Some knife making questions

R

remist17

Well-Known Member
I am going to start my first knife from scratch. I have done some kit knifes before. I purchased some 1084 steel and before I wreck the first blank I would like to explain my understanding of the process and see if it is correct. If I am wrong please point it out.

-Cut the design out of the steel
-Use a belt sander with 35 to 60 grit paper to start making your grinds. I have a 1x30.
-Mark on the knife the start point of the grind and carry it up the blade
-Make two or three passes per side then switch to the other side and make the same number of passes.
- end thickness at the cutting edge is around 1.6mm
-After this is complete clean up with a file and hand sand to desired near finished look.
-Heat treat in 2 brick forge to 1450 degrees or a little past non magnetic.
-Quench in canola oil that is 120F
-Wipe off oil
-put in stove at 400 F for 30 minutes let cool. Then another 30 minutes at 400 F
-Let knife cool
-Finish sharpen with diamond blocks.

My concern is that I take enough off at the grind stage that I can sharpen it at the end. am I close?
 
I'll second DeMo and say that several people may say your process is pretty close and there are just as many that will say your way off. :) I know, that doesn't help. There are usually MANY different ways to arrive at a single destination in anything, making knives is no exception.

Your methods look fairly close, not too far off. Steel choice is a good one, especially for your process.

A couple things that I see that ***I personally*** would do a bit different:

I'd go a little hotter on my austenitizing heat...........maybe 1475-1500, especially if I didn't have the equipment, ability or desire to soak at temp for a few minutes. I know temperature can be hard to judge with your setup and methods.

I never got great results with canola for 1080 or 1084 but lots of folks say they have so I must not have been holding my mouth right. ;) If that's what you have, go for it. Some people swear by it and if that works for them, great. You'll have to eventually determine what works best for you with your setup.

Lastly, the tempering in the oven............the temp seems okay to me but the time is pretty short. I'd go 400 for 2 hrs, then 400 for 2 hours again.

Those are the things I might tweak. Again................just my personal opinions which are worth what you paid for 'em. Probably plenty of people reading this thread will think that what I wrote is way off. The most important thing I can stress is you'll have to figure out what works best for you with your shop and your equipment. And that comes from trial and error and lots of practice.

Best of luck to you!

Oh yeah, edited to add................you probably won't want to take your blade thin enough prior to the quench that you can just put your cutting edge on after. You probably want to leave that blade thick enough that you will have to grind it a little thinner after heat treating. This will help you with warping issues and also to get off any decarb that may develop during the heat treating.
 
Last edited:
.....what he (he being JDoyle) said, is exactly what I was going to say!
Right down to the time in tempering.
Also like J. Said, there are many ways to make a knife, what I have always said, "the best way to make a knife, IS the best way YOU make a knife", now what I mean by that is that there are many, too many, ways of making a knife. The end result is all that really matters, as long as you have a working serviceable blade that will not break (bend yeah, but NOT break!).
Your set-up is a great start! But since you already have the 2 brick forge, why not scrounge for some thing hard and flat to serve as an Anvil! Grab you a ball peen hammer and start forging it to shape instead of grinding it to shape, that would be a great second step in my mind, but do remember a ball peen hammer is not the best forging hammer, it will do in a pinch though! Just go easy at first until you can tell how much that particular hammer will distort the steel once you understand what the steel will do under THAT hammer, you should have an idea how to hard to hit it. Forge it to a rough knife shape
leaving it thicker than thinner, you should then be able to grind the rest in.
Hope this helps, Rex
 
remist17 said:
I am going to start my first knife from scratch. I have done some kit knifes before. I purchased some 1084 steel and before I wreck the first blank I would like to explain my understanding of the process and see if it is correct. If I am wrong please point it out.

-Cut the design out of the steel
-Use a belt sander with 35 to 60 grit paper to start making your grinds. I have a 1x30.
-Mark on the knife the start point of the grind and carry it up the blade
-Make two or three passes per side then switch to the other side and make the same number of passes.
- end thickness at the cutting edge is around 1.6mm
-After this is complete clean up with a file and hand sand to desired near finished look.
-Heat treat in 2 brick forge to 1450 degrees or a little past non magnetic.
-Quench in canola oil that is 120F
-Wipe off oil
-put in stove at 400 F for 30 minutes let cool. Then another 30 minutes at 400 F
-Let knife cool
-Finish sharpen with diamond blocks.

My concern is that I take enough off at the grind stage that I can sharpen it at the end. am I close?
Click to expand...

I am right handed so I grind the bevel with my left hand completely first, Then match it with my right.

I take my bevels down till I have 0.030 in the center on Hardened steel.

If you are quenching I suggest you grind down to about the thickness of a dime. Then quench and then grind to Appox, 0.030 This helps avoid warping & cracking in the quench.
 
Thank you all, I understand everyone has there way of making knives. I just wanted to make sure I was on the right path instead of the ditch.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top