DIY Knife Kit

What material do you use to make knives? I just heard that the best material for blades is the tang. It does not blunt and cuts food into thin slices. I say this from my experience. I’ve been using steel knives for a long time, and they’ve broken often. What annoyed me most was that I had to sharpen these knives once every four months. Ever since I started buying knives at full tang knife, I’ve never sharpened them, not once. I’ve been using them for about a year. So if you want to make knives, then make them out of a tang.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by Joseph.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by Joseph.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by Joseph.

I’ve made a number of knives from kits over the past 45 years.  Recently, I’ve done a few that have turned out quite good.

If you want an inexpensive ($23) EDC folder, I’ve done the “Sarge” kit, which is available from a number of sources.  My source was Woodcraft.

My kitchen knives, which I also bought from Woodcraft, are completed blades of excellent quality without scales or pins.  They have some really good videos demonstrating the process in finishing them.  I have the Zhen damascus VG10 blades which I recommend highly.

Jantz Supply has dozens of kits.  Some even include sheaths.  Almost all are excellent.

Most scales (I use Honduran rosewood) can be finished with sandpaper, up to a high grit (I use a polishing wheel, but you could sand up to maybe 1500) and do not require staining or finishing.  Micarta and the similar products like Dymondwood will polish very nicely and are impervious to water of oils.  Generally, a half-round file will handle the rough shaping nicely.

I also make some knives from scratch, which requires quite a bit more equipment, but is not out of the realm of hobby-shop if you’re really into it.

Wishtai:

With regard to knives which are best for cutting meat, I’ll offer the following comments:

Meat falls into the category of soft and slippery.  Depending on the temperature of the meat, the thickness of the blade can be a factor, as well as the degree of polish.  Very cold meat will prefer a very thin knife.  Thick blades with polished bevels will tend to slide, rather than slice.  I have found that adding a microbevel with a coarser grit will add a bit of “tooth” to the edge.  The microscopic teeth will bite into the tissue, rather than slip over it.  I’ve had a user tell me that his skinner, to which I had added a 1000 grit microbevel, worked out particularly well.  Also works very well on fillet knives.

Try adding a microbevel like this:  If your edge bevel is finished at 18 dps, set your microbevel angle at 20 dps, then take about three, very, very light, alternating strokes along the edge with a coarser grit, any of 600, 800 or 1000 grit.  If the knife is to be used primarily in a pulling (toward you) stroke, then orient the teeth correctly by using “down and away from you” strokes.

I’ve also found that knives that have a high degree of polish on the primary grind faces tend to stick to whatever moist thing you are cutting, much like a slice of potato will stick to the sides of a chef’s knife.  I have a Zhen nakiri I bought recently that came with a high-gloss urethane or lacquer finish applied to it.  It’s the stickiest knife I’ve ever used.  Not something I’d recommend.

Done properly, microbevels are so small. they’re hard to see with the naked eye.  Here’s one I did on a SOG folder.