Figured Id share and document the progress on my own first attempt at knife making since it seems both Zamfir and myself and just starting out along this path.
I started with a piece of 01 tool steel 3/32" x 1" x 18in long and traced a template onto it.
Then I cut it out with a state of the art hack saw…
After that I went to the Fisher Price 1x30 belt sander for the basic shape…
Followed by a state of the art angle jig to set the primary bevel…
Grind results…
Thus concludes phase 1. There are a few reasons why I didnt free hand the grind on this first one. Mostly having to do with the sander itself being under powered and not smooth enough, and I didnt want to mess it up and start all the way over again. Its hopefully gonna be a xmas gift for my dad.
I left the apex of the primary bevel at about 1/32in thick to finish grinding after heat treating which is next! :S
Looking seriously good for a newbie, Cliff. Are you planning on a bolster?
I recently back-cut the platen mount for my 6X48 and have been trying some more thinning. It’s just amazing how much it improves the chef’s knives I’ve been working on. I just got some 600 and 800 grit belts from Red Label (thru Amazon). Don’t yet know what I’ll use 'em for, but the price wasn’t bad.
Viel 1x42Lookin’ good bro!! Next you need to upgrade to the… they have a TON of jigs for this thing. I’ve always wanted one but haven’t really needed it bad enough to get it. If it were me I would snag one for $100 and then get a motor (email me and I’ll shoot you a link) for about $115, then get a cheap vfd like a Teco FM50 and you would have a variable speed belt grinder for a great price (relatively speaking) B)
What are you doing for scales? And are you doing your own ht?
Looking forward to it!
Tom, I get belts from trugrit.com and they have great prices and ship pretty quick… check em out!
[quote quote=“tcmeyer” post=24575]Looking seriously good for a newbie, Cliff. Are you planning on a bolster?[/quote].
[quote quote=“razoredgeknives” post=24576]What are you doing for scales? And are you doing your own ht?
Looking forward to it! [/quote]
Thanks guys, I am trying to set myself up for success with this first one by selecting a thin and small blade profile and using angle guides etc to make it just a fun process.
So far its went smoothly. Heat treat is done and Ill post that below. Now comes (to me) the serious part…final grind, blade polish, and handle mount n shaping. No bolster on this one, no exposed pins either.
Im going to try something Ive never seen done, which may be a good or bad thing, by having the wood scales pinned internally but not visible on the outside. Planning on a beautiful mango wood for the handles…fingers crossed.
Thanks to many hours of YouTube research, here is what I came up with and it worked! :ohmy:
Bought a $15 hibachi and a piece of flexible aluminum(?) dryer exhaust vent hose. Expanded the air hole in bbq lower tray and stuck the vent hose in. No tape or anything just bent it around the lips to hold in place.
Stuck a blow dryer on the other end and let it rip. Used plain old charcoal briquets. I made a video(dont laugh :)) and you can see it working. I didnt get video of the blade heating up or dunking in the oil because it was only me and it happened so fast! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BtvWDii1sQ
Seriously happy with how the little mini coal forge worked! It got the tiny blade red hot in just a few minutes. I held it at a red glow(approx 1500F) for about 5 minutes, checked carefully it was non magnetic, and dunked smoothly in the pre heated oil. No flames n little smoke. Kinda anti-climatic but was totally stoked it worked!
Heres an after shot, tested with a file and it skated right across…
Next I cleaned off the scale and tempered the blade twice at 400F for 2hrs each time, air cooling in between each cycle. Heres the results…
The blade turned an awesome deep golden or “straw” color. Hoping its somewhere around 58-60 on hardness scale, honestly it could be higher but doesnt really matter as this one is designed for light duty utility work n garden trimming etc.
Thats it so far…Ive now just started the really labor intensive part of hand sanding and polishing the blade to be followed after by the handle mounting, shaping, sanding, & final finishing. Piece of cake! :S
We had some hackers trying to take over the sub-domain where the forum resides and we had to fend them off. I’m guessing we lost the photos then. Is it possible for you to edit your post and add them again?
Removed & replaced the images. Seems to have fixed. Stupid hackers, hope they didn’t mess you up too bad Clay! :S
Just about finished with final machine sanding. I have to say the little 1x30 does the job on smaller projects just fine if you take your time & go slow.
I’m taking it to 1000 grit to get a head start on hand sanding. Edge thickness is about same as a thumbnail. Lol Gib had a micrometer for me but I forgot to pack it while visiting him.
Realized last night how much I’ve learned from using the Wicked Edge as I was using a higher grit belt and sharpie to angle match. The same principles apply. Going slow & being keenly observant while check the work frequently etc etc.
