge batch.
Click to expand...

What kind of kiln do I look for? And would a brick one work?
 
spydercobenchmadekai said:
I use a cheapo $35 belt sander, a decent bench grinder, a metal bandsaw, a vice, and sometimes a dremel. For heat treating I use a test kiln and a kitchen oven. I have no doubt that you could make a decent knife with the belt sander and a hacksaw, bringing the total investment on tools to around $50. Then throw in $15 for steel, $20 for wood or Micarta, $15 for things like pin material, belts, and electricity, and you're looking at around $100 for a knife making setup and the materials for around 5 knives.

Here's what I told the Blade Magazine guy:

Step 1. Design a knife. I have made friction folders, but I mostly stick to full tang fixed blades. I sometimes design on the Windows program "Paint," but I usually use a pencil and paper.
Step 2. Cut out a paper pattern of my design. Glue it to the steel* with white glue. (*Steel: I use either 0.93" 1095 or 0.125" 01, both should be CRA.)
Step 3. Cut out the knife as close as possible to the paper with a metal band saw.
Step 4. Grind the knife to the profile of the paper on the bench grinder.
Step 5. Grind in the primary bevels with a 1x30 belt sander* using a 40 grit belt. (*Belt sander: I use a cheapo that I got for $35 from Harbor Freight. I am amazed with this little machine--it grinds fast and has never failed.)
Step 6. Sand the knife on the belt sander at 80 grit to remove scratches/prepare for heat treating. I will also add any filework or jimping with either a Dremel or the belt sander. Drill 2, 3, or 4 holes in the tang for the pins.
Step 7. Heat the knife to 1,500 degrees in a small kiln. Pull the blade out and quench it in motor or peanut oil. After the blade has cooled, heat it to 425 in the kitchen oven; hold for 2 hours. (This should give 59hrc.)
Step 8. Sand the "scale" or blackened oil off with the belt sander. Polish the blade to 1,200 grit, or leave it at a satin finish around 600 grit.
Step 9. Clamp the tang onto either wood or Micarta in 1/4" thickness, and drill the pin holes into the scales. Glue the scales on with epoxy and slide the brass rivets into place. After it has dried, cut the rivets and peen them.
Step 10. Sand the handle to shape on the belt sander. Round the corners and edges; smooth the surface and sand the rivets flush.
Step 11. Sharpen on the belt sander starting at 320 grit. Finish sharpening by free-handing with Lansky stones. If the knife has a wood handle, use canola oil to bring it to a low luster.
Click to expand...

what do you use to cut out the knife blanks?
 
spydercobenchmadekai said:
I use a cheapo $35 belt sander, a decent bench grinder, a metal bandsaw, a vice, and sometimes a dremel. For heat treating I use a test kiln and a kitchen oven. I have no doubt that you could make a decent knife with the belt sander and a hacksaw, bringing the total investment on tools to around $50. Then throw in $15 for steel, $20 for wood or Micarta, $15 for things like pin material, belts, and electricity, and you're looking at around $100 for a knife making setup and the materials for around 5 knives.

Here's what I told the Blade Magazine guy:

Step 1. Design a knife. I have made friction folders, but I mostly stick to full tang fixed blades. I sometimes design on the Windows program "Paint," but I usually use a pencil and paper.
Step 2. Cut out a paper pattern of my design. Glue it to the steel* with white glue. (*Steel: I use either 0.93" 1095 or 0.125" 01, both should be CRA.)
Step 3. Cut out the knife as close as possible to the paper with a metal band saw.
Step 4. Grind the knife to the profile of the paper on the bench grinder.
Step 5. Grind in the primary bevels with a 1x30 belt sander* using a 40 grit belt. (*Belt sander: I use a cheapo that I got for $35 from Harbor Freight. I am amazed with this little machine--it grinds fast and has never failed.)
Step 6. Sand the knife on the belt sander at 80 grit to remove scratches/prepare for heat treating. I will also add any filework or jimping with either a Dremel or the belt sander. Drill 2, 3, or 4 holes in the tang for the pins.
Step 7. Heat the knife to 1,500 degrees in a small kiln. Pull the blade out and quench it in motor or peanut oil. After the blade has cooled, heat it to 425 in the kitchen oven; hold for 2 hours. (This should give 59hrc.)
Step 8. Sand the "scale" or blackened oil off with the belt sander. Polish the blade to 1,200 grit, or leave it at a satin finish around 600 grit.
Step 9. Clamp the tang onto either wood or Micarta in 1/4" thickness, and drill the pin holes into the scales. Glue the scales on with epoxy and slide the brass rivets into place. After it has dried, cut the rivets and peen them.
Step 10. Sand the handle to shape on the belt sander. Round the corners and edges; smooth the surface and sand the rivets flush.
Step 11. Sharpen on the belt sander starting at 320 grit. Finish sharpening by free-handing with Lansky stones. If the knife has a wood handle, use canola oil to bring it to a low luster.
Click to expand...

Oh ok, so you use the stock removal method. Have you ever tried forging/ shaping a knife with a forge and a hammer? It's so much more fun that way IMO. :D
 
Romba1182 said:
What kind of kiln do I look for? And would a brick one work?
Click to expand...

Just search for an electric test kiln. It should look like this:



TheSnakeman said:
what do you use to cut out the knife blanks?
Click to expand...

I use the metal band saw to get the general shape and then I use the bench grinder to profile it to the paper.

CJZ said:
Oh ok, so you use the stock removal method. Have you ever tried forging/ shaping a knife with a forge and a hammer? It's so much more fun that way IMO. :D
Click to expand...

I don't have a forge. I will be building one this spring/summer--we hope to make damascus someday. My dad just bought an anvil, so that is covered.
 
Looks good! BTW, whatever happend to that other guy's post--the new one asking about trading the Cryo? I thought that I read somewhere that Mods didn't ever delete posts??

Anyway, you asked for it, here it is. It covers steps one through six in the list above.
[video=youtube;DoMp_Mh1sgw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoMp_Mh1sgw[/video]
 
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spydercobenchmadekai said:
Looks good! BTW, whatever happend to that other guy's post--the new one asking about trading the Cryo? I thought that I read somewhere that Mods didn't ever delete posts??

Anyway, you asked for it, here it is. It covers steps one through six in the list above.
[video=youtube;DoMp_Mh1sgw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoMp_Mh1sgw[/video]
Click to expand...

This looks helpful! Thanks! My computer is having a hard time with sound ATM but this will soon be remedied.
 
@SBK, they don't, they just move them off line where regular members can't view them.
 
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