Im the new dude

L

LarryJ

Active Member
Hey Guys.
Im from North Carolina I am self employed with a welding and fabrication shop. i have been welding sence i was 19 years old now i am 46. been doing it for a long time. Life has been tuff for the last few years business and family. I dont have a hobby i been looking for something to do that with something i know a little bit about. Metal!!! I had an idea cross my mind, knife making. so i have been reading on the internet about knife making. the steels that are used in knife are different then what im used to. guess i dont know steel like i thought. didnt i feel dumb. so i hope you guys can teach me what i thought i knew. a few years ago a frien of mine was big in custom making knives but he mostly made Hatchets. i started talking to him about teaching me. but he was killed in motorcycle wreak. i dont know anybody around me that make knifes. so i will have to use you guys to teach me.
thanks for any help i can recieve.
LarryJ
 
Welcome to the pack here at KD!

Generally, You want High carbon steels with a content of at least .50 or higher. I also prefer stainless steels like CPM-154, CPM-S35VN and use alot of 440C as well. The 440C is relatively inexpensive and available and is a great place to start. In carbon steel's There is O-1, 1084, and the semi-stainless D2 or my choice CPM-D2.

Carbons for forging and stainless for stock removal.

Opinions may vary? :biggrin:

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
I do a lot of carbon knives and all of them are stock removal. There are people out there that think they need a carbon blade to get a real sharp edge. I guess they ought to run their thumb across a CPM 154 blade and see if they bleed...a lot.
Were you thinking of forging or stock removal? Just curious.
 
Hey Larry. Welcome. Jan 19 is our next NC Custom Knifemakers Guild meeting. You should come!! You can find all the info here .
 
Hello Larry,
welcome to KnifeDogs..
read as many posts as you can on all the knife forums and you can shave years off your learning curve...
 
Lagrange,
i have a small forge that i use in my shop. some times i fire it up. if i have a lot of heating and bending to do its cheeper than firing up my rosebud. but i think the stock removel might be easer. so the answer to your question. i really dont know which one would be better for me
 
before ordering any high carbon steel i have acutally thought about just trying to make my first knife out of A-36 sheetmetal. it a low carbon steel but i got plenty of it laying around. do you'all think it a good idea or bad?
 
LarryJ said:
before ordering any high carbon steel i have acutally thought about just trying to make my first knife out of A-36 sheetmetal. it a low carbon steel but i got plenty of it laying around. do you'all think it a good idea or bad?
Click to expand...

I did the same thing a few times.
The nice thing about that low carbon steel is that it makes great patterns. I have a drawer full of patterns that I use to scribe on knife steel. Works great.
Maybe you could start by putting some of your ideas on the low carbon and then later transfer them to knife steel. It works for me.
 
Lagrange,
i will give that a try first i got an idea in my head. i just got to put it down on paper. my fingers down always listen to my brain and i get something on my paper that wasnt in my head. my wife says i have selective hearing but i think i have selective fingers. Ha Ha
 
i replied to your question right after you asked. but i couldnt find my answer on the post anywhere. so i thought my lack of computer skills i didnt send it correctly. i thought i better answer your question. i live in Chocowinity, just south of Washington.
 
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