About to embark on my first knife(knives)

I'm getting married in September of next year, and will be making my groomsmen custom knives for their gifts. I've been reading up here and there for the last few months, trying to soak up as much as I can before I start deciding designs, materials etc.

I have access to most types of tools, I'm going to get a new set of files, checkering file, and a couple other odds and ends. We have about every woodworking tool known to man, and a family friends builds bows so he has a bunch of different sanders etc. similar to what I've been seeing around here.

Why do people use sanders instead of say a grinding wheel/benchtop grinder to shape blades? I'm guessing to reduce heat transfer but figured I'd ask.


I want to make these completely myself from scratch, as opposed to buying a blade kit or something like that. Adds a bit of a more personal touch. In doing this, I've decided on using O1 because I know it's something that I can heat treat myself. Other than that, I'm tossing around some shape ideas. I like the classic drop point, and I think it will be the best all around for most of my groomsman (who almost all hunt). The few that don't I was thinking of maybe making a tanto style / boot knife / or a straight razor. Any ideas on this??

Lastly I will be finishing up the handles with some exotic woods for the drop points and micarta for the tantos (if I go that route).

Welcome. Sounds like you have quite the project on your hands. Might I suggest a couple of practice knives before the official ones. It might just be a bit trickier than you think.
STeve

I 'm all for it, but it may be more work than you realize.

Give it a shot, but have a backup in mind you can get in a hurry.

I say simple hunters are a good way to go.
Pick a design with no guard to make your life simpler.

Make the same thing for everyone.
A double ground boot knife, or deep hollow ground razor are completely different and something new to learn.

If you need 4 knives, plan on making 8 or 12.

I say , send away for heat treating. It will come out so much better.

have you seen this ?
http://knifedogs.com/showthread.php?5285-A-sermon-for-newbies-(with-bibliography)

Ok, I'm guessing that you will be producing these blades by stock removal. You can do this with an angle grinder and hack saw to rough out the profiles and files to refine the profile and cut the bevels. A grinding wheel can be used to rough the bevels but it's a little tricky to cut a series of groves across the face of the blade and then bring them together. The reason that most of us , even the bladesmiths, use a belt grinder is because it's easier to cut flat bevels. A hollow grind is possible on a grinding wheel but they tend to turn too fast, and overheat the blade and they are a lot narrower which can cause probles in gouging the steel.

Making a knife with basically all hand tools is labor intensive but it can be done. Heck, it has been done for centuries. Keep us posted and let us know when you need help but you may want a backup plan.

Doug Lester

Go for it. I agree with what others have said in that you will probably find it a little harder than you imagine. Especially in grinding blades. Grinding is easy to learn but it takes a lot of experience to do it well. Most of us only show our earliest knives to illustrate how far we have come since then. It is a learning process and there aren't many shortcuts.

If there are any knifemakers near you I would highly recommend spending some time in their shops. They have already made most of the mistakes that one is bound to make learning on their own and it can really help you to accelerate to the learning process.

Getting the best from O1 is not easy with out controlled heat and soak times,since these are gonna be your first knive I suggest 1080-1084.Much easier home heatreat.
Stan

Ok thanks for the quick replies! I can see this is a very active forum which is great.

Going off of all your replies, I'm going to stick with one design (drop point). Also I'll probably end up sending them somewhere to heat treat. I dont want to mess them up. We'll see when I read up on it some more.

I got some tools this weekend, now I'm just waiting on the O1. I'll get some pictures up as I get along. I drew up some designs this weekend on cardstock. I want to document all the steps with pictures to have some sort of a scrap book at the end that I can show them all.

Anyways here are some pictures of the longbow (Leopardwood Riser w/ Curly Maple) I built. It was a custom one off design. All radii were hand drawn / sanded, no jigs were used. For my first bow build I am very happy with how it turned out. 55# @ 28". I figured people that build one off things would appreciate it albeit a different form...

You are gonna fit in GREAT around here...

That longbow looks awesome. Traditional bow hunting is some thing I want to try this year

That bow does look great! how does it shoot? Being an archer myself, I'm only slightly partial to bow pics on a knife forum

That bow does look great. How long is it? A fifty-five pound pull will take anything in North America. Good hunting.

