An insight into what goes into making a custom knife.

[jindydiver]

I thought I might put up a post showing some of what goes into making my little hunting knives.

It isn’t very comprehensive, it is just the bits my wife took pics of while I got the job done.

The raw materials
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/jindydiver/knife%20tutorial/1001.jpg

First cutout and shaping the blank
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/jindydiver/knife%20tutorial/1002.jpg

You can see that my template is only a guide. Once I have cut out a piece of steel I let it speak to me about what shape it will be.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/jindydiver/knife%20tutorial/1003.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/jindydiver/knife%20tutorial/1004.jpg

Mark the centre of the blade and put in a choil
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/jindydiver/knife%20tutorial/1005.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/jindydiver/knife%20tutorial/1006.jpg

Setting up the bevel
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/jindydiver/knife%20tutorial/1007.jpg

And then getting stuck in..
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/jindydiver/knife%20tutorial/1008.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/jindydiver/knife%20tutorial/1009.jpg
Note the complex sparks. I know of people that could almost give you an elemental analysis of the steel from that alone.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/jindydiver/knife%20tutorial/1010.jpg

Then a finer belt
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/jindydiver/knife%20tutorial/1011.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/jindydiver/knife%20tutorial/1012.jpg

Then after drilling the holes for the handle it is off to the forge
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/jindydiver/knife%20tutorial/1013.jpg

The blade ready to go in
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/jindydiver/knife%20tutorial/1014.jpg

A very hot environment
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/jindydiver/knife%20tutorial/1015.jpg

Into the vegi oil
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/jindydiver/knife%20tutorial/1016.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/jindydiver/knife%20tutorial/1017.jpg

Then it is just a matter of cleaning it up and tempering it in an oven, and then cleaning it up again, and then giving it a handle.

Not very comprehensive I know, but a bit of a look for people who don’t know what goes into handmade knives.

[Piggy]

Hey Jindy great post, another of your many hidden talents.
P.S. love the pic of you in the safety gear

[Dave]

Great post Jindy,

I didn't realize that you had to temper the steel again :? and I am a tradesman who works with fitters everyday.

When you say you let it speak to you are you refering to type of steel, its hardness etc?

Dave.

[TheGos]

So when will we be able to order katanas which you have pre folded the steel 1000times+ :D Lovely work mate. Forge away.

[Wellsy]

Great post Jindy

[jindydiver]

When you say you let it speak to you are you refering to type of steel, its hardness etc?

Dave.

I sort of have an idea what sort of knife I am going to make when I pick what steel I am going to use. I have all sorts of recycled steels and I also buy steel from the US, and so I have lots of choices when I am looking at steel types. But when I use recycled steel I have to cut it out of the big blades or sheets and each rough cut piece of steel is differently shaped to the last, and when I say the steel speaks to me, I mean I let my imagination decide the shape based on the rough cut.
I also do the same with scraps that I make into tools. Just lately I have been making bottle openers, and they turn out all sorts of shapes depending on the shape of the original scrap. I will take some pics of some this arvo maybe.

[barebow]

Thanks Mick for that great post.

[Bowmancam]

Great post Mick, Well done ...


I agree with piggy, you look pretty saucy in your safety gear :wink: :lol:

Love those leather gloves! Where can i buy a pair and do they come studded and in black? :wink:

Great effort Jindy, you are indeed a man of many talents.

Cheers, Cam

[jindydiver]

Without those gloves I couldn't do the job mate
They save a lot of skin getting worn or burnt off :D It sure gets interesting when they catch on fire :lol:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/jindydiver/burntgloves.jpg

Some of the bottle openers
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/jindydiver/bottleopeners.jpg

[brian]

mate thats a very interesting post -cheers. coupla questions:

how do you know the knife has reached the right temp. in the forge so its ready for the quench?

do you just quench the primary grind, or the whole blade?

have you tested you're knives for hardness? if so how hard do they get generally speaking?

thanks for the pics too mate - cheers.

[Wareagle]

Mate, that was great, what speed would that big wheel be doing?

