Wanting to get started in knife making!

[griffin73]

Can anyone give me some helpful hints and what tools i will need, knifemaking has always fascinated me, now im gonna start. Any info will be greatly appreciated for ive never done it before.

[Ray Hammond]

Kenneth,

If you give me your address I'll send you a great starter book called The 50 Dollar Knife Shop that will be a nice primer for you.

[Lin Rhea]

The book that Ray is sending you will give you a good idea of the tools you'll need to get started and of the type and look of the knives you can build. As you see, there will be some help as you need it.

You're a good man Ray.

Other than that, your best tool is your education. I recommend that you get with a good maker in your area and follow his works in progress, in person if possible. The internet has made it easier to make friends and cell phones have good cameras, so use them to the full. Decide if forging is going to be a part of your knife making and look into that.

[akaboomer]

Great advice here and a generous offer. Good man Ray!! I would add getting involved with the American Bladesmith Society. The knowledge available through the ABS is outstanding.

The ABS has a book available by Master Smith Joe Keesler on handles and guards that all makers should have in thier library. There is also help here in the archives and for the asking.

Welcome to the addiction!

Chris

[griffin73]

There isnt anyone in my area that makes knives, so im doing this all on my one, trial and error, i hope to get some help from some of you guys on here though.

[griffin73]

well let me say no one that i know of makes knives, im going to do some asking though

[Kevin Evans]

Kenneth this forum is where I started.
Much help can come through here.
Where in Ill. do you live ?
Karl Anderson or myself can't be far from you or will get you hooked up with a maker in your area.
There is lots of help out here if you want it!

[griffin73]

i live in a small town called Palestine, Crawford County, about an hour east of effingham

[griffin73]

im clear over on wabash river

[Bobby Urban]

It is an addiction but that is probably not something new to you.  Most, like myself, who hang out here on trad gang do not have hobbies - we have ossesions!  I have the 50$ knifeshop book and it is loaded with info but be prepared to spend way more than that.  

I will say that buying known steel, up front and learning one steel well is a huge advantage.  Not that I did and I imagine most started with junkyard steel here but I was offered the same suggestion and should have listened.  It will shorten the learning curve imensely.  Raw, quality, knife steel is not very expensive - time is!!

I am picking up a new grinder today and hopefully it will help take me a little farther along the track to finally producing a quality knife.  

I will say that I have found the knife community - here and on other sites - to be very helpful and freely giving of information.  Much like trad archery, it just seems to be a good group, so ask away.  Everything you will try and every mistake you make has been made many, many times by others before you who are willing to impart their knowledge to help.

Welcome - Bob

[gables]

First, welcome. To follow on Bobby's recommendation to use known steels, you should think about how you will likely heat treat your blades. You can easily complete a knife with modest power and hand tools but the heat treat is what makes a knife what it is supposed to be. The Wayne Goddard book the others mentioned explains a simple one brick forge that you can use for heat treating small to medium sized knives. I would start with 1084 steel.The more you research heat treating on the internet the more confused you are likely to get so strive for simplicity and industry standard methods. Many people use the wrong terms when describing heat treating. I have also rented many videos from Smartflix.com. They have a knife making section with lot's of DVDs for beginners.

Here are a few links to help:
  http://www.cashenblades.com/heattreatment.html  

  http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/

 http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=110;t=002974

[griffin73]

i dont want to make the blades, more into the handles, whats a good company for blades, i want american or german steel only

[griffin73]

and i think im gonna start with a kit to just get an idea of whats going on, lol

[gudspelr]

A kit is a great way to start and from what I understand, there are some great suppliers of finished blades.  There are some fellows on here that put together some really nice pre-finished blades and I'm sure you could do the same to get your feet wet.  Hopefully a few of those guys will chime in with their favorite suppliers.

If you find you enjoy that, then you could start figuring on whether you want to make the blades, too.  And for the record, I used a file and hand tools only (no grinder in my shop at the time) to make my first 3 knives.  It takes longer, but mistakes aren't made nearly as fast and you learn a LOT.  Whatever direction you end up going, have fun and ask all the questions you can think of.  There's a huge amount of knowledge on here as well as other sites, all willing to help out.  Good luck!

Jeremy

[goobersan]

I too would like to buy knife blanks, like Griffin. I have found texas knife co. to have the largest selection. Still haven't found the blade design I'm happy with. Anyone know of other suppliers?

[akaboomer]

You could try Jantz Supply. I know they have them but know nothing about them.

Chris