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The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need.

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  #1  
Old 07-22-2012, 12:18 AM
Bowman Bowman is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Calgary, Alberta
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My thoughts while I work on my first knives...

Hi everyone,

I'm just in from the garage and I thought I would get a couple of thoughts down that keep running through my head as I work on my first knives.

As a little background, I started looking for a hunting knife for myself and that landed me in the vortex of knife making. My first knife (for myself) is up to the heat treating stage and for some reason I started a second one.

This second knife is to show my appreciation to the gent that let me hunt on his private property last year and has given me access to much of his neighbors properties as well. This man doesn't know me well and he let me and my hunting buddy stay in his home where he fed us and butchered our game last year. He is far wealthier than I and there is not much that I could buy him that he doesn't already own, besides the obligatory bottle of rum, of course. This year, he has invited us to a horsepack, elk hunt where he will be providing the horses and wagon. For me, this is the opportunity of a lifetime.

So now that you have a little background, here are my thoughts from the shop. His knife is a full tang, drop point hunter (with a fair sized handle to accommodate his giant mitts) made from 3/16" 1084. I am using a single cut, mill bastard file for approx. 90% of the work and as I near the end of filing the bevels (draw filing), I can't help but think 'I hope he likes this &^%** knife' because I have performed what feels like thousands of file strokes. Secondly, I can't help but think 'why did I order 3/16" steel and not 1/8"?'

BTW I told myself that I would use basic hand files and tools for as much of these first two knives as possible. At this point I don't really recall why I thought that, something to do with putting a personal effort into each knife.

In the end, I know that I will have put every effort into these and with the best intentions. I know these knives will be far from perfect. I just hope that at least the gift knife will be well received with a smidgeon of appreciation. When they are complete, I will reluctantly post some pics of them.

Thanks to all that continue to share and comment on this site. It has been a tremendous resource for me. I continue to appreciate all of your efforts.
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  #2  
Old 07-22-2012, 06:05 AM
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Crex Crex is offline
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Sounds like you are starting to think like a knifemaker. The gentleman has been very generous and kind to you and I well understand your desire to show your appreciation. I only have one suggestion at this point (you figgured out the thickness issue pretty quick), do not give him your first effort.
Your second, third,.....they will get better.

Keep the first for a benchmark of where you started and an example to study on what you can improve. Take the second one out and test the heck out of it, so that you know if it will stand up to the riggors of real use. Use it to further your understanding of steels, edge geometry, thermal cycling, ergonomics and fit and finnish. Apply what you learn to the next knife and so on. Keep things simple, consistant and only change things that improve results.

When you reach the point where you can consistantly produce good results, make the gift knife for this gentleman. You will feel more confident about what you have done and know that you have given your best effort.

Looking forward to seeing the pictures.


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  #3  
Old 07-22-2012, 07:21 AM
Brad Johnson Brad Johnson is offline
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I have to agree with the above comments. Nothing would dampen the shine on your gift more if in your first or second effort you did not get the heat-treatment correct and your benefactor's knife would not hold an edge. Fit and finish play second fiddle to what is the heart and soul of a knife, the heat- treatment. I would rather an ugly knife that cuts than perfect fits that can't keep an edge. My 2 cents


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  #4  
Old 07-22-2012, 09:25 AM
Bowman Bowman is offline
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Thanks for the replies. My first knife will be one that I will keep and use since that was my goal to start. I think you are right about the second effort. I have already improved upon the first in technique alone at this point. It should be a fairly hefty blade, so I will test it well *cringe*. When the second is ready for heat treating, I think I will build a gas forge out of a small refrigerant cylinder rather than heat treat with a torch. I could send both blades out for heat treating but I won't learn anything from the process.
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  #5  
Old 07-23-2012, 05:42 AM
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Crex Crex is offline
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Study up a bit on the heattreating process for the steel you use (1084 in this case). Heattreating steel is as "simple" as heating the steel up to "color" and quenching then drawing the temper.........but it's not!
Do a little extra research and get it figgured out ahead of time. Run tests on the scrap pieces you cut from your original stock to make sure you have the steps, temps, and timing down solid before doing the blade you have worked on so hard. Test driving is very important.
1084 is one of the easiest steels to master thermocycling process on, requiring minimal equipment and is forgiving of most minor errors. It is an excellent blade steel so don't let it's simplicity fool you. If treated properly, it will outperform almost any factory blade. It is the starting steel for my beginning students. They have to master it before moving to any other steels.
I hope I haven't created any confusion for you. You seem ernest about getting it "right" and should be able to get all the info you need here on the forums via the "Search" feature.


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Blade Show Table 6-H
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  #6  
Old 07-23-2012, 11:52 PM
Bowman Bowman is offline
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Thanks for the advice Crex. I think I will practice heat treating with a piece of scrap. Thinking about it now, I haven't heat treated my first blade as I am a little reluctant to wreck it. I like how it looks though I know it isn't a knife yet. Practice should help settle me down a little. I will also build that forge I mentioned earlier to heat treat as I think it will help heat more evenly as opposed to my torch.
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  #7  
Old 07-24-2012, 04:46 AM
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Crex Crex is offline
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You might check out some of the "One Brick" and "Two Brick" forge builds (search). These are very simple builds that will allow you to use your torch for the heattreating with more consistancy.
While torch-in-hand is doable (done by more than a few makers), the learning curve is pretty steep and you will have to break a lot of blades to know if you have it right (not a bad thing in itself).

Keep at it and you will get it all worked out.
Just remember - Practice is just practice......perfect practice leads to perfection.


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C Rex Custom Knives

Blade Show Table 6-H
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