[jindydiver]

mate thats a very interesting post -cheers. coupla questions:


how do you know the knife has reached the right temp. in the forge so its ready for the quench?
I have a very strong magnet, and when I think it has reached the critical temperature I pull it out and see if the magnet will stick. If it doesn’t it is back into the forge for a few moments to make sure it hasn’t cooled any and straight into the quench.

do you just quench the primary grind, or the whole blade?
The whole blade goes in point first. Sometimes I will just quench the edge, but sometimes I will quench the blade when the edge is a critical temp, but before the spine of the blade is.


have you tested you're knives for hardness? if so how hard do they get generally speaking?
I do not have a Rockwell tester, or access to one. But I know the edges of my blades never leave here if they can bite my sharpening steel. When they skate off it like glass I know they are 60 or over, and with L6 you can leave them as hard as that and you will (most times) be fine.





Mate, that was great, what speed would that big wheel be doing?

I don’t know the feet per second belt speed for that grinder. I might do the calculations later. But I can tell you it is damn fast :shock:

[brian]

awsome - thanx for the info jindy. might hava go myself when i get home. i bet with that kind of steel quality and hardness, your edges must hold up very well with use.

BTW: after some more research i've found out the japanese knife i got over here has white steel in the middle which is apparently "well over 60 rockwell". it sure does hold an edge very well indeed.

do you find that as long as strength isnt compromised, you cant really have steel thats too hard, or is there some point of diminishing returns?

[jindydiver]

Strength is a relative term. The steel can be hard, or it can be tough, but there is a compromise between the two and in some steels you can get a measure of both but you must always decide which way you prefer to go.
A razor blade for instance is “hard” so that it’s thin profile can stay sharp and not wear out, but it sacrifices “toughness” and so is easily broken.
Some simpler steels can only be hardened to around 58 and any further and they will become too brittle for the uses the knives will be put too.
One problem with the over hardening of the brittle steels is “microchipping” of the edge. This is where small chips break out of the edge during use and the blade goes blunt, It isn’t being worn out but is instead breaking down.

This is just one of the factors that go into choosing which steels to use for knives. I like L6 as a carbon steel, and for stainless I like RWL34, because both can be hardened to at least 60 and they will hold an edge for a very long time, but they are not brittle at that hardness and so can take some abuse. I have some L6 blades that have skinned and quartered 3 deer in a session and at the end just needed a steel to get back to shaving sharp. I also use some D2 also, but not as much as I would like because of the extra cost of getting a real good heat treatment so I can get the best out of the steel.

Other factors are involved in producing a durable knife too. The profile of the edge can make all the difference to it’s durability and you have to know how fine an edge a piece of steel can take before the edge starts to break down with use. Other things like whether you make the edge with a straight bevel or convex (which I do) can make a difference to how long the edge lasts.
It is all a very complicated science, and one which I am but a student in, but I am happy to help anyone who needs directions on where they might look to find some answers. :)

[jindydiver]

OK , how do you Temper it in the oven and what does Temper mean ?

When you harden the steel in the furnace you are changing the structure of the steel and making that steel as hard as it can possibly get. That amount of hardness is rarely what we need and is counterproductive, so we temper the steel (or “draw” the steel) by putting it in an oven and heating it just enough to bring the hardness back down to where it is useful. All steels have a different requirement for hardness, and all steels have different temperatures at which they are fully hard, and at which they are at a working hardness.
The steels I am using at the moment get just right at about 130 C in my oven. There is a colour you are looking for in the steel when you do it and it takes practice.
An example is the O1 steel used in good quality files. It is dead hard as a file, but if you drop it you risk breaking it, so when you use that steel (for a knife) you draw it back to a softer state so it wont snap.


Also , what type of drill do you use to drill the rivet holes ? I used to have trouble with this when I made knives from Crosscut saws :cry:

It depends on the steel and whether I can soften the steel before use. If you want to drill a hardened piece of steel you need to use a drill that is harder. I use masonry drills that I have sharpened up.



What is a "choil" and what purpose does it serve ? How is it pronounced ? :wink:

The choil is the little notch you see me cutting with the file. It has no real purpose on a small knife like those except to make the transition from the bevel to the ricasso (the flat part of the blade) look neater and more professional.


Oh Jindy , am I going to pick your brain , you have rekindled an old interest :D


I don’t mind at all, but you have to leave some for me, there isn’t much there to start with

[brian]

hey jindy i remember reading somewhere that you sharpen your knives with a convex (rolled) edge, not the usual cantled edge. how do you do it? i've heard it aint easy to do compared to the regular flat ground edge.