First Knife

[landsharkxx]

Im trying to make a knife from scrap galvanized steel. I sanded the tops cost off with a drum sander and I used a respirator. I have the knife down to a blank that I want to start sharpening on the bench grinder.
The picture above is what I am shooting for. I have no measurement of that knife because it is a knife that is in Battlefield 3 and it is not in real life to my knowledge.
This is my knife blank thing

What do you think about it and do I need to harden the steel?

[landsharkxx]

If you don't know what the ACB-90 is, it is a knife from Battlefield 3. I am try to make on in real life. I know it will not be prefect because this is my first knife I will ever make. It is from scrap galvanized steel. Link if you cant view the picture http://www.flickr.com/photos/6560307...in/photostream
That is a picture of my knife so far. It will not have any paracord wrapped on it yet but it will when I get done with it but not right off.
Link if you cant view the picture http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl...9,r:2,s:0,i:82
That is the ACB-90. Also, does anyone know if I have to heat treat this or what and is it possible to add a gut hook on my knife?

[Ray Rogers]

Wow, there is so much wrong with what you are doing I don't even know where to start!

First, welcome to the forum. We're glad to have you here and, man!, do you ever need to be here! Let me see if I can try to untangle some of this for you:

You did well to wear a respirator while grinding on galvanized steel as that dust is very dangerous. You didn't say how you planned to heat treat this blade but if you heat up any galvanized plating then that gas will be very, very bad for you. To make things more interesting, galvanizing isn't all that easy to remove completely so you could still be looking for trouble.

Now, the bad news. There is no steel I ever heard of that is plated with galvanizing AND that will harden to make a decent blade. All that time and effort you'll put into this blade will just make a poor quality wall hanger.

I don't know anything about Battlefield 3 (or even 1 or 2 for that matter) but I do know that guys that try to do their first project that is too big usually fail and often get frustrated with the whole idea of knife making. Yes, I saw where you weren't expecting to make the greatest knife in the world but if that's not what you're shooting for then why bother at all? In other words, set yourself up for success rather than failure - make a knife that you can make well or at least have a fighting chance of making it well. Everyone's first knife should be a 4" hunter or some similar sized knife.

To have a real chance of making a real knife and actually learning something that will help you make that BF3 knife when you're ready - buy a piece of good blade steel and start over ....

[Crex]

That's a very ambitious first knife. I can appreciate your desire to make the knife you find appealing. However, Ray put it very well....there's so much you don't know that you will need to learn before you can successfully complete your project.
The biggest fear most of us would have is that your lack of understanding about the inherent health dangers of grinding and heating galvanized steel. With all respect, no fancy knife or any other project is worth the risk of wrecking your health.
Stick around here and read-up before you suit-up. You will save yourself a lot of time and frustration in the long run, get a decent education and hopefully preserve your health (physical.......mental not so much, we're all crazy!)

[Cthulhu]

OP, listen to these guys, they know what they're talking about.

Second, throw that metal away before you do yourself real harm.

Third, you've never made a knife before, but you're trying to replicate a fictional weapon that you have no idea of the specs for and is fictional for a reason?

Thats like deciding you're going to climb Everest tomorrow, but you've never climbed so much as a flight of stairs.

You might want to slow down just a tad.

Read and watch the tutorials here. If you're serious about blademaking, get the books recommended and learn all you can.

And did I mention throwing away that steel you're using? Making yourself seriously ill or worse, putting yourself in the hospital will surely end your blademaking ambitions.

[Doug Lester]

Hesitant to add anything here. What you've done is not a bad first effort from a visual point of view. I too started out knowing less than nothing about knife making. I too started out thinking that steel was basically steel. I also slowed down in my planning and got some books and a video on the subject before I bought any tools or steel. Getting a little book learning under your belt will pay for the cost of the books many times over and watching a video to see how things are actually done is the next best thing to working under a teacher. You will run into plenty of things that you will have to just think you way through don't make you life harder than it has to be trying to figure out the basics. It's also expensive.

Also, on that knife pattern you are trying to copy. It's more of a knife shaped object that someone figured looked "real neat" and could probably get someone to buy. Remember, with the exception of decorative blades, a knife is a tool. It has to do something. When you design a knife you need to ask yourself what it will do and why it's better than another design at doing it. Knives have been around longer than iron and steel; they've been around longer than even bronze. After thousands of years it will be kind of difficult to come up with a really new knife design that is better than anything else out there.

Doug

[Bowman]

Do not be discouraged, these people really do know what will help you to be successful. Take your time and do it as well as you can with what you have. Your first knife will not be perfect but you can be proud of an accomplished, first effort. Keep it simple.

Best wishes

[Richard Glenn]

If anyone here corrects this post pay attention to them, I have yet to complete my first knife(s) even though I am close. But I started off just barely better than where you are and have had to rethink a few times to get to where I'm almost ready to send these blanks I have off for heat treat.

You've picked a rather ambitious project for a beginner and I personally respect that ambition. Though it's only worth something if even after failure you're still trying. I'd say go ahead and try to make it because you'll learn a lot of your first knife no matter what knife you're trying to make and every time you mess up you'll learn even more and be better for it.
(Simple can be much more satisfying at first because it'll be a lot easier to get it right though)

First thing you need to do though is chuck that piece of scrap because right now the most likely thing that's going to happen is damage to you, whether in health or in dampening your desire to create a nice knife. Get rid of it and get some proven and simple knife steels. I personally have ordered only from Jantz Knife Supply but as I understand it Texas Knife Supply, Sheffield Knife Supply, and several other places are suggested by people all around and can sell you steel. Depending on how you plant to heat-treat it you have the choice of high carbon steel or stainless steal. These people here can tell you a lot about the pros and cons of both and the tricks for making something useful out of either.

Second thing I notice is that, perhaps it's just my perspective, but that blank doesn't really look like the knife from the game. It either looks way to short or really really wide. Looking at the picture of the original one I'd say it's around 11inches overall maybe. handle large enough for a larger gloved hand and then a blade length a bit longer than that again.
That's really big for a first try.. But if you're set on it I'd print the image out to scale of your hand and then trace the shape exactly as you can on the steel you get and then go from there.

Third is another of my personal things, I have no clue if people here would back me up on it. But you don't have a lot of the shaping work done on your blank yet, and while I'm not encouraging you to keep going as it is a health risk and a futile effort, when you get some knife steel you'll want to get the primary bevel and all the contouring of the knife done as well as the drilling holes for weight reduction and handle attaching done before the heat-treat. And I've been told to avoid sharpening it before hand as the heat-treating process is fairly stressful on the steel and it could crack and warp thinner parts of the metal.

Lastly, I have no clue about a gut hook really, I just assume you file it in and then sharpen it.. But I've never asked about it or serrations myself.

Ask more questions here, make sure you have all your knowledge right, make sure you have whatever you need to go through with this. Then move slowly step by step and if you have any questions always feel encouraged to ask them, these people are awesomely helpful. Don't give up even though you get setback and make mistakes.

And as I said before, if someone says I'm wrong, listen to them over me lol. I'm still new here myself.
-Richard