Any knife makers in here?

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I suppose we should load up this new forum with some good topics! If you have made some home made knives, lets see them! Have any tips or tricks? Share them!

I follow some knife making groups on FB and am blown away with some of the original pieces people are putting out. So lets see them!
 
Getting back into knife making this year. Last time I just used the stock removal method, sending pieces out for HT&T. Now I have a forge (and nice, old anvil) that I'm using. I'm working on my first blade at this point, and have been posting updates in my 'forging' thread. Maybe that should be moved into this forum.

I'm liking how I can take a section of coil spring and turn it into a blade. I also have a good amount of leaf spring stock on hand now (scrap yard score for some, got more from someone else).

I've been fabricating as much of my equipment as possible. I did purchase the forge, and got the anvil from a friend. I did fabricate the stands for both though (put wheels on them too). I also made my quench tank from a 1/6 bbl Sanke keg I had and wasn't using. ;)

I plan to post up more pics of what I'm making. Both the current project and ones in the future.
 
This is a carving knife I made for my GF's daughter... I have lots more but all my pics are being held hostage by photobucket! I did not make the Damascus, just bought a billet of it, then forged and ground the blade...The "S" inlay is actually ivory from an old piano key!

bjYqPvz.jpg
 
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I dabble.

Here's an M3 trench knife that I reworked. It was pretty mangled when I started so it's been shortened and scandi-ground.

m3-reworked.jpg

Here's my first folder. Built from scratch using scrap wood, a computer chassis, fondue skewers and a stainless ladle. Most of the materials were bought at the Salvation Army and then chopped up.The blade and backspring are an edger blade from Home Depot. I don't recommend using that material. This knife has technical problems staying closed but it was a good learner.


barlow01.jpg
 
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...snip...I also made my quench tank from a 1/6 bbl Sanke keg I had and wasn't using. ;)

What do you use in your quench tank?
I've heard peanut oil is good.... but expensive.
I've played with some crappy 'hawk heads in a homemade forge.... tried to re-harden with the peanut oil @~120deg
-no idea what I'm doing
:)
 
What do you use in your quench tank?
I've heard peanut oil is good.... but expensive.
I've played with some crappy 'hawk heads in a homemade forge.... tried to re-harden with the peanut oil @~120deg
-no idea what I'm doing
:)
I picked up two two gallon jugs of universal ford transmission fluid (IIRC) from Tractor Supply. It's mineral oil (with some things added from what I could tell). I heated it up to about 130F before quenching. Read that you want it in the 120-130F range before you quench. But that could vary depending on the steel.

Today's grinding results...
Feb24-2018SteakKnifeWork.jpg

Next session work will include drilling the handle pin holes and should be doing the heat treat and temper. I'm going to try to do that tomorrow afternoon. HT&T will depend on the weather. Since I have to put the forge outside, I don't like doing it if it's raining out. IF I get enough $$ coming in (either from this, or other sources) I'm thinking about getting a dedicated heat treat oven.

I was using the 36 grit belt before today. Got things close, and switched to the 60 grit. Funny thing with that. The 60 grit actually did more on the steel than the 36 grit. Also used the 120 grit at the end. Not sure if I'm going to go for a mirror finish on this blade or not. Leaning more towards a brushed finish.

I'm planning to go more for flat grind on blades, at least to start. At some point I'll get practice in on hollow grinding. Convex (or axe) grinding is pretty easy.

BTW, for your quench oil, you want something that WON'T go rancid on you. As soon as I can afford it, I plan to get some actual quenching oil.
 
Thanks Golddiggie.

Yea, I did heat the oil to 120-130 so - guess I did something right.
:)
Good tip on rancid.

I was goofing with a bent 'hawk blade in quickie fire brick forge, using an inflatables pump to drive air. It got things to a decently bright red but, i need to make a new air manifold to disperse better.

Good job on the grind on that blank - will stay tuned on the progress
 
I have a couple of good sized magnets on my forge stand (close to the forge opening, but not too close) that I can use to test if the blade is non-magnetic or not. I also have a laser thermometer that I can use to see what the actual temperature is. That goes to 1922F for the reading range (www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZBCU2JG). I might use that next session to see what the steel temperature is during the process. Since I'm color blind(ish) (I see about half the colors out there, and can't always tell when they are close) I need other ways to determine the steel temperature. Which is also why I'm planning to get an actual heat treat oven at some point.

When I get the oven, I might get some of the foil they sell to put the blades in, to remove oxygen from around the steel during the process. I'll have to decide what size to get there. I might just get one that's a bit larger than the forge. That way I could do a larger blade. Especially since I could forge something that won't fit in the forge all at one time. Oh, and I also plan to be able to anneal a piece that's larger than the forge space pretty soon. I've done my research already and just need to get the media that I'll be using. I already have a couple of container options there. Either a metal 5 (or 10) gallon bucket, or another 1/6bbl stainless (Sanke/commercial) keg. :)
 
Here's a couple of my favorites, again I built these from billet Damascus, I did not make the Damascus...I did make the sheaths though, wet fit and hand stitched.....
very nice. I like those handle shapes, looks like they'll fill your hand, no?


I made this on 'vacation'

toothbrush-shiv-small_3617.jpg

hey, I went to the same resort!

my bro-in-law is a co at one of the states penal colonies, i'd like to see if he can snag some pics of the more creative and skillful shank....err, I mean knife manufacturers.

treat me nice guys, I have the means to get you to be able to shower alone for a couple of snickers bars. lol
 
very nice. I like those handle shapes, looks like they'll fill your hand, no?

