Technology => DIY => Topic started by: Savino on September 24, 2014, 02:27:07 am
Title: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: Savino on September 24, 2014, 02:27:07 am
Ok, so this thread is coming soon, like by the end of the week. I was going to do it today, but I forgot my camera at home..
Anyways, I'll teach you the basics of making a knife.. http://s15.postimg.org/hzmh57md7/knife.jpg This is one I did maybe 10 days ago, seen some abuse and still kicking, with poor steel even it will slice newspaper like nothing at the end of the day. The blade is too big, and it is sloppy, I know, and this was my first try at making a handle, so it is shit, but that will improve. The fact is I have read enough to know what I am talking about, even if I cannot yet produce results equivalent of that knowledge. I am here to teach you to make a blade itself. This is what I would have thought you today, had I brought my camera.. http://s15.postimg.org/4jzgfrdvf/forgeknife.jpg Forged from chunk of spring steel from a semi, and then stock removed from there. It has been shaped, the bevel was started (not finished though, to prevent warping during the harden), it was hardened, and tempered.. I tried to grind a small hold in it with the drill press just to see today, and fuck, I almost burned the press out without making a scratch. After the picture, I cleaned it up with a buffer wheel, put a 90% final edge on it, and cut my handle wood to shape and set it, tomorrow I will sharpen it to RAZOR sharp. Finish up my handle (the holes are not for pins BTW, ill explain later), and have a knife... Anyways..
Like I said, I would like to take pictures, step by step as I make a new knife, so the bulk of this will have to wait until later in the week. For now what I can tell you to get ready is the following:
A belt sander is ideal, a bench grinding stone will serve, files will work but expect to spend ALOT of time working them, and sandpaper alone... Well it will do, but you will have popeye arms at the end.
An angle grinder with a cut-off wheel can help move huge amounts of stock in a minute that you would have spent 15 minutes grinding away. As for steel, I will be showing you how to cut out your knife from a sheet. So, lawnmower blades are great for this type of work, good steel, already thin, and easy to harden. If you don't have one of those, find some random sheet of steel to practice with.
If you are going to make a handle, honestly, just use poor wood for your first try. I made my first handle out of a piece of lathe for marking lines in the ground... Cheapest wood ever.. I wasn't going to spend $20 on the hardwood for a handle just to fuck it up.
A vice would be nice. A drill, with good bits, or a drill press.
A fine belt for your grinder, a finer grind stone, or some finer sandpaper.
Some type of glue.
Those are pretty much all you will need, along with access to a work space and some other random tools everyone should have.
Anyways, like I said, I'll fill this thread out properly in the coming days, with pictures and shit.. Pretty sure this is the next knife design I want to try, so it will likely be the one I show you to make, within the next few days.. http://s28.postimg.org/g5qzsmljx/435345.jpg
See you soon.
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: millionsofdeadcats on September 24, 2014, 02:36:14 am
hey
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: bling bling on September 24, 2014, 03:31:25 am
get metal piece
cut to knife shape
thats all that is neccesary
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: Matius on September 25, 2014, 08:18:15 pm
Make me one of these plz:
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: Savino on September 26, 2014, 12:56:00 am
Didn't take as many pictures as I meant to... Downsizing them from 4000X5000 pixels or whatever and resaving them is a pain.. These should get the gist across though..
Ok.. So I started with a piece of sheet steel. 1040 carbon steel from what I understand.. Not ideal for a knife, but you could do worse.. I cut my piece as small as I could for my knife sketch.. http://s18.postimg.org/a1658hkhl/1steel.jpg
Gotta draw or trace your design onto the steel...(Don't just wing it on the fly, it won't turn out great. Have a plan what it should look like before..) http://s28.postimg.org/rmn4vrhgd/1draw.jpg
Next, I put it in the vice at different angles, to where ever I could draw a straight line across to cut material out with the angle grinder, to save time on the grind stone.. http://s28.postimg.org/6lx3audy5/1angle.jpg
Now I took it to the grindstone, and took about 20 minutes removing material, until I had the shape, the "knife blank". http://s28.postimg.org/6ogyxohlp/1blank.jpg
Took it over to the drill press, to make some holes for the handle. Not for pins, but just so the glue can go right through the handle and make "pins" of it's own. http://s18.postimg.org/u79n7dg55/1press.jpg
Didint follow the pattern on the template, this will serve just fine.. http://s18.postimg.org/4n7d0xurd/1holes.jpg
Didint take a picture of me putting the bevel on for the edge, youtube will help you here.
