Knife Making Options

[swizz]

Here is the liner-lock folding knife I just completed. It was a very good learning experience. The blade is almost 4" long so it's a biggun. Steel is AUS8 and I used Cocoblo for the handle.

[swizz]

Here's the Chef's knife that I'm beginning work on. This blank is pretty rough so I'm going to spend some time sanding and buffing it before I make a handle for it. The steel is AUS8 and already heat treated/hardened.

[swizz]

I'm going to use a piece of scrap tongue & groove wood flooring (mahogany) for handles on the Chef knife.
If you have a keen eye, you'll notice that I've reshaped the handle tang a little. I used a flex Dremel with coarse sanding barrel bit and shaped it to my liking.

[Denise]

That turned out great Chris! Sweet looking wood handle, good job!
I have to also mention that beautiful bunny (?) pelt that it is on. Nice! I'm looking forward to seeing the chef kife finished. Looks like your crusing right into it.

[swizz]

You got it right... that's a wabbit pelt! I have a few different colors of them in my fly-tying supplies. The rabbit might be dead but that pelt will live on and be used for many things.

Chef knife handle progress: I'm adding handle spacers to this one and thought I'd share this process real quick. It doesn't serve much function other than aesthetics. This spacer material is black and made of some kind of plastic. It comes in many different colors and is very thin. Some spacer material is made of vulcanized paper and/or other materials. I bought this from a knifemaking supply store (online) and the sheet was only a couple of bucks. There's enough left over to use on future builds.
Here I have cut it and epoxied it to my rough handle scales using Gorilla epoxy. The spacers will be tight against the handle tang once I attach the scales to the knife. I'll let the epoxy set for a couple of hours before unclamping and then move on to attaching them to the knife.

[swizz]

While that's drying...
I've designed my first blade. This is my sketch of what I'll be building next. I'll make a template of this drawing and transfer it to the bar stock steel. The metal I will be using is also pictured. ATS-34 is an excellent steel for knifemaking. This piece is annealed but not heat-treated yet. That will make shaping and detail filing less difficult. Once I cut, shape, and detail the knife blank... I'll send it out to be heat treated to a Rockwell hardness of 58-60. When it's returned, I'll begin work on the handle. This method of knifemaking is "Stock Removal". This will be my first try at it and hopefully produce an original piece that I can call 100% my own.
My design is based on the very old Nessmuck style of knife which was extremely common in the 1800s. Kind of an all-purpose knife used by the settlers, cowboys, miners, hunters, ranchers, etc. Handle materials and handle styles for this knife can be basically anything the builder chooses but the common trait of the Nessmuck is the blade shape which is similar to a modern skinner. I guess I chose this blade shape/style cuz I'm kinda old fashioned.

[jim]

Go ahead and admit it Chris. You are a pro knife maker with eons of training and experience. There ain't no way that you are new at it. Your work is giving you away. If you expect us to believe that you are a novice you need to leave a flaw or two...beautiful work dude.

[swizz]

I really wish I had more experience at this. My only experience is from when I was in high school 1979. I had both Metal and Wood Shop classes. We were allowed to do a combined shop project that year which was "Make A Knife". We crafted the blade (full tang) in Metal Shop, then the next hour was Wood Shop where we did handle work. I really got into that project and got an A after turning in my knife... which somehow got stolen from the Shop locker!!! After those long hours of crafting that knife as teenager, then to have it ripped off, I thought I was cured of knifemaking forever and went back to crafting marijuana pipes when the teacher wasn't looking. Needless to say, I plum forgot everything about how to "Make A Knife". I doubt any Shop classes in the country offer knifemaking classes anymore, lol... hell we were making and wearing hunting knives in school, gun racks in trucks. Lucky to live in that more innocent time and a small rural community as a kid. Now that my interest has been rekindled by Woody's gift of a Machete... I dove in a bit and used the internet to learn, which is a tremendous resource as you know.

I made plenty of mistakes on that one with the vine pattern but managed to back-track and fix them as I went along (I think this is known as the "Texas Two-Step" ). What should have been a fast build took forever and that's ok.. have to put my hands on all the burners. I was really super careful with the folding knife and that one turned out well. The large skinner that I made is far from flawless in my mind. I had problems squaring the bolsters and if I look hard I see much room for improvement on that one. I'm getting better now but will continue to make mistakes for sure. As a beginner I can testify again that it can be done by anyone with patience and determination with minimal tools or investment. I got a little 'artsy' with the vine thing but it's not a necessary skill for making a quality knife. You should try it Jim! Making them from blanks is fun and easy and I already know that you are an exceptionally talented artist with attention to detail and an eye for beauty. Your works don't lie and I have a guitar pick here to prove it!
I might turn out to be a flop at stock removal but I have to try it. Steel shaping is a much different animal than what I've been doing thus far.

[swizz]

Chef knife.... here I've epoxied one handle scale with the black spacer facing the tang. I'll leave it clamped overnight then drill holes for the pins.

[swizz]

Meanwhile... with the Nessmuck project, I had to alter the design. After cutting out a template from my first drawing it was apparent that the handle tang was too small. Here, I have altered my drawing and added another 3/4" to the tang as well as lengthened the blade. I'm cleaning up the curves now, will cut another template shortly and try it in hand... maybe as a cardboard knife cut-out first.

[swizz]

I'm happy with the design and now I've traced it onto the steel and have begun to remove stock with my angle grinder (4" metal cutting wheel). This can be done with a hacksaw or Jeweler's Saw also. I'm going about it slow as not to overheat the steel.
I'm staying outside of my lines to be on the cautious side. After I get the rough shape I can clean up the profile with the angle grinder or bench grinder... and then a Mill File. There are many ways to remove stock and get the profile. I'm just using what tools I have available to me.

[swizz]

Rough profile completed...

[swizz]

The Nessmuck design is coming along well. I cleaned up the edges with my bench grinder and am currently removing the natural pitting of the steel with my belt sander (mounted vertically).


Meanwhile, the Chef knife is almost done. Here is the rough handle scales attached and pinned (brass pins, peened). I'm about to take it to the belt sander for shaping.

[Denise]

Those are coming along nicely Chris! The Nessmuck knife is a great design, it's going to look sweet when finished!!

[swizz]

I have a little time today so I've begun to hand-file a bevel on the Nessmuck. This may take some time. I'm not going to put a sharpening edge on it... that will be done AFTER heat treating, very important. My goal here is to equally establish my bevel on both sides of the profile. I'm going with a tall bevel on this knife to increase it's 'slicing' ability. A short bevel would lend itself more to a 'chopping' edge.