Knife Making 101

New knives in progress!

2010-09-23T11:54:00.000-07:00

Here are two 79M from Rob Charlton's shop in NC that I have put handles on. The first is in Olive wood, the second in stabilized Maple. I have taken the knives down through 300 grit paper on their way to the final 1000.

Knife making and Facebook

2010-08-18T12:24:00.000-07:00

Never let it be said that Facebook is simply for people who think that we want to find out what they are having for lunch. I have gotten into contact with knife makers, suppliers and others via FB! I just placed an order for several blocks of wood that will be featured on upcoming knives. The company is Wood Stabilizer and can be found at: http://woodstabilizer.com/

Hidden Tang Knives part 2

2010-06-29T11:11:00.000-07:00

Does anyone have any suggestions for working with handles on hidden tang knives. Three times, I have sanded into the tang hole with making one of this style knife.

New Grinders

2010-06-18T18:22:00.001-07:00

My 20 year old Delta has broken in a strange way. The adjustment for the belt tracking has broken in a way that even Delta says that they can't find parts to fix it. I have been looking into the Grizzly sanders and have found two that I like. One is a refined version of the Delta. The other has a two inch belt and a six inch disk sander built in. It also has a half horse power! This is twice what the Delta has!

The two inch belts are a strange length at 27 inches. The good part is that several outfits carry this size belt. Grizzly can supply a 10 pack of belts in six different grits for $10! This machine bears some more research.

Hidden Tang Knives

2010-05-20T17:19:00.000-07:00

The first thing that I found out about making a knife with a hidden tang is that you don't need to make the hole in the handle wide for the full length of the tang. If you have a blade where the tang tapers, you can make the hole taper as well.

If you make the hole too big, you run the risk of sanding down into the hole when you shape the handle. Yet, you can still come out with a really nice knife even if you fall into the hole.

Hidden Tang Knives

2010-05-05T13:03:00.000-07:00

When I started making knives, I kept with the traditional full tang knives. I didn't know anything about making a four inch hole in a piece of wood or stag. I also didn't know about how to fill up the hole when I finally got the depth to hide the tang.

I finally learned about this "new" technology called a wood bore. (Ok, you are now thinking that I didn't spend any time in High School wood shop. Actually, I didn't!) The wood bore differs from a drill in that the bore does not fill up the hole that you are drilling. There is room for the sawdust to either stay in the hole or sit behind the active bit.

I am currently using two V79-M from Damascus USA to make the first hidden tang knives.

The Next Project!

2010-03-05T17:04:00.001-08:00

I went shopping at my local hobby shop for some new pin material. This time though, I found an 1/8 inch tube in both brass and copper. To this, I am going to add a 1/16 inch square tube. This should be fun if I can get the tube filled up with epoxy.

More to come!

Ok, sometimes you get lucky!

2010-02-19T12:53:00.000-08:00

The last time that I worked with maple, it didn't have much figure. This time however...

Whitetail step 3

2010-02-19T12:03:00.000-08:00

If you haven't already, put a new belt on the grinder. The work at this point is to get the scales down to the profile of the tang.

Whitetail step 2

2010-02-18T11:06:00.001-08:00

After drilling the holes for the pins, I trimmed the wood on my bandsaw before I started to glue the thing together. Here it is in the clamp.

New Knife (Whitetail)

2010-02-18T11:01:00.000-08:00

I have a favorite knife that I have been making with Rob Charlton's Damascus for a while. Designed by Carol Gurganus, it is called the Whitetail. I was able to get LT Wright of Blind Horse Knives to create for me a version in D2. This is a steel that my grinder is too small to do properly. Here is the first step with the knife blank, the Spalted Maple and the rod of mosaic pins that I will make this knife from.

Snow can be such a grind!

2010-02-10T10:51:00.000-08:00

While I am sitting here, hoping that the Chantilly show will go on, I have broken out the steel, the epoxy and wood in the hopes of getting a new set of knives done.

Easy cutting

2010-02-08T13:29:00.001-08:00

If you want to cut off a piece of steel, instead of using a hack saw, try this. I mounted a cut-off wheel to my Dremel tool. I can now cut part way through the bar and then flex it to finish the cut.

New Knives

2010-01-13T16:21:00.001-08:00

I have just about finished the first two knives that I made from a bandsaw blade. The handles are osage orange and purple heart. Together, these two knives don't weigh more than a few ounces.

A new tip

2010-01-11T17:27:00.001-08:00

If you happen to find a gap between your handle slabs and the tang, you can fix this by mixing some sawdust into your glue of choice and pushing the stuff into the gap. This will form a nearly invisible filler and hide the problem.

How not to drill wood.