Now I took it to the buffer wheel on the other grinder, polished the blade up a little, used it to put my edge on, and here we go. http://s18.postimg.org/8iar3idx5/1finish.jpg
It's obviously not done yet.. I mean, even without a heat treat, and full sharpen, it slices news paper like a razor.. But there is alot of work to go.. Finishing the blade, making the handle, polishing it up, ect, ect... I'll go into these a bit in the future..
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: Nigger Nostrils on September 26, 2014, 01:11:27 am
Build a dick sword.
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: Savino on September 26, 2014, 01:48:26 am
Sounds pretty gay, and painful... Only person who would like something like that is a dirty arab...
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: Matius on September 26, 2014, 09:28:17 am
Is it a sword made of dicks, or a sword used primarily in the extraction of dicks? Please forgive my ignorance of the subject...
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: Number13 on September 26, 2014, 11:43:49 am
Glad you're still doing this Savino, threads back on zoklet were really good reading. Why aren't you using pins? It'll hold the scale on better and will look better too.
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: Savino on September 26, 2014, 05:35:11 pm
Glad you're still doing this Savino, threads back on zoklet were really good reading. Why aren't you using pins? It'll hold the scale on better and will look better too.
I will, soon enough. I've only made like 3 handles so far. Wanna learn the basics before I step up to pins and rivets and such.
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: Savino on September 26, 2014, 09:30:17 pm
If the Mods here actually give a shit.. Can you please delete these off topic troll posts? I'm trying to make a serious thread, which will grow in time to feature a lot of good info, links, resources, tips, and pictures.. I like to think out of the few forums worthy of actual moderation and serious posting, DIY would be one of them.. If every serious thread is full of idiotic troll posts, serious topics won't exist.
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: Savino on September 26, 2014, 11:13:21 pm
Here is what I am forging with now:
This used to be the bin we dumped used oil in at work, and it would go into a tank, we have a new system now so this was garbage. I however seen a perfect forge.. I burned and sanded off most of the paint/oil, cut a hole in the downpipe to insert a tin can, duct taped it there, and capped the bottom off. Again, I am using a $17 walmart hairdryer.. Works excellent, in fact it produces too much air pressure even on the lowest, so I had to make a hole in the downpipe to relieve some of the pressure. I also found I had to quickly put a little "table" above the blower, with a wet rag on it, to stop the radiant heat from the steel from melting the hair dryer. http://s13.postimg.org/evnm9n7d3/forge6.jpgh http://s12.postimg.org/w7f07f0il/forgesteel.jpg http://s12.postimg.org/5xtxomel9/heat.jpg
This is my new anvil... Much better, yet, I suppose you can't call it an anvil either.. http://s28.postimg.org/hszcv58y5/anvil.jpg
here are some pictures of my (company's) shop, and what kind of things I have to work with to make knives... Here is the "metal area", with all the relevant metal working tools we need for our particular job. Welders, grinders, plasma torch, ventilation, ect, not ideal, but could do worse.. http://s27.postimg.org/qy5k4psmb/shop.jpg
For stock removal, I have 3 of these things... http://s27.postimg.org/6zl3olijn/image.jpg
This one I believe is a 1 inch wheel, the other is a half inch, and the other is a quarter inch. All very course wheels. Though, the quarter inch one also has a second wheel, very, very, VERY fine. It will buff steel to a mirror polish, and put razor edges on your bevels.
Some other helpful things as well. Not the best setup, but I could do much worse.
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: Nigger Nostrils on September 27, 2014, 01:39:26 am
Is it a sword made of dicks, or a sword used primarily in the extraction of dicks? Please forgive my ignorance of the subject...
something like this.. with a brass balls hand guard.