Yes, they are good size, larger than they look, sort of like small
choppers...... I wanted to make sure they would not spin in your hand if they were used for chopping. Especially the one on the left.. I try to design all my knives to use and not just to sit and look pretty.
 
I have one of my coming projects already. Mom wants a 6" chef's knife. So, instead of finding one for her to buy, I'm going to see about making one out of a leaf spring. :) Plan to start that within the next couple of days. Haven't decided if I'll delay the HT&T of my current blade project so that I could do both at [basically] the same time. Or if I'll HT&T the steak knife first, and then work on her knife. Leaning more towards the latter.
 
Mom first. Always! ;)
Considering how I'm already the person to sharpen her knives, yeah. Did two from her this weekend that actually had chips (small ones granted) taken out of the edge. I've tried to get her to use the honing steel often but she either doesn't, or doesn't remember how to properly use it. So, using the five stone kit I have, I was able to get most of the chips out.

I'm actually looking forward to forging a section of leaf spring into the blade for her.
 
What steels did you use for that? Assuming you forged it, or did you get the billet already forged?

1095 if I remember correctly. No forging done here. All stock removal.
I prefer not to chance altering the steel and ending up with a steel I didn’t start out with.
Forging is tricky and you can really screw stuff up without proper control.
Rutland furnace cement for coating prior to heat treatment. Normalized 4 or 5 times progressively lower each time.
Cow bone handles with phenolic liners.
Probably my favorite knife I ever made. Sold for $300. Way too cheap. Lasted minutes online.
 
Control over the heat is one of the reasons I decided to NOT go with a coal forge.

I'm looking to get some of this for when I want to do a differential heat treat (or have a hamon line): www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ACIWN9Q/ I've seen some that has a tolerance of up to 2400F, but I'm not 100% sure that will do the job right. At least with the 3000F stuff I have a better chance of the forge NOT destroying the cement.

Still doing emails and such (after my second F2F interview). Hope to be able to get into the shop to do some work on the steak knife plus get started on the chef knife for mom, today.
 
Control over the heat is one of the reasons I decided to NOT go with a coal forge.

I'm looking to get some of this for when I want to do a differential heat treat (or have a hamon line): www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ACIWN9Q/ I've seen some that has a tolerance of up to 2400F, but I'm not 100% sure that will do the job right. At least with the 3000F stuff I have a better chance of the forge NOT destroying the cement.

Still doing emails and such (after my second F2F interview). Hope to be able to get into the shop to do some work on the steak knife plus get started on the chef knife for mom, today.

Don’t worry about the temp. I found that the Rutland furnace cement that comes in the caulk tubes works very well. Sticks way better than the stuff that looks like sandy mortar.
Also the Rutland puffs up a lot so keep that in mind.
 
Instead of a long-story-short, I have a short-story-short... Back in 2009 Michael Spangler made a small custom hunter knife for me that turned out absolutely amazing and has held up superbly! I contacted him recently to have something similar made for a special gift only to find out he's no longer making knives - bummer. I saw this new sub-forum and figured I'd throw it out there and see if anyone local would be willing to make a small hunter/skinner to sell.
 
Anyone have a local (as in close to Pelham, NH) source for ferric chloride? I see that You-Do-It-Electronics has it, but that's a bit of a hike for me. Amazon has it for a couple of dollars more per L bottle. I was thinking of getting either one or two bottles either this weekend or get it ordered for arriving early next week.
 
Instead of a long-story-short, I have a short-story-short... Back in 2009 Michael Spangler made a small custom hunter knife for me that turned out absolutely amazing and has held up superbly! I contacted him recently to have something similar made for a special gift only to find out he's no longer making knives - bummer.

Breaking a long silence here to mention I also have a Spangler knife, and it's one of my absolute favorites, including a couple that were a lot more expensive with 'big' names on them. I have fairly often wondered if he's still in business whenever I've caught the urge for a new daily carry.

In addition to being a nice knife, I've never really forgotten the pictures of the build process he posted. Every year since then, I've almost built a forge to get into the hobby, largely just due to how cool those pictures looked.

Michael, if you ever get back on your knife-making game, I don't think Catoperat is the only one who'd be interested.
 
Breaking a long silence here to mention I also have a Spangler knife, and it's one of my absolute favorites, including a couple that were a lot more expensive with 'big' names on them. I have fairly often wondered if he's still in business whenever I've caught the urge for a new daily carry.

In addition to being a nice knife, I've never really forgotten the pictures of the build process he posted. Every year since then, I've almost built a forge to get into the hobby, largely just due to how cool those pictures looked.

Michael, if you ever get back on your knife-making game, I don't think Catoperat is the only one who'd be interested.

Thank you both guys.
I do think about it all the time. I’m down some equipment now and just haven’t figured out if I should buy some new tools or not.
I would hate for them to sit and be wasted.
I don’t know. This is the battle I have with myself every few months.

I do have about 15 or so blanks left from the last group buy. Not even sure what steel they are anymore.
 
IMG_1776.JPG Mine still looks like new!
Thank you both guys.
I do think about it all the time. I’m down some equipment now and just haven’t figured out if I should buy some new tools or not.
I would hate for them to sit and be wasted.
I don’t know. This is the battle I have with myself every few months.

I do have about 15 or so blanks left from the last group buy. Not even sure what steel they are anymore.
 
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