Knife making for beginners so DIY, I am thinking of buying s

>>1022011
>Knife making for beginners
>so DIY, I am thinking of buying some metal and grip material to make a knife at home, I don't have a belt grinder and I don't really want to buy one. any tips? I'm using this article for help and a few vids http://www.instructables.com/id/Fixed-Blade-Knife/

As a beginning don't blow all your wedge on a KMG, awesome as they may be.

You can use an angle grinder or a bastard cut and a couple other files for your first.

See if you like working with metal first! No matter how good you get there will always be filework to do. If you don't like the feel and screech of metal on metal then it'll be a passing phase.

You can buy cheap 1" belt grinders, with a disc on the side which is surprisingly useful for truing up, as a 1" has so little contact area. This will suffice for your first few.

If after you've stock removed and handled a few, then it will be worth looking into all the specialty tools and jigs.

Please be aware in 99% of cases this will be a satisfying hobby, not any sort of reliable income source. I know stock removal guys that do a beautiful job, but they can't shift the finished product for more than parts, let alone labor the majority of the time.

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>>1022011
Might talk a bit about materials.
As a hobbyist you tend to have high expectations, but as >>1022041 mentions, this is a high-ish cost and not really something you can easily make a quid on.
I've made knives on-off for many years and most of my stuff just ends up presents for friends and relatives, if you manage to sell something for more than materials and hours, good on you!

>Blade steels
You can look at starting out which aren't very expensive are the O1 tool steel and the 10## steels which can all be home heat treated with just your mini-forge and a kitchen oven, though for the latter I recommend you get a more accurate thermometer for the oven. When you're in doubt about the metal- its time to hit the books and see what others have used, but generally always follow the manufacturers guides to heat treating and you can't really go wrong. Likewise, when you do go wrong- its going to hurt fucking up a blade, but at least with the cheaper carbon and tool steels they aren't going to blow your budget and put you in the dog house.
>Stainless blade steels
Are generally beyond the home hobbyist with the heat treating requiring long, high temperature Tempering and often a cryogenic cycle as well- if you can afford a kiln or know someone with one you can borrow, you could look at something like 440C- but its all in the heat treat and very easy to fuck it up.
>Shit I found
Old saw blades, car springs etc are fine for one-off blades that are very low cost, but its not like a lump of annealed 10## or O1 is expensive either. Big problem is that you:
>A- don't often know exactly what it is
>B- dunno what it is, how to heat treat?
>C- will need to be annealed, but how to heat treat?
>D- very difficult to repeat the result
If you can figure out what it is, then you're going to be ok... after its annealed, or it'll beat up your tools and wear you out.

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>>1022083
>Handles
Ideally you want a handle to fulfil 2 functions-
1. Be comfortable to use
2. Protect the user from the blade
So spend a bit of time nutting something out which has form and function within your skillset and ability to manufacture. This means scribbling down pictures, I spend a lot of time here making sketches of 'how' the blade and handle will merge together, because it is important, if it wasn't important- then just spend $50-100 on some mass manufactured piece of shit. As a hobbyist, don't be afraid to push boundaries either, lets face it- you're not here the money so make something artistic which has beauty and love of the craft.

>Bolster and Guard materials
Starting out, use some of the softer materials, brass, copper and bronze are ideal as they're easy to work and attractive. However, they're not cheap and will suffer from some corrosion-
Bronze/gunmetal in particular is often very hard to find in bar sections, when it is, its damn expensive.
Copper is the cheaper out of the 3, but will rapidly corrode and require constant maintenance
Brass is a personal fav, its easy to work- reasonably priced, comes in a variety of bar and plate shapes and sizes, slow to corrode and will polish up like gold.

304 and 316 Stainless are excellent materials for guards, they're rough, tough and take no shit. They also polish up like a mirror and being austenite steels they have their full corrosion resistance as-is, they do not harden and can't be used for blades, the colour of 304 is also very good for matching with many types of blade steels.
Oh boy they're gunna beat you up and take hours to work- but its worth it because they're pretty and durable.

>cont

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>>1022087
>less common materials
Aluminium is a shit in a number of ways (ref to image attached) for Alu being reactive and that's a very important thing to consider. But mostly its annoying because it glugs up files, sanders and generally a huge pain in the arse to get to a quality finish.
I did up a post on home Anodising here which is in the /diy/ archive- check it out if you're keen on Alu, it is a nice metal that's very strong, fairly cheap and light, but the anodising does take out a lot of its more annoying galvanic properties.

Titanium is hugely expensive in some forms and generally has a large amount of alloys- generally the Grade 1 and 2 are most common and easy to live with. As a material its very hard to beat and it will beat your wallet, it'll beat your files and generally beat the shit out of anything for a handle. But, figure out if its worth it yourself.