(http://i.imgur.com/OCTByXU.png)
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: Savino on September 27, 2014, 03:54:16 am
Right... Fuck this site then.. Totse/Zoklet is dead, only the stupid remain.
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: mojo4567 on September 27, 2014, 04:10:36 am
interesting. how would one go about doing those cool layerd metal knifes? do you have to be a smithy to do that?
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: 1983 on September 28, 2014, 12:06:21 pm
Hey Savino I'm still around.
Nice to see you working on your hobby, Have you ever thought of trying out iron wood for a handle? It's tough as all hell hence the name but I got a few of them down on my property and Id be happy to send some cut offs your way. I also have some red oak and maple kicking around as well if you don't want to have to pay for any wood. Only downside is you have to put the grunt work behind them to make them handle ready s they'll just be cut from the tree and sent your way.
As childish and stupid that the dick sword is there's an English dagger known as the "Bolluck" dagger. Basically if a lord tried to whip it out on a high lady she'd whip this out and remove the problem. (http://www.knife-depot.com/images/articles/dagger-bollock.jpg)
There was also a cavalry sword that had a massive piece of metal on the front for use on horseback shaped like a diamond then a regular straight tapered blade, It was useless on the ground but from horseback the down swing would literally rip a man in half from the centrifugal force. It didn't last long in history and i can't for the life of me remember the name of it.
As for your knifes if you want to make the same knife over and over again I'd highly suggest a jig plate so you can set your knife into it and have all the holes pre-drilled in your jig so you don't have to measure out things all the time or at least save some time.
Nice to see you working on your hobby, Have you ever thought of trying out iron wood for a handle? It's tough as all hell hence the name but I got a few of them down on my property and Id be happy to send some cut offs your way. I also have some red oak and maple kicking around as well if you don't want to have to pay for any wood. Only downside is you have to put the grunt work behind them to make them handle ready s they'll just be cut from the tree and sent your way.
Good to see you here man. I have thought about a lot of things for handles, there is some seriously fucking exotic, AMAZING looking types of hardwood ive seen online, but gods is it expensive, for one handle of some of the stuff I was looking at I'd be paying like $40.. I am not one to turn away the kindness of strangers.. If you would like to send me some good wood, I certainly appreciate it, and wouldn't object.. Shoot me a PM.
OP, sorry about contributing to the bullshit, good job with the knife making, and good luck.
Your post wasn't bad. I have seen people requesting that same sword from smiths a dozen times.. Thing is, its totally impracticable and unrealistic.. I seen a video this SICK back country blacksmith that does custom swords, and he did one of those.. It weighed close to 50lbs once finished... NO man can wield a 50lb sword, that is the stuff of fantasy. He had to have a local weight lifter come to his yard to swing the thing and chop up pallets.
Found some neat "rubber" type material at work today, seems like it would make a pretty decent/unique handle for a knife, even perhaps make a sheathe from it.. Gonna try tonight to make a handle for that knife I posted pictures of with this stuff. Was originally going to use some hardwood I salvaged from an old dresser, but it broke apart, as it was pieces glued together rather then solid slabs.. Shame, that would have been a lot of good knife handle wood.. Might be ill take pictures as I fuck around with the handle.
I also just received my first ever shipment of "known" steel. 1084 carbon steel, 48 inches long, 2 inches wide, 1/8th inch thick. Been reading up on how to heat treat it and everything, really excited to finally use some "proper" steel for knives... Don't get me wrong, the 1040 seems to serve, and the leaf springs and files I've used did well, but from everything I've read, "Known" steel is the only way to go, so you know how to heat treat it.
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: 1983 on October 02, 2014, 01:18:36 am
I'll fire off a pm on the weekend, on my phone during the week so I can't give you what I have in my wood pile / stock until then.
Chances are they'll be rounds cut from a log if your l good with something like that to work with.
I can also send in cut offs from branches as well if you just want to split, rivet, and carve a handle as well.
Just a heads up for the iron wood as well... It's a real fucker to work with.
Al
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: Savino on October 02, 2014, 09:51:08 pm
I'll fire off a pm on the weekend, on my phone during the week so I can't give you what I have in my wood pile / stock until then.
