Knife Making Tools?

[dread]

What tools, both power and hand tools, do you use to make your knife from a piece of steel? And what steel do you start with?

[canyonman]

Well, I start with a cutting torch to shape the blade I want to make. Then it goes to the belt grinder to finish the shape and start the bevel. At this point I'll use hand files and sand paper to clean up the overall finish. Now it goes back to the torch for normalizing and hardening. Then it goes to an oven for tempering. After that it's back to the sand paper for final finish.
As to steel I like 1095 and L6. That's a brief overview of the process that I use, but there are many other things that go into it and if you have more specific questions feel free to ask and I or someone else much more qualified will try to answer them. :grin:

[Joel]

I use mainly stainless steels, except for A-2; all of which are availabe in close to finished sizes, i.e. 1 1/4" x 1/8", which is my "normal" piece of barstock for most of my knives.  I order it in 3 foot lenths,which I then have to cut to whatever size I need in length.  For that I use a small cutting wheel on my dremel tool.  Steels such as 154CM will eat up a hacksaw blade even in the soft(annealed) state. The steels can be ordered precision ground(expensive) or mill rolled which means that I surface grind them to get all the carborization off and remove the cutting beads on the side of the bars.  I use my belt grinder and disk grinder to do that with old 40, 80, 120, 150 grit belts(don't use new ones unless yu are in a hurry).  The bar is then marked and profiled using my belt grinder and also my dremel tool with various size sanding drums for small curves,if any. The Blade is then ground using my belt grinder and various belts starting at 40 grit Blue zirconium and proceeding(usually) to 80, 120, 220, 320 grit to get out most of the larger scratches left by the grinding process.  At this point I start hand polishing the blade up to around 1200-1500 grit, since I mirror polish.  Some prefer to satin fnish at around 320-400 grit.  Before I actually polish though, I use my maker's stamp to press in my initials, and my drill press to drill whatever holes I need to use, then I polish.  The blade then goes to the heattreater.  After I get it back, I use various size clamps(both small C clamps and hand clamps) for holding the handle material on during the glueing process.  I also use hacksaws, files, and punches at various times.  You would need a variety of drill bits also.  A blow torch is used when soldering guard onto stick tang knives.  My vise is a standard 4" shop vise.  Etc. The actual building process is best explained in one of the detailed "how to" books and videos available.
These can be purchased From the Usual Knifemaking supply houses(texas knifemakers supply, Jantz, K & G, Sheffields) or by searching at the barnes and Noble site under knifemaking.  My Favorite steels are 154CM, BG-42 for stainless, D-2 for semi-stainless and A-2 for high carbon tool steel.

[dread]

Wow, Joel, lots of work! Guess I'll keep woodcarving. :-) (Just kidding.) A fellow is supposed to show me a "one brick forge". Don't know what that is? He's made some very professional looking knives with it. Where do you get your bar stock from? Thanks, Jim

[Joel]

I order 99% of my steel from Admiral Steel at http://www.admiralsteel.com.
In fact a large majority of the knifemakers I know do.  Their online store still isn't working, so you can either call them or do a catalog request.  They carry all sorts of different knife steels at what are usually the best prices around(there are exceptions).
Their miminum order is $25.00, which has never been a problem for me.  The Knife Makers Supply catalogs also have steels at a higher price; but if you only want to try a foot or one type or so, probably the best way to go. A good reference site for Custom Knifemaking is http://www.ckdforums.com  Not only are the forums informative, but they also have a number of interesting tutorials online that might help you.. I use them all the time.  Good luck to you, and have fun(if it's not fun, its' not worth doing).

[dread]

Hi Joel, thanks for the  web sites on knives. I am always looking for those sites. I like knives and hope I can start to make one soon. I am now setting up a little workshop both for carving and knifemaking. I got the photo of the one-brick-forge yesterday. Looks simple enough to build. Uses a propane torch and a brick. There are a lot of fellows that are making their own knives. Surprising how many there are.  :-)