Nickel & Nickel Silver, often used in plating and highlights, nickel is a good, hard wearing material which has 2 downsides, its often expensive and can be allergenic

Plastics- don't knock the plastics, when you're after a utility knife that takes a beating, HDPE is quite good for indoor food industry use.
With plastics you need to look at the water absorb rates and also the UV resistance- available from the manufacturer

G10 and F4
Often used as liners in handles or the handles themselves, its not really suitable for bolsters as its too fragile in stress loading. But its water and UV resistant, won't burn and really tough- use a mask when working it with any kind of abrasive. Micarta is mechanically and chemically similar but generally comes in bar-stock so gets used for handles more often.

>>1022083
>>1022087
>>1022089

Any recommendations for particular power tool/brands/models for a beginner? I'm mostly looking for a Belt Sander, Drill Press, and some sort of bandsaw for shaping handles.

I have a small (70lb) farrier anvil which works for now and a small Propane forge (which I am looking to upgrade to something more professional soonish) as well.

>>1022252
Theres a few other knife makers out there, hopefully who'll add to this.
Just my opinion-
Go cheap to begin with. When it comes to shaping the blade from stock you can get away with some fairly basic gear and the only downside is that its not fast and a bit of muscle work.

>PPE
High impact full face shield, good quality particulate masks and a leather apron.

>100-120mm angle grinder and cutting disks
Plus you can also get sanding disks, grinding disks and so on which are handy for small jobs. Go for the bulk packs of cutting disks, they're generally a lot cheaper

>Bench grinder + Linisher attachment
Generally cheap but shop around for them and check them out- common problem is belt guides on the sanding surface which inhibit the blade being pressed into the belt.
They also tend to lack power and will drop off in rpm quickly, thinner 1-2" belts will help, but they also wear out a lot quicker than the longer belts on a full sized linisher
Grinder is handy for doing some basic forms, handles, bolsters and so on + you can take it off and put a buffing wheel on them which is very handy

>Files
A good set of files is worth your while to invest in anyway as they're handy for everything else that needs some truing up and accuracy. Bastard and 2nd cut grades will get you through most + a file card to keep the junk from forming up in the cutting surface.
You can also make up a file jig to do bevels and its the most basic means of stock removal- its hard work, but very accurate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9iNDRwwBQQ

>Wet-Dry Sandpaper & Polishing
Generally I have 40, 80, 180-200, 600, 1200 and 2000 which gets surfaces all tidy
For polishing I use diamond paste car cutting wax (meguiars grade 2) which gets used on the metals and varnishes alike. Its also relatively cheap, you get about a litre for $25 that will last nearly forever!

cont...

>>1022593
>Mains powered, variable speed hand drill
It makes holes, it can be used with sanding attachments, buffing wheels etc, so there's a fair bit of utility on most depending on your attachments
If you're not particularly good with a drill, the universal plunge-stands can be bought from anywhere between $50-250 depending on how fancy you want to get
As much as nice tools are fun to have, go for upper-cheap to mid range as you're gunna beat them up and generally they seem to just go on forever anyway

>Drill bits
I find the Cobalt bits + cutting fluid (I use gear oil- because cheap and works well) tend to go through anything from mild steel to 304SS if you're willing to go slow, keep the bit cool and sharp. You can also dip it in water in between plunges which will keep it cool
Sharpening is often done on a bench grinder, though for the smaller bits I use the dremel-grinding stones for accuracy
Generally I keep 3mm, 4mm, 4.5mm and 5mm
If you're willing to spend a little more, masonry bits sharpened up also do really well at beating the fuck out of hard to drill metals like stainless steel

>Multi-tool
Yeah, yeah the dremel is a piece of shit... but they're just really damn handy for lots of fiddly crap.
I bought an on-special piece of shit not-dremel knock-off from a chain store for like $40 and its been going for about 7 years now, (I honestly expected it to die about 6 years ago... but it hasn't!)
Likewise- the 'not-dremel' attachments you can get for about $20 in a 150piece container of odds and sods- bargain!
Stuff like diamond burrs, grinding stones and even the cute little buffing wheels and mandrels are just too damn handy

>Random shit
Hand saws- Jig, Hack and a Hard backed Mitre saw + box seem to keep me out of trouble.
Also have a powered Jig Saw, but while it saves me time it also seems to encourage berserk rage and I have inadvertently murdered some fairly expensive timber, that I probably wouldn't have if I just took my time by hand

>>1022593
thanks for all this advice, you and the other guys

As an aside. If you do start forging, although there are tons of instructionals on YouTube et al, the show Forged in Fire is a good way to kick back and relax.

Since most of the competitors started out just banging on metal, you can see not only that there are several ways to accomplish the same task, but you often get to see people make mistakes that you can learn from.

