A Journey into Knife Making...

[Lt. head-shot]

I'm not sure if this belongs here or in "The Garage", but this is where I had seen all other knife threads. For anyone else who makes knives, feel free to add yours!

I've been a long time knife enthusiast, and have always wanted to actually make my own. I made a very crappy blade back in college, but couldn't get it heat treated at the time so its barely even a wall hanger. After many years I have quite a few more tools in the shop, so I figured I had a better shot at doing things justice. I got more into cooking recently and decided that working with knives you made makes it all taste a bit better. So here are some projects I've been working on. I don't have a business going quite yet, but would love to do more of these for people.

As I don't currently have a forge, all of these are blades that I have bought off the internet. I usually do some grinding for reprofiling and then etch the blades again, then sand/polish where I need to. The handles are all blanks that I do all the work on. Drilling and fitting the tang, etc. I'm getting close to being able to start making my own handle blanks as well. Here are the finished products.

First attempt...
Blade: Damascus blank from knifekits.com
Handle: Purpleheart - Fun story, I've had these scales for close to 15 years.




Chef knife for an old friend.
Handle: Stabilized Karelian Birch
Sheath: Wenge with Abalone inlay and magnets to hold it in.
Blade: Laminated steel blank (I didn’t make this, forge work coming… eventually)









Then I started to hit my stride a bit, and get much more into the idea of doing this consistently.

The Cerulean Cleaver
Handle: Maple burl with brass and G10 insert.
Blade: Laminated steel blank (I didn’t make this, forge work coming… eventually)
Sheath: Leather








The Crystal Chef
Handle: Maple and clear resin.
Blade: Laminated steel blank (I didn’t make this, forge work coming… eventually)








More to come, I've got 3 in the works. A large chef, a karambit fighter.... and my first sword!!!

[NONOBLITUS]

OH MAN ! Awesome , Ill be following this thread. I am a big fan of owning knives and watching the shows. Great job on all of these.

[OpusX]

That is a fun start. Any time you can make a piece of steel into a practical tool it is fun. For a little while I was lucky enough to work with a friend who is a high end knife maker. I did a bunch of fun stuff (titanium anodizing, grinding, fitting, heat treating, etc), and got a few fun blades for my troubles.

Get some good steel scraps to learn some home heat treating, and to just have fun shaping, grinding, etc.

Here is a tiny little stabby I made. I wear it as a neck knife regularly. Actually I made several, as the base shape was from a scrap drops out of a water jet sheet of steel for big boy blades. (gratuitous shot of titanium anodized sporks in the background)

[Diesel imp]

my god
absolute beauty being displayed here



I love playing with metal, mostly stick welding and gas cutting stuff, but have a hankering to assembly a gas forge, perhaps in retirement

[JeeperCreeper]

I'm part of the way to the start line. I have a small forge, now I need an anvil.

[SETHZILLA!]

I have been wanting to get my own blades started for awhile now. My grandfathers anvil being my inspiration to getting my boys into playing with hot steel with me. I'll bookmark this thread so i can post up once i start building stuff as well.

[Lt. head-shot]

I present… “The Woman in the Red Dress”

[Lt. head-shot]

And next up.... The Dragon's Claw....