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The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need.

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  #1  
Old 01-10-2015, 10:22 PM
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Knife Design

Hello all,

New member and excited to learn from you folks. I will be taking a weekend course on blade forging and grinding by a knife maker in my area.
Looking to start small. Possibly a small neck knife or hunting knife.
Any recommendations of a good size knife to go with with.
Thinking about a 4 1/2 inch blade.
Any good resources I can reference for a simple knife design?

Thanks


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Old 01-10-2015, 11:08 PM
Doug Lester Doug Lester is offline
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Something about 4" is a good idea. Full tang and straight spine. That should give you the basics of forging a blade. You can get fancy later.

Doug


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Old 01-11-2015, 07:40 AM
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Ed Caffrey Ed Caffrey is offline
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I would recommend NOTHING larger then 4". The reason? As blade sliz increases, the difficulty factor increases expodentially, and I believe its very important for a person to have early successess.

The worst thing a new maker can do to themselves is decide on a "big" knife as their first project. I always tell my students to build 3-4" blades until they feel very confident with them, THEN move on to gradually bigger.


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Old 01-11-2015, 08:55 AM
jmccustomknives jmccustomknives is offline
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Find a design you like to use and make it and use it. It is better for a maker to find his own mistakes rather than having them pointed out by a customer.
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Old 01-11-2015, 09:57 AM
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Knife Design

Thanks all,

Great advise from everyone. Yes I was thinking small and take things from there. Again I will have a knife maker walking me through the process which will be valuable to say the least.

Creating a simple and functional design will be the way I go.

This image is what Im thinking. This is a Carter Cutlery Neck Knife I have. Might try something like this one.

[IMG][/IMG]


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Last edited by eto; 01-12-2015 at 08:40 PM. Reason: Image Added
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Old 01-11-2015, 02:37 PM
Doug Lester Doug Lester is offline
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As someone who insisted on starting out with a large blade, I couldn't agree with Ed more.

Doug


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Old 01-11-2015, 07:12 PM
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Good for you Jason. You'll learn so much quicker staying small and simple plus working directly with an accomplished maker. Should go very well for you. Have fun and best of luck.
Couldn't tell you how many beginning students I've had that wanted to start with a Damascus sword.
1/2 hour at the forge and those ideals start fading fast. I'm at the point now that if the initial interview discussion does not convince them otherwise, I suggest they take classes somewhere else.


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Old 01-11-2015, 08:47 PM
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Originally Posted by Crex View Post
Good for you Jason. You'll learn so much quicker staying small and simple plus working directly with an accomplished maker. Should go very well for you. Have fun and best of luck.
Couldn't tell you how many beginning students I've had that wanted to start with a Damascus sword.
1/2 hour at the forge and those ideals start fading fast. I'm at the point now that if the initial interview discussion does not convince them otherwise, I suggest they take classes somewhere else.
Thanks Carl. I couldn't imagine starting big like a Damascus Sword. Im at a point where I just want to get some hands on and learn. If starting with a 3-4 inch blade length to give me a good feel of what its like to build a usable knife, then this is what I will do. No need to rush things either.

Cheers.


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Old 01-13-2015, 07:17 AM
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Jason
Got an email notifying me of your last post, but it's not showing up here for some reason...?? (was able to open the photobucket link with no problem).
Anyhow, that necker looks like a very straight forward and simple design for a starter that will make a nice functional knife. Enjoy to journey and be sure to share pics of your progress.


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Old 01-13-2015, 08:25 AM
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Jason
Got an email notifying me of your last post, but it's not showing up here for some reason...?? (was able to open the photobucket link with no problem).
Anyhow, that necker looks like a very straight forward and simple design for a starter that will make a nice functional knife. Enjoy to journey and be sure to share pics of your progress.
Yes not sure what happened. I edited the post to correct some spelling and it disappeared. I think it's just waiting on moderation. But yes thanks! This will be a lot of fun and a great learning opportunity.


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art, beginning, blade, blades, build, cutlery, damascus, design, forge, forging, full tang, grinding, handle, hunting, hunting knife, knife, knives, make, making, neck knife, project, simple, small, tang


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