newbie attempting first knife, with questions

Chas.

Member
I’m going to start making my first knife “from scratch” soon and I need some guidance. First, what kind of steel would be good for a newbie to begin with – one that is forgiving and fairly easy to work with. I’m tending away from the stainless steels. I see so many steels talked about, it makes me dizzy.

Second, I don’t have a band saw, but I do have an eight-inch bench grinder. I plan to rough shape the steel billet with the grinder but have always been apprehensive of overheating the edge. Since I’ll be heat treating, should this be a concern?

FWIW, additional tools available are a drill press, table saw, bench jig saw, jointer, 1” x 30” belt sander, 3” portable belt sander.

Any help would be appreciated.
 
I dont use a band saw to cut out my profiles. I use a 1/8" drill bit (WITH cutting fluid) and put holes all around the outside of my intended profile. Then go back with a cold-chisel and connect the dots. Then you can finish your profiling without having to take off SO much material...

For steel... you are probably going to get a consensus of 1080, 1084 of 1095. All high-carbon steels that are very forgiving and easy to grind.
 
You won't have to worry about overheating the steel prior to heat treat. When I'm grinding with my 2x72 I just dunk the blade in a bucket of water when it gets too hot to hold. There are some awesome walkthroughs on here and work-in-progress threads showing different knife construction methods.
 
If you get into this hobby then you will eventually want to get a real belt grinder but you can get started with what you have. You didn't mention if you were going to try to heat treat your own blades or send them out. If you want to send them out the it would be hard to beat 440C. Of the stainless steels it is relatively inexpensive and I can't immagine any commercial heat treater not being familiar with it. If you want to build a simple coffee can or two fire brick forge that you can heat the steel in with a propane torch and heat treat it yourself then I would go with something like 1070, 1080, or 1084. You should do well with quenching in oil with these steels and you can temper them in the kitchen or a toaster oven. I would avoid 1095 unless you get it from The New Jersey Steel Baron. Some from other suppliers can be a little tricky with heat treating because of the manganese levels.\

The main thing with power and hand tools is to learn what can and can't be done with them.

Doug
 
Hello Chas, I am a newbie in the pack around here.

I have been making knives for over 15 years so I will put in my 0.2 cents here.

The info you have recieved so far is all good!
The Spring Steels, 1070, 1080, 1095 were some of the first knives I ground out. You can heat treat yourself and start to get a understanding of the heat treat process.

The Book that I bought years ago will help you greatly.
Its called Custom Knifemaking.
By Tim McCreight. I spotted a copy on Amazon for about 15 Bucks.

I specialize in Culinary Knives and 440C is still used in about 50% of my knives. Its very forgiving compared to S30V or VG-10 and all the other Super Steels that most people never use their knives hard enough to warrant their cost etc. VG-10 knives should only be used after all bone , Cartilage & Grissel have been removed by a knife made of 440C :biggrin: The VG-10 chips very easy.

Get the book if you like and let us know how it's going?
Great to meet you.

Laurence
rhinoknives
 
People have used worse. It could be a little fast and it's a little narrow and I doubt that you can do any slack belt grinding with it, but as I said, people have used worse.

Doug
 
I agree with the suggested intro steels for the most part, but I'd say people underestimate (or should I say OVERestimate) 1095. It's a lot less forgiving than 1080/1084 as far as getting optimum results without a temperature controlled kiln/oven and a very fast quenchant. It has a much faster cooling curve (you have less than 2 seconds to get below the cooling curve) and it's fairly easy to overheat.
It can be successfully quenched in veg. or canola oil, but you'll get better results from something like Parks #50 in my experience.

As far as easiest to heat treat with a small forge or O/A torch, I'd stick with 1080 or 1084. Of course, if you're sending it out, it really doesn't matter.
 
I agree with the suggested intro steels for the most part, but I'd say people underestimate (or should I say OVERestimate) 1095. It's a lot less forgiving than 1080/1084 as far as getting optimum results without a temperature controlled kiln/oven and a very fast quenchant. It has a much faster cooling curve (you have less than 2 seconds to get below the cooling curve) and it's fairly easy to overheat.
It can be successfully quenched in veg. or canola oil, but you'll get better results from something like Parks #50 in my experience.

As far as easiest to heat treat with a small forge or O/A torch, I'd stick with 1080 or 1084. Of course, if you're sending it out, it really doesn't matter.
I agree, 1095 is not a steel I would recommend to a beginner, 1080 and 1084 are much more foolproof when it comes to heat-treating.

I made my first dozen knives using a bench grinder to rough in the bevels then cleaning that up with a @@@@@@@ file, then sandpaper. If the 1x30 sander can't handle grinding steel it might still be useful shaping handles.

Have fun!
 
I realize that I low-balled the 1x30 belt sander. What would be an acceptable sander?

The first grinder I purchased was a 1x30" They are better than nothing by a little bit! Before that I rounded up old Files at garage sales and Annealed the ones that were shot and used the better ones to file those into knifes after drilling out and Hack sawing a profile in them.
I am looking at one of the very first Blades that I filed, It was going to be a hidden tang.
I never put a handle on it. I still learn alot! And have it on my desk as a letter opener,
It's a bit ruff, I did this a couple of years before I got on the internet and met some great knife makers at
Southern Cal. Blade Makers assoc.

I did modify my 1x30" so I could sharpen and grind Blades with it by cutting out the Platen with a hacksaw.
That was easy to do.
Chas,
You're welcome to call or contact me at the shop. I'll make a few minutes to answer your questions if you like.

Westside Sharpening
&
Cutlery Center
1207 4th st suite 150
Santa Monica. Ca. 90401-1350
310-395-3075
10a-5:30P Mon-Fri
10a-4p Sat.
info@westsidesharpening.com

Laurence
rhinoknives
 
Thanks to all for your response. It is most helpful. It looks like 1080 or 1084 will be my choice for this first stock-removal knife.
 
Sears sells a craftsman 2x42 belt sander that I started with. I still use it today for slack belt sharpening and the flat disc on it is used for getting scales and bolsters flat. I dont feel I wasted my money on it but Knifemaking got alot funner after I built my NWG using Tracys plans. 1080 steel will make a great blade if heat treated properly.
Good luck man.
 
While I appreciate power tools very much and own some of my own now I also have made knives using no electriciy at all, sellable knives! If you don't mind sweating and sore fingertips a hacksaw and a file can cut out a blade blank pretty dern quick! Alexander Weygers is a master of lo - tech blacksmithing and you can get some pretty inventive ideas from him! He has several books! I am not advocating overly hard work, merely trying to inspire a little less reliance on big equipment and a little more on elbow grease and dilligence!
 
Well i used a 1x30 for 6years. Thats right i said it. Its slow but you can still do well with it . If i would of known a sears 2x42 was so cheap i would have gotten years ago, instead of 6 months ago lol Here is one of the last knives i made soley with a 1x30. So anyway you go have fun and be safe.
 

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