Looking at your craftsmanship on the bow makes me think you are going to be a fine knifemaker.

Mike Carter said:

Looking at your craftsmanship on the bow makes me think you are going to be a fine knifemaker.

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I agree. All types of craftsmanship are respected around here.

Definitely send out for HT. Peters HT has a subforum here and is one of the few firms that will handle oil-quenched steels like O1 (a very fine choice in my opinion). I've had several blades done by them and am fixing to send in a batch of several more.

Welcome to the pound!

tedinatl said:

That bow does look great! how does it shoot? Being an archer myself, I'm only slightly partial to bow pics on a knife forum

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Shoots great! Honestly if it didn't shoot worth a crap it would be a nice conversation piece hanging on my wall as I hunt and shoot target with compounds as well. But I can honestly say it's one of the better shooting bows I've ever shot. A lot has to do with the design. It's a reflex deflex longbow (which takes the best features from a recurve...speed, energy - and a longbow - smoothness, quietness). At a shoot last year I had a guy offer me to trade his Black Widow recurve straight up...obv. I declined - you can never get your first anything back and you can't ever make another first!!

Doug Lester said:

That bow does look great. How long is it? A fifty-five pound pull will take anything in North America. Good hunting.

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58" - nice and maneuverable for a blind.

Here are some pictures before we get this thread back on track haha. My arrows are the red and yellow fletch with green nocks. Average shots at traditional shoots are between 15-30yds.

some setup pics

back to knife making :biggrin:

couple shots of the vise, press and templates i've been drawing.

probably drew up 10 different designs. sorted it down to 3 or 4, and finally today I made some changes to the one and I'm pretty sure that's what I'm gonna go with (picture of lone template). I'm gonna sleep on it then decide and jump in.

That one is 8 3/4" total length. Handle is 4 3/4"

That looks good can't wait to see it complete.

some progress

So I got all the blanks "outlined" with the drill press and cut them out with a sawzall.

I took mine, the one that I'm doing a complete run through a step ahead of all the others to hopefully iron out any problems before doing all the rest of the knives, and ground out the profile on a bench grinder. I made sure I left plenty of room and didn't get too close to the outline so that I had material left to sand with a hand file.

I only did a small portion at a time to avoid heating it up too much. After that I spent about 15 minutes draw filing the top of the blade profile. Overall I'm happy with the progression and plan on doing most of them on the bench grinder Monday because I'm off due to MLK day.

Lookin' good so far. I'm looking forward to seeing the final product!

Just a couple tips:
I like to make my templates from mild steel rather than paper when doing a repeat knife, as it gives you a much more durable template, as well as something that helps you get a feel for how the knife will feel in the hand. Plus it's much cheaper than knife/tool steel.

Also, you don't necessarily have to worry about "overheating" the blade at this point if you haven't heat treated/tempered the steel yet. Any discoloration/burning of the steel will be corrected during the heat treating process. It's AFTER the blade has been tempered that you want to make sure not to heat the blade past it's tempering temperature; you then risk ruining the temper.
A container full of water can be used to dip the blades in between grinding in order to keep them cool.

ARCustomKnives said:

Lookin' good so far. I'm looking forward to seeing the final product!

Just a couple tips:
I like to make my templates from mild steel rather than paper when doing a repeat knife, as it gives you a much more durable template, as well as something that helps you get a feel for how the knife will feel in the hand. Plus it's much cheaper than knife/tool steel.

Also, you don't necessarily have to worry about "overheating" the blade at this point if you haven't heat treated/tempered the steel yet. Any discoloration/burning of the steel will be corrected during the heat treating process. It's AFTER the blade has been tempered that you want to make sure not to heat the blade past it's tempering temperature; you then risk ruining the temper.
A container full of water can be used to dip the blades in between grinding in order to keep them cool.

Click to expand...

cool thanks...I didn't want to mess anything up heating them too much, but glad to know it doesnt matter at this step.


I finished up profiles on 6 knives yesterday. Probably go out tonight and do the rest, then onto hand filing (yay!)

I noticed the tang of the file in one photo was on the right side of the knife. When you draw file with the file perpendicular to the blade, the tang goes to the left. I didn't find that out for a couple of knives and it sure cut down on the big gouges when you get through and want to start sanding.

Carey