Chances are they'll be rounds cut from a log if your l good with something like that to work with.
I can also send in cut offs from branches as well if you just want to split, rivet, and carve a handle as well.
Just a heads up for the iron wood as well... It's a real fucker to work with.
Al
Sounds good to me. Cheers.
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: Savino on October 11, 2014, 01:34:30 am
So, I don't really know where to go with this, so ill just shoot some random shit out there..
Here is that knife I forged (http://s15.postimg.org/4jzgfrdvf/forgeknife.jpg), I "finished" it.. Heat treated it, polished it up, put a shitty wooden handle on it. Now, this knife has been used a lot at work since I made it, and used hard. It does do the fucking job still, very nicely, I like to sharpen it every couple days, just because I like to sharpen knives, but it doesn't really need it, you can slice news paper with it still. Not that it looks good or anything I admit, but I guess that comes with practice.. Made the "Sheath" out of cardboard and electric tape for now.. Stops it from slicing my femoral artery wide open if I happen to fall while carrying it anyways. It looked real nice when I first made it, but it's kinda beat up now. It was shit anyways, I know I gotta eventually get into leather too.. http://s11.postimg.org/h9y31qroh/knifeeee.jpg
Going to try to make a real fucking knife, for serious field use (skinning knife) for a buddy at work soon. I showed him a bunch of designs, and he picked one he really liked. I got some 1084 carbon steel, 48 inches of it, 2 inch wide, by 1/8th inch thick. And I've been reading a lot on how to heat treat it (why I chose the steel, apparently very easy to heat treat yourself). So that will do nicely. Though, I plan to make a "practice knife" first out of the shit steel I've been using so far, see how it goes, and then do the real thing with the good stuff. I'll post pictures if I remember to take my camera, I'll go into as much detail as I can I suppose, If I remember to bring my camera. I probably should make a note to remember, just because I know there are a couple people here much better then me at this and could give good advice ect.
Also, 1083, There is another guy at work, he has a brother who works in this specialty wood shop or some fucking thing. He said he can get me all kinds of large scrap pieces of nice fucking hardwoods. I'll have to make him a knife too, but it sounds great. So don't worry about chopping down any trees for me or anything man. Though I hope you will provide advice on the upcoming project.
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: Arnox on October 11, 2014, 05:29:25 am
Dunno if you posted this already but what are your comments on what steel to use?
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: Savino on October 11, 2014, 12:14:33 pm
Dunno if you posted this already but what are your comments on what steel to use?
Umm, well honestly there are tons of steels to use. The most common for beginners apparently though is the carbon steels, like 1084, 1095 ect. Gets plenty hard, easy to heat treat at home, cheap and easy to get ahold of.
I have made knives out of, lawnmower blades, files and springs off cars, they worked quite well, problem is though, there is no way to really know exactly what type of steel it is (short of getting it tested), so you wouldn't know how to properly heat treat it, and that's what makes the knife, is the heat treat.
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: 1983 on October 20, 2014, 09:55:09 pm
What clearing out some land and dragging an old oil drum for where I'm going to put up my shop for the forge and I got to thinking to look at that old car wreck to see if still has it's suspension in it... Well... Jackpot.
I don't usually make knifes but I've been wanting to try my hand at a custom design so maybe in a year or so I'll have something worth while to post here.
Slowly adding to the collection as well so I can make my multi fuel forge, I got the oil drum donated for nothing and a burner head for "get it the fuck off my property" so when I bring my spare air compressor in from my old place I should be able to make something workable.
Al
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: mashleshmash on October 21, 2014, 07:15:09 pm
b ump
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: Savino on October 22, 2014, 02:32:25 am
What clearing out some land and dragging an old oil drum for where I'm going to put up my shop for the forge and I got to thinking to look at that old car wreck to see if still has it's suspension in it... Well... Jackpot.
I don't usually make knifes but I've been wanting to try my hand at a custom design so maybe in a year or so I'll have something worth while to post here.
Slowly adding to the collection as well so I can make my multi fuel forge, I got the oil drum donated for nothing and a burner head for "get it the fuck off my property" so when I bring my spare air compressor in from my old place I should be able to make something workable.