Contacted a local supplier of exotic tropical woods today for the handles. Koa, llama, pheasant wood, opiuma, mango, and kamani? I’ve only ever heard of a few of these…stay tuned and thanks to everyone for the awesome support. I’m pretty excited!
Hopefully on the home stretch after a good day building… :blink:
Picked up some absolutely beautiful local woods from a guy that knew exactly what I needed, heres a shot of the Koa wood with an awesome curly grain:
Cut 2 blanks out, sanded them flat, and layed out the scale positions:
Rough cut around the template and finish sanded the front ends where you cant get to easily later without marring the satin blade finish:
I’m trying something different that I hope will work…I took small wood screws cut off the tips so they dont poke through the scales and inserted them on the back so they are inside the tang holes. My hope is the epoxy will form around them and help secure the scales to the knife:
Finally I slather it all in 2 ton epoxy(30min work time/24hr cure time), making sure to fill the holes all the way and wiping the excess drip out from the joint by the ricasso:
Hopeful that tomorrow I can complete the handle shaping, sanding, and finish to call this mission accomplished! :woohoo:
Hi Cliff: Normally, with epoxy, you would have had a better connection if you’d hit the surfaces of the handle material and the tang with 80-grit for an optimal tooth.
With the holes you drilled in the tang, it would have been easy to use Corby rivets, which are a male/female screw set you can grind the heads off afterwards. http://www.knifemaking.com/category-s/364.htm Together with the epoxy, it’d be a forever connection. If you knew where the big tang holes are, you could drill after epoxying the scales to the tang.
I wondered at first if Koa was particularly oily and would suggest that the scales be washed with, or even soaked in alcohol. Not to worry, I found a site that described coating a Koa fin with epoxy on a surfboard.
BTW, I threw my first couple of tries at knifemaking away. Actually. I tossed them deep into my junk box where they would never be seen and never associated with my face.
I did just that Tom. I applied a very rough surface finish to all mating surfaces after making sure they were flat and mated well. This 2 ton epoxy resin is an impressively strong mix. I have good confidence for the light duty this knife was intended it will hold for years to come.
For my next projects I will be using either corby or mosaic pins for sure, thx for the tips!
I also did some research on koa. This wood was well cured and didnt appear to have any excess oil content but to make sure I gave it a good wipe down with rubbing alcohol to make sure.
I have heard that is the case from countless youtube vids I watched prior to starting. Perhaps that is why I really took my time and have focused on each step. A few things didnt go as planned but I caught it early enough to correct and cover up. Honestly Im over the moon with how this first project is coming out, I was just happy to get even bevels etc.
First attempts at creating my own makers mark are promising but a better transfer film(thinking clear laminated stock) is needed to make this possible. I know you can order stencils premade online but Id much rather DIY.
I got the best results so far with thin shiny xmas paper taped down and ran through the laser printer producing and reversed negative image of the Logo. This was after a whole afternoon trying different paper, iron temperatures etc.
The electric/salt water method didnt seem to work at all and destroyed the toner stencil immediately. If/when you can get the toner stencil to stick to the knife it is really fairly durable. I taped off around the area I wanted to etch and let the acid sit for 5 minutes. I knew part of the stencil was missing and just wanted to see what results it would give where I had good overlay:
Appears to be a little too long soak time but decent enough definition. Logo is about the size of pencil erasure…Next attempt produced better definition but where I tried to touch up with nail polish it shows and it needed to soak longer. You really need a perfect stencil and then the correct amount of time to get this right!
It has potential but even I wasnt crazy enough to try this on my first knife until I was sure! Ok, I “may” have made 1 attempt at laying the stencil on but it failed and I said nuff of that! Little voice wispered “walk away”…
Also heres the final sharpening on the WE, since this is the forum for that
Not really on purpose but the knife ended up apexed(zero grind?) before I began sharpening it. Here it is mounted in the Tormek small knife adapter set at 10dps using the front adjustment bar I had added a while back. I really tried to work it agressivly to give it a bit more of a 2nd bevel for strength but it still came out wishper thin in the photos.
One things for certain, this knife will ki… I mean cut!
Beautiful knife, great lines. I really don’t like ugly-assed knives and this one doesn’t come close to that category. You can be proud of this one and we’ll be looking to see what wonders you produce after a few years.
Is your buddy teaching to make sheaths too? That’s one thing I never really pursued after the first efforts (ADD times 10). I did make one out of the same wood (pecan) as the handle, and used it as an inside-pocket job. Was much more functional than one would have thought.
B)
