New need help plz

[Zackaris]

Hi i am new to knife making and was wondering if you guys could help me out with some questions. First what should i buy to shape the knives, I saw someone using a machine sander and was wondering if that would be ok to use. Also as i'm a beginner i was wondering what type of metal would be best to use. If you guys have any additional information i would love to hear it.
Thanks

[MixonKnives]

Well, first off welcome to the club. This is a great place for you to gather a wealth of information. I gathers a great deal of mine from here, and from a few books.

Now to you questions. About shaping your steel we'll need to know how you plan on making your knives. Do you plan on forging? Or do you plan on using stock removal?? Either way, the machine sander you discussed, which I would assume was a belt sander, will work great for either. But a bench grinder with a "table" to steady the work on would work good also.

As for the steel, you can get 1095 very easily from many different sources. It comes in a pretty wide variety of sizes and thicknesses, yet I find for forging its generally offered in sizes less suitable than I'd prefer. Not to say it couldn't be cut into the size you need, but if you'll go to http://www.admiralsteel.com/products/blades.html they offered the most variety of both different steel and various sizes. When compared to the knifemaking catalogs they generally have a much better prices.

Let us know if you plan on forging or using stock removal and we'll be able to offer more information on making your blades.

Have a good time,
Michael

[SVanderkolff]

Again welcome to our obsession. I would strongly suggest you take a look at the tutorials that are available on this website. That will answer a lot of questions and create many more. Then I would suggest you pick up a couple of books on making. Do a search on knifemaking books to find lots of threads on the subject. Center Cross Videos also has some great DVD/tapes which will also answer lot s of question.
If you use the search button up between the "new Post" and the "quick links" you wil also find much information.
Hope that helps
Steve

[Zackaris]

stock removal method. Thanks for the help and maybe you can add more.
Thanks

[MixonKnives]

http://www.knifenetwork.com/workshop/index.shtml

Go here and read all the tutorials that look interesting. there will be a few that don't fit your learning curve quite yet, but most will help you quite a bit. Now that you know that you're going to be doing stock removal, you need to figure out if you are going to be doing your own heat treating? Or are you going to send it out?

If you are going to send out your blades for heat treating than the only limit will be what you can afford right now. If you aren't making any large blades, bowies, swords, stuff like that I suggest going with a top quality stainless steel. Such as 440C, 154CM, or ATS-34. A good heat treater will turn any of you blades into something to be proud of..

If you are going to be doing your own heat treating, keep in mind you have to be set up to heat treat whatever steel you work with, then I suggest the 10xx series of steel. 1095 is a good all around steel for small to medium sized blades, its cheap, readily available, and much easier to heat treat than the stainlesses. If you plan on doing your own heat treat I suggest you read as much as you can on this forum on the subject, also you might want to pick up the books by Wayne Goodard. "$50 Knife Shop" and "The Wonder Of Knife Making". Both explain MANY of the processes of both stock removal and forging blades. Also teaches you how to heat treat simple carbon steels with a minimum of investment.

They are a wealth of knowlage.

Good luck, keep reading

Michael

[Zackaris]

I planned on doing the heat treating myself, but if i were to make it out of a different steel how much does it cost to send the blade somewhere to get treated? Also can any of you guys point me in the right direction on how to treat the metal and what materials i'll need
Thanks for all the help

[Don Halter]

Ditto on the above suggestions.

Are you in Texas? There's lots of us Texans around and we're pretty friendly. If you're near the Bryan/College Station area, shoot me an email. I have a couple others coming out learning the basics. Usually Wednesday evenings and some weekends.

[MixonKnives]

Originally Posted by Zackaris

I planned on doing the heat treating myself, but if i were to make it out of a different steel how much does it cost to send the blade somewhere to get treated? Also can any of you guys point me in the right direction on how to treat the metal and what materials i'll need
Thanks for all the help

I've never sent any of my blades out for heat treat, so I don't know the prices.

Get a catalog from Texas Knife Makers Supply, they heat treat the more complex blades, at a very reasonalbe rate. Now I honestly don't have an idea of the quality of their heat treat, but if you were to go with some one who does heat treating for a living, you generally get better heat treats. But it'll probably cost you more.

On the blades you plan on heat treating yourself all you'll need is a forge, doesn't matter what you use for fuel. And a quench tank of oil. Also some tongs and various saftey measures. But again I suggest picking up some books, Wayne Goodards books were my first to read, and they both explain heat treating using the most simple of procedures and equipment.