Since its light hearted entertainment more than anything you can watch it at the end of a long day and you'll still be learning good ways to handle and bad ways often depending solely on the material used. As an example it used to be most common to burn on a handle, but with modern composites and hardwoods you have to learn other ways of handling.

>>1023007
No probs, just ask if you're a bit unsure on stuff. My time isn't exactly 'spare' sometimes but I try to check back on Q&A stuff and help where I can.

Big thing I've noticed is that a lot of people on the youtube vids tend to be specialists in a sense they either build good blades and afterthought handles, or they're good with materials and have no artistic or ergonomic talents.
Knife making at least for me is a holistic set of skills, material knowledge, mechanical ability and an artisans eye for details. Which makes it one of the harder hobbies to get some mastery of to turn out something that's worthy of note, which as essentially an artisan is something to aim for because lets face it there are 100s of decent utility and cheap knives you can spend $10-150 that fulfil that function in the world that are mass manufactured.

By all means though, make cheap knives when starting and use them as test beds for your ideas, hone your skills and ability. Find what works, break them, make mistakes and LEARN from all of them.

My cousin:
http://www.ralphrichardscustomknives.com/index.html

Another local knifemaker and friend is Fred Duvall. I have a beautiful SS folding knife with 'ivory' inlay.

Vernon Hicks was another local knife maker who reached some renown. I have one folding knife by him but didn't acquire it until after he died.

Bud's pics are on the website. I really should take the time to photograph the Duvall and Hicks knives I'm proud to own.

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>>1022011

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>>1022011
Aww yiss

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>>1023882
DIY heat treatment
Nicholson Blackhawk files are 1095 carbon steel

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>>1023885

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>>1023886

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3KD6HiitoA

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knifemaker here
i actually made 7 knife with a file jig
i am thinking of buying an band files like this and attach it to my jig
is this a good idea /diy/ ?

>>1024556
PS : i'm not op

>>1024556
Save your money and spend it instead on a cheap belt sander with a tool rest. you'll be able to make an accurate jug for that with a piece of angle iron and some screws. It'll be a hell of a lot less awkward to work with.

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>>1024596
i already have this
but it's very imconfortable to work with it
bevel are ugly as fk
i prefer make bevel with a files than with this shitty belt sander

>>1022011

Amateur knife maker here.

You can make a knife without a grinder of any kind. It's labor intensive, but I do it.

Google "gough jig". Get yourself some sub eluctiod steel like 1084,1080,1075,5160 or any simple carbon steel with less than .85% carbon. Unless you want to send it out for heat treat, then get any steel you want. One word of warning: super steel alloys (cm and cmp 154, svn30, svn35, etc...) are going to be HELL to grind with hand files.

If I were you, I would start with 1084 or 1080 because it's easy to heat treat yourself and it's cheap.

Also, look for knife maker associations in your area. They often host workshops and meet ups. I just got back from a 2 day meet up at a local maker's shop and I learned SO MUCH. Also met some awesome people.

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>>1022011
>>1024556

I have 2 question similar to knife making.

1.I recently got this knife for work and I as wondering what kind of knife it was.

2. I have burniit before but I want to get rid of this unevenness on the end, it sort of Brothers me. Any suggestions?
>Pic related is knife

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>>1024637
I use it to cut boxes and Tape on occasion. It was given to me as a gift.
>Pic related is it up closer.

As you can see in the end of it there's These two bumps that aren't apart of the serrated edge. Will burnishing get rid of them?

>>1024637
Ohh and sorry for typos i'm on mobile

>>1024639

You'll need to learn to sharpen.

>>1024641
The man who gave it to me told me I couldn't sharpen it because of the serrated edge. I only wanted to sharpen the end of it though, could I still do that?

>>1024645
Yes.

>>1024645
Absolutely, and you can sharpen the serrated bits too, with different equipment.

In fact, the same company that made your knife makes a rod and stand sharpening system that I think is very good. I have a similar system by lansky (much simpler though) and I think it's great.

>>1024637
The knife is a knock off Spyderco. The blade is probably made out of cheese, getting it sharp may be the most difficult thing you'll ever do.

Go to home depot, by the el cheepo, double sided sharpening stone. If you have a few bucks left, buy another knife so you have something while you fuck with this one.

The trick to sharpening (after you get past finding and keeping an angle) is forming a burr. Just google it, cause I'm lazy and tired.

OR you could just get a utility knife... and learn to sharpen razor blades, because that's a skill NOONE should have.

>>1024647
>>1024648
>>1024668
Thanks I'll look into it

>>1024556
>i am thinking of buying an band files like this and attach it to my jig
The variable speed ones are pretty good, but also quite expensive. Though I dunno how you'd rig it up to a file jig.
They also eat through belts like a fat chick on chocolate cake