2010-01-06T16:04:00.001-08:00

I started to add beech wood liners to a new knife that I was starting. The problem is that wood that thickness (1/32 of an inch) gets brittle, fast.

Now, how to fix it so that I can put a 9/32 hole?

Like a termite in a lumber yard

2009-12-24T16:53:00.001-08:00

I just got the shipment of wood that LT purchased at the Maryland show. I now have purple heart, something that might be Cocobolo and another that looks like a nice version of Osage Orange. I am not sure which one I will use first, but I have a lot to choose from.

A New Steal (let's make that steel)

2009-12-22T16:18:00.001-08:00

A quick check of AG Russell's web site shows more than thirty different steels that are used in knife making. Perhaps the best known of these has been known for years as "surgical steel". The rest of the world calles it 440C.

As a knife maker you have to choose a steel that you can grind and still be hard enough to hold an edge. As a knife user, some of knives that I have used with great success have been one version of 440C or another.

What is the point of all this? 440 is a good steel for a beginning maker to use. There are better steels of course, but it is a good place to start.

New toys

2009-12-21T18:27:00.001-08:00

It always seems that someone it making new things that can be used by knifemakers. Today I found a new software that will allow me to post this blog from my iPod Touch!

Now, I can pass along goodies from shows in stead of waiting to get back to the G5.

Cool eh?

New Projects

2009-12-21T13:42:00.001-08:00

I have just gotten the word from LT Wright of Blind Horse Knives that two of the D2 versions of a favorite Charlton design are ready. I will get pictures of them online as soon as they show up.

I am also starting a knife with a stick-tang. This is a design that does not have the steel extending through the full handle. The material of the handle with completely surround the steel of the tang.

Julie and Julia

2009-12-21T13:06:00.000-08:00

You might wonder why after all this time, I am starting with a reference to the Amy Adams movie. Well, it just shamed me in that I haven't posted her in quite a while.

Here is an update in my knife making. The Hitachi grinder had been working well with the different woods that I was using. But, I had picked up some steel from Ken Largin at the Knife Makers Coop on the grounds of Smokey Mt Knife Works. This steel is a nice high carbon steel of a make-up that I am still not sure what it is. I had cut off several sections to start making some knives and after grinding for a while, switched to a Maple handle that I was putting on a Damascus USA knife blank. The next thing that I know is that I can see a glow from along the disk and a lot of smoke! With the Ohio Players song "Fire" going through my mind, I grabbed the smoking grinder off of the bench and (almost literally) threw the thing out the back door!

Ten minutes of hosing the thing down got the smoke stopped. After taking the Hitachi back to the local hardware store (the great people at Lowes), I started looking for another machine. A stop at the local Sears brought a shock. Their grinders were both made by Hitachi with the same amount of plastic as the unit that I had just lost.

Lesson learned, check for the amount of plastic in a machine. It is possible for the steel that you are grinding to have cooled, but plastic can soften and start catching things on fire that might be out of touch from the outside of the grinder.

Bon Appetit! (oops)

I ment, Stay Sharp!

Scott

Time to get back to work.

2009-10-15T18:34:00.000-07:00

I have been away from the blog for a while. My wife and I purchased a townhouse here in Maryland and I have been busy getting the "man-cave" ready for knife making. I am hoping that tomorrow I will be able to publish pictures of my new projects.

More to come!

Damascus Hunter/Camper

2008-12-09T09:13:00.000-08:00

The next knife is a V2 Hunter/Camper with Fiddle-back Maple scales. I had been working for quite a while to find the right color stain to bring out the grain pattern. Three trips to Home Depot later, I found a Golden Oak from Minwax.

New Knives/An Update

2008-12-09T09:06:00.000-08:00

With my new policy of "If you don't have the right tools, do it anyway!" Here are my next two knives that I have finished.

The first is a Capstick American with a Walnut handle. As my 4x36 grinder wasn't able to fit into the curves on the handle, I used my Blind Horse, Small Work Horse to hand carve the scales. I was at the show in Chantilly where, between sales and sharpening, I used the small blade to shape the handle. I finished the scales with first 220 grit then Scotchbrite pads. The color of the scales is the natural color with Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil gunstock finish.

The update is that I still have not had to do more to the Work Horse other than a Lansky pocket sharpener. It is still that sharp!

I sold a knife!!!

2008-12-02T16:57:00.000-08:00

There is no greater thrill than when you sell your first knife that you made yourself. It happened at the Nation's Gun Show in Chantilly Virginia. The knife was the Damascus USA bladed Whitetail with Bird's Eye Maple. Following my mantra of "if you don't have the right tools, do it anyway!" The knife was finished at one of my shows, by hand with sandpaper that wouldn't fit my sander and a bit of hand sanding with a Scotchbrite pad.