Good "practice" Steel

brandon0403

brandon0403

Well-Known Member
I just bought all my starting equipment (KMG belt grinder, sanding belts, buffing compound, etc.) the last thing to purchase is the steel for my first knife. My plan has been to get some cheaper steel to practice on before I start cutting and grinding on the expensive stuff.

Any suggestions on a good steel to practice on? Maybe something like this?

https://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?pid=4391&step=4&showunits=inches&id=25&top_cat=1
or
https://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?pid=10017&step=4&showunits=inches&id=802&top_cat=849

While not providing the same feel as cutting/grinding a higher grade of steel, seeing as how this will in all practicality be my first experience doing serious metal grinding I figured just getting some steel on the belt would be good to start off with.
 
exciting isn't it?
Some just start with any mild steel for practice. I did a file knife first and wrecked it and then went to 440C and finished a hunter/camp belt knife that I still have today. Any cheap Mild steel or scrap will work if you just want to practice making steel dust?

Have fun!
 
To be honest I would just get some basic 10xx steel. You have already spent quite a bit on tool acquisition and from Aldo you can get a 4' bar for about $15 plus shipping. You can just buy steel that will last you a while so you don't have to bother finding more after you make one. If you are sending out for HT then You could even buy a few kinds of steel to see what you like.
I personally don't think I would do as well working mild steel because I would know it will never be a knife and it would be easier to lose motivation to work on it.
 
What Cameron said in 1084 or check with a local farrier (horse shoe guy) and see if you can get a couple of worn rasps from him. Most of them will give you them for free. I started with Aldo's 1084 and still use it for most of my knives today.
 
Steel Order - How'd I do?

Thanks all for the sugestions. Kinda just went to town over at newjerseysteelbaron.com. here is my order

Capture.JPG
 
You did just fine. Using scrap steel is just giving yourself permission to make a scrap blade. Choose a steel appropriate to the end result you are looking for and then make the very best product you can with it. The next one will be better - but matching the steel to the task is an important part of the process and a very good place to begin. Cheap steel about $3.00. Exotic steel maybe $15. You are going to put 30 - 50 hours into this first one. Give it a chance.

By the way, cheap carbon steel is exactly the right choice for some knives. Quality stainless for others. I'm not saying spend more bucks - just match the steel to your product.
 
Knifemaker.ca,

Your last point was my goal, get a few different variety of steels to increase my range of options on knife designs/types. I wanted at least 2 good stainless for some kitchen knife designs I have drawn up.

Sent from my Lumia 810 Windows Phone using Tapatalk
 
The biggest problem I see with new knife makers is that they jump around from metal to metal and design to design without ever really advancing the skills needed to make a good knife. My advise: you've already sunk a good bit into the tools, so get a good chunk of 1084 (that you can heat treat yourself) and make ten knives that are identical in shape. You can switch up the handle material to get some experience with how different things work, but keep the blade shape simple. Do the first knife from start to finish, to the best of your ability. Then take a week off before beginning the next knife. Again, the blades are identical. Compare the two of them and see if you've gotten better at sanding, shaping, polishing, drilling, etc. By the time you've got that tenth knife done, you'll be amazed at the difference between 1 and 10!

Then start on different designs in different materials.
 
VaughnT,

Thanks for chiming in, Very sound advice, after having thought about what I wanted to do for my first knife your suggestion of making many of the same design has significant appeal. AT this point I will just draw out something that is not too complicated and try to keep my first attempts to something simple without any complicated design features. Glad I bought 48 inches of that 1084 :cool: . I don't have any heat treating capabilities just yet buy in taking your advice I will have the benefit of having a good sized batch of them to heat treat and that should help normalize the cost per knife, down to something manageable at least.
 
VaughnT said:
The biggest problem I see with new knife makers is that they jump around from metal to metal and design to design without ever really advancing the skills needed to make a good knife. My advise: you've already sunk a good bit into the tools, so get a good chunk of 1084 (that you can heat treat yourself) and make ten knives that are identical in shape. You can switch up the handle material to get some experience with how different things work, but keep the blade shape simple. Do the first knife from start to finish, to the best of your ability. Then take a week off before beginning the next knife. Again, the blades are identical. Compare the two of them and see if you've gotten better at sanding, shaping, polishing, drilling, etc. By the time you've got that tenth knife done, you'll be amazed at the difference between 1 and 10!

Then start on different designs in different materials.
Click to expand...

I was in danger of falling for this myself recently. I am sticking with one metal for now but I was playing with new designs. I caught myself though. I have a few designs that I am going to stick with for a while and really try to perfect them.

Thanks for the post. It will help me keep focused.
 
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