Al
Keep us updated brah. Any recent smithing work to show off, I know you're good.
So, some new knives... The first 2 are totally finished, though they have been work tested, hard, so they are a little scuffed up, yet they still slice newspaper like nothing. The rest, are in various states, yet to be finished.
All 1084 steel, first 2, as they are finished have obviously been heat treated, the rest have not yet. Still learning my way around wood, so my handles look like shit still.
http://s22.postimg.org/zffl5mm1t/kn_ife.jpg
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: 1983 on October 22, 2014, 02:55:21 am
Mostly it's the cash flow that's putting a halt to allot of my stuff, I want to have my shop built before I commit to anything because the weather around here can be sun one moment rain shit pounding you then next then back to sun then rain shit pounding you while it's sunny out.
I'll post pics if the weather's good tomorrow of the area I'm working on clearing out to give you an idea how big my little shops going to be.
Al
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: Savino on October 23, 2014, 04:44:09 am
Ok, so for reasons, I will post up a few knife designs. People will then have until tomorrow afternoon to vote on one, even if just one person picks one, I will go with that I guess because this thread is dead as fuck.. From there, I will take pictures, and go into great detail every step of the way, for the few days it will take me to make a good and proper knifeything from said design...
They aren't labeled, so consider them 1-whatever, from top to bottom.
Don't pick the second one actually though, I am not ready to make that one. For, reasons.
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: fanglekai on October 23, 2014, 05:27:49 am
1084 or 1080 are good steels for beginners, but 1095 is not. In general hypereutectoid steels aren't good for beginners because of the heat treatment protocol.
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: fanglekai on October 23, 2014, 05:28:34 am
What is the thickness behind the edge? What primary angle are you grinding them down to?
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: Number13 on October 23, 2014, 05:43:16 am
What is the thickness behind the edge? What primary angle are you grinding them down to?
What angle? I don't know man. I am amateur still. I work with 1/8th inch thick steel now, use an 1/8th inch drill bit to scribe my line across the edge, grind it down to that, heat treat it, then make quick even passes until it is sharp and jagged, at which point I take it to the "buffer wheel", and finish the edge to a point where you cannot tell the difference between a razor slice to newspaper, or one of my knives edges with the naked eye, seems pretty sharp to me even if the geometry isn't perfectly set.
Actually, unless I am mistaken, I chose that same one for the work knife I want to make for myself. http://s22.postimg.org/zffl5mm1t/kn_ife.jpg The last one from the bottom, though, I have modified the shape slightly to my own liking.
I'll post it when it is done, however I will make another, like I said in detail. As close to that as I can and we will see how it turns out.
I won't have much time though, I need to finish the one I just talked about, and the other for a friend, which is the last one in that picture. From there, i'll do this next one for the thread.
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: fanglekai on October 26, 2014, 03:22:25 am
What is the thickness behind the edge? What primary angle are you grinding them down to?
What angle? I don't know man. I am amateur still. I work with 1/8th inch thick steel now, use an 1/8th inch drill bit to scribe my line across the edge, grind it down to that, heat treat it, then make quick even passes until it is sharp and jagged, at which point I take it to the "buffer wheel", and finish the edge to a point where you cannot tell the difference between a razor slice to newspaper, or one of my knives edges with the naked eye, seems pretty sharp to me even if the geometry isn't perfectly set.
Actually, unless I am mistaken, I chose that same one for the work knife I want to make for myself. http://s22.postimg.org/zffl5mm1t/kn_ife.jpg The last one from the bottom, though, I have modified the shape slightly to my own liking.
I'll post it when it is done, however I will make another, like I said in detail. As close to that as I can and we will see how it turns out.
I won't have much time though, I need to finish the one I just talked about, and the other for a friend, which is the last one in that picture. From there, i'll do this next one for the thread.
Angle cubes are $20. Calipers are cheap and you could measure the thickness behind the edge. If you aren't interested in the technical side then it's no biggie. I read knife forums including a couple technical ones.
