New Hobby - Knife Making

[Jeremie Boop]

The DIY "kit" is under $100, but takes some welding, and I haven't gotten around to it yet. At this rate, my son will get his PhD before I finish it. . .

Got the contact through a renaissance fair knife maker, but I can't find the link any more?

I've seen several different ways to build one myself, some as simple as just stacking fire brick and drilling a hole in one to stick a propane or map torch through. What I was thinking was, if I stick with this, I want something that's portable yet big and powerful enough to do a decent size knife. The one I'm looking at can accept a blade as large as 2 1/2" x 11". It's not something I plan on getting anytime soon, and if I really get serious the better bet is an electric kiln with temperature controls that I can set so I can do more demanding steel when it comes to heat treating. Some require being heated as high as 1900 degrees and/or soaking at a specific heat for 10 minutes. That sort of thing would be too difficult/next to impossible to do in anything but a closed controlled device. The trade off is that an electric kiln large enough for good sized blades won't be portable and could possibly require a dedicated 240 run for power.  All that is a way off though, considering the cost. If I get decent enough to actually sell some knives at reasonable prices *50-100* I can see the benefit and cost justification for that sort of thing.

Edited October 27, 2015 by Jeremie Boop

[jusanothajoe]

I've seen several different ways to build one myself, some as simple as just stacking fire brick and drilling a hole in one to stick a propane or map torch through. What I was thinking was, if I stick with this, I want something that's portable yet big and powerful enough to do a decent size knife. The one I'm looking at can accept a blade as large as 2 1/2" x 11". It's not something I plan on getting anytime soon, and if I really get serious the better bet is an electric kiln with temperature controls that I can set so I can do more demanding steel when it comes to heat treating. Some require being heated as high as 1900 degrees and/or soaking at a specific heat for 10 minutes. That sort of thing would be too difficult/next to impossible to do in anything but a closed controlled device. The trade off is that an electric kiln large enough for good sized blades won't be portable and could possibly require a dedicated 240 run for power.  All that is a way off though, considering the cost. If I get decent enough to actually sell some knives at reasonable prices *50-100* I can see the benefit and cost justification for that sort of thing.

Just in case your interested

http://www.alabamadamascussteel.com/

 

 

[sirhacksalot]

Are you finishing with water stones then honing with newspaper then glass.  This will get your edge not just sharp but lasting.  There are a couple youtube videos on sharpening carbon chef's knifes that do well for explaining the whole process. 

Edited October 27, 2015 by sirhacksalot

[Jeremie Boop]

Are you finishing with water stones then honing with newspaper then glass.  This will get your edge not just sharp but lasting.  There are a couple youtube videos on sharpening carbon chef's knifes that do well for explaining the whole process. 

Right now I'm using standard oil stones, then high grit sand paper *2000 grit* then 3000 grit trizact. The plan is to buy some good quality 4" water stones and a strop block though. Never heard of using newspaper and glass for sharpening though, I'll check that out.

Just in case your interested

http://www.alabamadamascussteel.com/

 

 

Thanks, I'll check that out. I don't expect to actually try damascus until I have a real reliable way to heat treat the steel but that doesn't mean I can't look at the prices and maybe even buy some ahead of time.

[Lihu]

You don't need to heat treat Damascus. My son just grinds it out then uses a solution to bring out the patterns. Very nice.

I bought him blanks that contain high grade 700+ fold Damascus with bird and wing patterns, from Pakistan. That's why I know. . .

[Jeremie Boop]

You don't need to heat treat Damascus. My son just grinds it out then uses a solution to bring out the patterns. Very nice.

I bought him blanks that contain high grade 700+ fold Damascus with bird and wing patterns, from Pakistan. That's why I know. . .

Interesting, perhaps the knife blank was already heat treated? From what I read Damascus still needs heat treated. Alabama Damascus is said to even send the heat treating and etching instructions with the steel when they send it to you. 

[CR McDivot]

For practical use, especially in a skinning knife I prefer mild lower carbon steel. Sharpens quickly and holds an edge well if you don't abuse it.

