Making a knife - sort of

bimbo · Post by **bimbo** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 7:05 am

I have always wanted to make knives, no idea why though just do.
Anyway I would love to make them from scratch ie shape and grind steel, harden/temper etc but I didn't want to invest a bunch of time into making a bit of steel resemble a knife only to screw it up somehow adding the handles so I figured some baby steps where in order. I was searching through a few knife supply places and noticed that you can pick up some ready make 440c stainless knife blanks for around $15usd. My train of thought was that if I completely screw it up then its not a huge amount of dollars or time spent/invested and it it comes out OK then I should have a reasonable and completely usable hunting knife. Also final product would be easy to sell off for cost of materials or give away as gift etc. So I went shopping

All ordered from USA knife supplies, 3 small game/hunting knife blanks - different styles to see what I like/prefer, some pin material (used to hold the handle material on), some black and white handle spacer/liner material (G10) and a set of black and red (ausvarmint inspired?) acrylic scale blanks. Also dropped by bunnings and picked up a pack of spring clamps, some 24hr araldite glue and masking tape.

Last time I was home I pinched a piece of well seasoned mahogany which I though do reasonably well a knife handle material so I cut some 100x10x40mm ish pieces. Also cut out some white liner to match. The white liner was scratched up with 80grit sand paper then some araldite applied and clamped to the mahogany and let set for 24hrs - the board that the pieces are clamped to is wrapped in a sheet of kitchen baking paper as the epoxy won't stick to it.

Next afternoon I roughed out the shape of the handles and drilled the holes for the pin stock using the knife as a template - I discovered 2 annoying things 1. I didn't order any 3/32 (2.4mm) stainless pins but a quick rummage round found some 2.4mm stainless tig welding wire which will do the job nicely. and no.2 was that my bench drill chuck won't hold a 2.5mm drill bit so I had to use the cordless and I am the worlds worst person for trying to drill straight - came out ok though

Also shaped up the front of the handle - once glue in place you can't easily sand/finish this part without scratching the bejebus out of the blade - all sanded to 600 grit. I quite like the look of the timber - can also see the white spacers here.

Next I decided I didn't like the gloss polish on the knife blade so hit that with some wet and dry to give it a matt/satin finish

Once I had cut the 2.4mm welding wire into appropriately sized pin I roughed them up with a bit of 80grit sand paper then cleaned everything with some acetone it was time to glue it all together.
This was how I left it last night - all glued up, taking care to clean any excess glue from around the front of the knife so there is no cleanup required.

This arvo when I get home from work I will go and see how may of the clamps are glued to the knife handles and if I have managed to glue the whole knife to the work bench

Cheers
James

kickinback · Post by **kickinback** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 7:15 am

Well done Bimbo.

windknot · Post by **windknot** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 8:03 am

You're rooted now mate

it is an addictive past time that gets a hold on you, next you'll try different styles, making sheaths for them and get curious about grinding and heat treating.

Good luck with it and enjoy, I used to scoff at blokes who said there is a certain amount of pleasure in using a knife you made..........but yes, there definately is.

bimbo · Post by **bimbo** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 8:09 am

Haha yeah been looking at leather work stuff - well make sheath would finish off knives well.
See how I go. I am using my disc/belt sander at the moment but If I do get into it and find I enjoy it I have a spare belt sander which is missing many parts and reckon I could scavenge the motor and a few parts to make a proper knife grinder.

bimbo · Post by **bimbo** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 8:10 am

Any ideas/thoughts on an oil or wax to finish the timber on the handle?

kickinback · Post by **kickinback** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 8:27 am

bimbo wrote:Any ideas/thoughts on an oil or wax to finish the timber on the handle?

I used this on recommendation from a bloke in the know.

http://www.feastwatson.com.au/consumer/ ... tails/1526

Gave this result on jarrah

Camel · Post by **Camel** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 9:15 am

Good work there Bimbo, that is coming along nicely and should make a good hand little knife for you.

Post by **MISSED** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 9:33 am

Excellent

I like the shape of that little knife it should make a good small game skinner.

windknot · Post by **windknot** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 10:52 am

My young fella uses Gilly Stehenson Carbanuba wax on timber handles on the say of a few of the long term knife makers , Tung oil is also popular, I think most decent quality finishes would be suitable.

Seddo · Post by **Seddo** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 1:41 pm

that looks flash, well done.

windknot · Post by **windknot** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 2:01 pm

You might find some info in these links that may help Bimbo

http://www.knivesby.com/knifemaking.html

B4408 · Post by **B4408** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 4:15 pm

Looking good.
Can you put up a link to the steel supplier, that solves the problem that has stoped me trying to make a knife.
Do you need a bit of leather? I should be able to find a bit In my supplies for you.

Bruce

LoneRider · Post by **LoneRider** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 5:19 pm

i saw a vid of a bow hunter who used a circular saw blade for knives,he cut the shape out with a plasma cutter and ground it back past the heat mark.

now...how do ya peen over the pins in the handle without buggering the timber bimbo ?

bimbo · Post by **bimbo** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 7:51 pm

LoneRider wrote:
now...how do ya peen over the pins in the handle without buggering the timber bimbo ?

Dunno, I decided I would leave that one for another day (might try that it with brass pins first)

I figured by scratching up the pins the epoxy should hold onto them well enough - If I manage to pop the scales off I am probably not using the knife for its intended purpose

I have seen plenty of vids etc about making knives from any high carbon steel - power hacksaw blades, car leaf springs, paint scrapers, saw blades etc but the problem is know what steel it is to get the temper/hardening process etc right, plenty seem to do ok though but I have NFI what I am doing at this stage (and life in general

)

Bruce the 2 sites I found that seemed to have a good rep were http://usaknifemaker.com which is where I bought my stuff from and http://www.texasknife.com

Thanks for the link windknot will check it out.

Did a bit more on the knife tonight, unclamped it and none of the glue sticks to the plastic clamps I am using so that was a win

Sanded down the pins on the disc sander then onto the belt sander to clean up the glue that squeezed out and start to shape it a little - I was pretty cautious here as it takes a lot of timber off pretty quick. Once that was done I used a round file to do the underside of the knife as the radius on the end of the belt sander is way to big to be of any use. The after roughing the shape out with files it was onto the 80grit sand paper to start to smooth it out and blend the shape. Then onto the finer grits - once I hit 400 things really started to feel smooth and that is where I left it tonight.

Only real trouble I had was the stainless pins not sanding down as fast as the timber around them and leaving the stainless proud, needed to give a few of them a file down, switching to a piece of aluminium instead of a wooden paint stick as a sanding block helped a bit but it is no good on all the wavy bits.

Cheers
James

Post by **MISSED** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 8:32 pm

Nice work Bimbo and thank you for the links.

AusVarmint