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: Savino on October 26, 2014, 02:15:16 pm
What is the thickness behind the edge? What primary angle are you grinding them down to?
What angle? I don't know man. I am amateur still. I work with 1/8th inch thick steel now, use an 1/8th inch drill bit to scribe my line across the edge, grind it down to that, heat treat it, then make quick even passes until it is sharp and jagged, at which point I take it to the "buffer wheel", and finish the edge to a point where you cannot tell the difference between a razor slice to newspaper, or one of my knives edges with the naked eye, seems pretty sharp to me even if the geometry isn't perfectly set.
Actually, unless I am mistaken, I chose that same one for the work knife I want to make for myself. http://s22.postimg.org/zffl5mm1t/kn_ife.jpg The last one from the bottom, though, I have modified the shape slightly to my own liking.
I'll post it when it is done, however I will make another, like I said in detail. As close to that as I can and we will see how it turns out.
I won't have much time though, I need to finish the one I just talked about, and the other for a friend, which is the last one in that picture. From there, i'll do this next one for the thread.
Angle cubes are $20. Calipers are cheap and you could measure the thickness behind the edge. If you aren't interested in the technical side then it's no biggie. I read knife forums including a couple technical ones.
It's not that I'm not interested, its just, well, there is sooo much to absorb to make a real fucking proper knife... Learning about steels, different grind types, the shape and look of the knife, heat treating, wood working, shop safety, ect ect ect. I am taking it step by step really. I know some about steel, how to deal with it, I am learning how to work with wood, I am reading user manuals for all the tools I use, plasma cutter, drill press, bench grinders, angle grinders, these are some scary fucking tools. Eventually yes, I will be trying to dial in the angles exactly right and have perfect geometry and all that good shit, because you have to if you want a perfect knife, but right now, all my edges slice paper as clean as any razor, so I am happy with that for the moment.
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: Savino on October 27, 2014, 10:48:57 pm
Gonna be fucking around, doing some sanding and shit in my kitchen tonight. Guess ill take some pictures, nothing exciting though.
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: Savino on October 28, 2014, 12:48:25 am
Well, not much exciting, as I said... All I did was work a bit of wood down to a reasonable thickness for a handle. Shitty soft wood, to match the shitty practice knife.. It will look nice with the wood varnish and stain I've bought though.. Also, just polished up the said practice knife a bit to test the new sandpaper, didn't go as hard as I could have, that will come after the heat treat and such.. Went from like 120 grit, to 600. 120, 2something, 400, and 600 I believe was the progression.. Though, I only spend a minute or two on each, had other stuff to do and this was just killing time.
After: http://s27.postimg.org/x45oiuyur/1workafter.jpg All I did was flip it over for some reason, I worked both sides the same. I imagine had I spent 5X as much time on each grit, it would be pretty fucking shiny.. We will see...
Here is a skinning knife I am making for a friend.. So far its the knife I've been putting the most work into.. I bough all the different sand paper for it, a bunch of stain and varnish for the handle, ect. I even stamped it on the other side with my makers mark, and serial number (01, lol) I made the mark from "hardened" type writer keys, they stamp into hot steel very nicely. Though, I won't show you my mark yet.. http://s27.postimg.org/pqqajwesz/1friend.jpg
Here's what I was sanding with for the most part, trying to thin out some soft wood for my practice knife handle. 60 grit sand paper, taped to my counter top. http://s27.postimg.org/n84lj7t2r/1paper.jpg
Here's how thin I made it for now.. This is like 1/4th as thick as each piece was.. It was a plank from a particularly nice pallet I found at work. With stain, and varnish, it should look nice enough. http://s27.postimg.org/49jmqacxf/1shavedwood.jpg http://s27.postimg.org/ybjmb2oz7/1wood.jpg
And here is what I was using to keep my fucking kitchen free of fire hazard wood shavings... http://s27.postimg.org/n5kpwdpf7/1shopvac.jpg
Basically taped the big wide attachment to the edge of my counter, thing is STRONG. Almost all wood dust got sucked down immediately, and I used it to clean up the extra frequently.