Most of the high carbon steel knives I have used require two to three times the effort to restore an edge.

Learned this from a professional butcher.

Nonetheless, creating useful items from raw materials is an excellent pursuit! Keep at it and make things that please you!

Edited October 28, 2015 by CR McDivot

[J M Brown]

@Jeremie Boop Way to go!  Good looking knife.

[Jeremie Boop]

Have a couple more blades mostly finished. Just need to put handles on them. The pointed one is actually for a friend of mine, I'm waiting on her to send me a mold of her grip so I can size and shape the handle for her. The other is one I messed up on several times but managed to salvage a passable blade out of it. I decided to try putting finger contours in it. Turned out decent.

Still need to finish up her knife a bit more with final sanding/buffing because she likes "shiny". Mine I'll leave more of a satin finish. Both are 1/8" 1095 steel. Mine measures about 9 inches overall and hers is about 8 inches.

I have 2 others in process as well. A smaller version of the one for my friend for the youngest daughter. Though I won't be putting a handle on it or sharpening it because she want's to use it as a throwing knife. The other is an experimental shaped knife that I'm not sure about yet.

Edited November 9, 2015 by Jeremie Boop

[rkim291968]

5 hours ago, Jeremie Boop said:

I have 2 others in process as well. A smaller version of the one for my friend for the youngest daughter. Though I won't be putting a handle on it or sharpening it because she want's to use it as a throwing knife. 

 

 

Good update!    But the above is a bit alarming.   How old is she?  What is she planning to throw at?   Perhaps, you should check her background first.   There have been some stabbing in the news of late.   

[Abu3baid]

Cool looking pictures!  I might be interested in getting into this hobby.. Seems like a great skill one should learn how to do.  Keep the pics coming.

[Jeremie Boop]

13 minutes ago, rkim291968 said:

 

Good update!    But the above is a bit alarming.   How old is she?  What is she planning to throw at?   Perhaps, you should check her background first.   There have been some stabbing in the news of late.   

She's 14 and there's a large tree in the yard she's talking about throwing it at. I've tried to discourage the idea of using it for throwing but she's pretty fixated on it. I may have to go test it first, to make sure it won't break or bounce off in any weird way. If I don't like it I'll have to go pick up a piece of flat wood for her to throw at. Eventually she'll get bored with it, she doesn't have a long attention span for much of anything yet.

 

6 minutes ago, Abu3baid said:

Cool looking pictures!  I might be interested in getting into this hobby.. Seems like a great skill one should learn how to do.  Keep the pics coming.

It's definitely useful, I plan on trying my hand at some kitchen knives. I'd really like to have several different chef and butcher knives of various styles and sizes. Keeping a store bought knife sharp *at least sharp enough by my standards* gets tiresome and I know that I could make one from some really high quality steel for a fraction of what a high end knife would cost me. It's so much safer to use a extra sharp knife when cutting up food, less force used cutting means less chance of an accident.

[Jeremie Boop]

Tried something different for the handle on my "salvaged" knife. Had some scrap leather laying around, it was pretty thin so I put 2 layers on it. I applied some black shoe polish to darken the leather a bit, then I applied brown shoe polish on top of that. I was pretty happy with the result. Even though the grip is flat, the thickness is just right and it fits my hand perfectly. 

[Gator Hazard]

Looks good dude!

[rkim291968]

Can I order a samurai seppuku sword?   I can use one after one of my poor rounds. 

[Jeremie Boop]

12 minutes ago, rkim291968 said:

Can I order a samurai seppuku sword?   I can use one after one of my poor rounds. 

By the time I have the skill to make something like that you'll have died of old age anyway, sorry.

[cmherrbach]

This is one of the coolest threads I have seen.  What a great way to spend the off season.  Probably won't "cut" any strokes off your game though.  

 

Sorry,  had to do it. 

[LagShaft]

Great looking knives!  I've been interested in knife making for a while. Are you using a belt grinder to shape the blades and if so what model?  I've been looking to buy one for a while but also considered building one.