And here, is the first 1084 knife I made, for use at work. Fully hardened and tempered. At least a few weeks old, can't be sure exactly. It's been worked hard, cutting everything from boxes, plastic, paracord, whatever, and I have only sharpened it lightly once since then, but here it is, going to work on a piece of generic computer paper.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIE7DPtzXX0&list=UU8rvUdhK_CpTmzx7vChdACw Holds a pretty good edge I think.
You cunt's better reply. I am putting in work to make this thread worth a read, you could do the same.
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: fanglekai on October 28, 2014, 02:30:06 am
Computer paper is way too thick to demonstrate sharpness. Use phone book paper. This knife is decently sharp but it could be better.
http://youtu.be/vwPEYU1l-sE
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: Savino on October 28, 2014, 03:20:03 am
Computer paper is way too thick to demonstrate sharpness. Use phone book paper. This knife is decently sharp but it could be better.
http://youtu.be/vwPEYU1l-sE
Yeah, spyderco is no joke. I've seen some of their knives slice through half a dozen full water bottles like air, over and over, and over.
In my defense, this knife hasn't been sharpened in at least a week, and it has cut a dozen boxes, like 3lbs of plastic, a bunch of rope, and some other shit since.
Still, I know, I'm amateur.. I'm learning at least.
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: fanglekai on October 28, 2014, 03:46:19 am
I find that most knives aren't very sharp out of the box for my standards. That Military needed a bit of work. The steel is S30V, which isn't super fine grained, so it ends up with a "sticky sharp" edge, where if you very very carefully and gently test the edge on your thumb it will grab and feel "sticky" with almost no pressure at all. If you put much pressure it's going to cut.
I wouldn't be able to make a decent knife without a lot of work and reading up. Mainly I wanted to show that you should strive for a baseline sharpness level that doesn't have to be super technical. I like phone book paper because it's very thin, it's pretty uniform, and I can use 1 phone book for a long, long time. Computer or printing paper is way too thick. A knife has to be very dull to not cleanly slice computer paper.
What are you using to sharpen? Sharpening technique is a big part of knifemaking and knife maintenance. You don't need a ton of equipment. Once you grind the main bevels you should finish by hand on a stone. Even a cheap $20 Norton India or Crystolon (silicon carbide) stone would be plenty for the low carbide steels you're using. Free handing does take a bit of effort and practice, though. I tend to reprofile/shape the bevels on a stone, then finish up on the Sharpmaker so I get a more uniform edge.
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: Rook on November 08, 2014, 04:01:58 am
I've currently been forging.. or more specifically, grinding down a bunch of old lawn mower blades I've had lying around. They are actually shaping up to be some pretty decent machetes of a sort. Ive found the metal to be of an appropriate thickness, and yet easily malleable on a grinding wheel. I've read elsewhere that they are even easily tempered or its easy beating out the curvature in some of these old blades by even using a standard fire due to the low carbon content.. I'll try to post some pics when one if actually complete.. trying some different styles on each.. they're definitely rough, I wont even try to boast any form of expertise on knife making.. Just a little diy project I've been recently inspired upon, and for a rough outdoors machete.. it doesnt have to look beautiful.
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: fanglekai on November 08, 2014, 04:09:11 am
The thing about machetes is you can get a cheap imacasa or tramontina for....cheap. Machetes are meant to be cheap and decent central/south american ones are under $20.
Title: Re: Savino teaches you how to build a knife.
Post by: 1983 on November 09, 2014, 05:47:54 pm
The thing about machetes is you can get a cheap imacasa or tramontina for....cheap. Machetes are meant to be cheap and decent central/south american ones are under $20.
I think I got two Tramontina machetes from Brazil and those things are some of the best work horse machetes I've found out there on the open market. I have to resharpen the one because it's seen allot of action but they're built right with a blunted front for over strikes.
That being said the first machete I made looks something akin to an Egyptian sword.
I unfortunately don't have a picture of it because it was stolen out of my truck a few years back but for a crude piece of hand forged metal I've never seen something work so hard and take as much abuse as this thing did, I used it for just about everything including de-grouting tiles, Starting my truck, Chopping down trees and brush, cutting up a warehouse of insulation, ect.