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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 09-26-2010, 11:18 PM
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Oldmedic Oldmedic is offline
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new guy here

I am new to making knives, am going to attempt my first one this week I hope, I only have a HF 1/30 grinder, some files, sandpaper, vise, lots of wood working tools, lol,,I figue on using the files and paper mostly,,I am in no hurry to finish but am anxious to get started, I am going to use a 12 inch file to make the knife from, I will be trying to anneal it with charcoal and a blow dryer,,lol,,wish me luck,,just wanted to sat hi and thanks for all the advise I have gotten here already


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  #2  
Old 09-27-2010, 04:26 AM
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Robert Mayo Robert Mayo is offline
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Welcome to the forum and good luck with your fisrt knife.
Have fun!

Bob
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  #3  
Old 09-27-2010, 08:17 AM
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Welcom Rick
Take a little time to fill out your profile in more detail. You might find out things are "happening" close in your neck of the woods. Lots of large and small hammer-ins are scheduled (as well as last minute gatherings) all over the US this time of the year - same in the spring. You can hookup with some really good talent at these events and pull some of the steepness out of the old "learning curve". Plus make some very fine new friends at the same time. Even if you're not heat n beat oriented, you can learn an awful lot of basic skills at these events that apply to any style of knifemaking.

If you are in the SE USA - Trackrock Hammer-in is this coming weekend - Blairsville, GA (check Georgia Guild Fourm below) and Bowie's Hammer-in is later in Oct up near Knoxville, TN (check Outpost Forum below). There are plenty of others so look about and see what's happening. Cooler weather tends to bring us outside and make us more sociable.


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  #4  
Old 09-27-2010, 09:28 AM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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Making a blade from an old file is almost a rite of passage for a new knife maker but your odds of real success are small using charcoal and a hair dryer for annealing. And, there is a chance that the file itself may not be suitable for a knife blade, many are not.

So, instead of possible wasting a lot of time and effort and expense on materials that could result in a disappointment my suggestion would be to spend a few dollars and buy a piece of known blade steel. You can buy a bar of carbon steel like 1090 or 1065 for under $5 or a bar of stainless for $15or so. The carbon steel you would have to heat treat yourself, the stainless can be sent to Texas Knifemakers for $5. Since the heat treatment is what truly makes a piece of steel behave like a knife you can see the advantage of using steel that will HT as expected. All steels purchased from a knife supply house like Sheffields, Jantz, K&G, Texas Knifemakers, etc come to you fully annealed (except 5160, don't go there just yet).

Of course, if you can get to one of those hammer ins that CREX mentioned someone can probably just give you a bar to work with ....


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  #5  
Old 09-27-2010, 10:38 AM
Rusty Rusty is offline
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Welcome, Thats what I use a HF 1X30. I also used charcoal fire for my first few before I built a coffee can forge that I've been fighting with. I put the coals in a chimney starter and did not have a problem getting the steel hot enough.
I agree with getting blade steel it's cheap as all get out , so why not. I'm just a weekend knife warrior so listen to the big dogs I just wanted to add I have had good results with the set up you are talking about. I just posted a pic of a little neck knife I did, Check it out.
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  #6  
Old 09-28-2010, 08:12 AM
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I started with a charcoal starter chimney and a blow dryer and could produce sufficient heat. The only drawback was size limitations. Go for it! You are trying to learn and anything that happens now will teach you something. One step at a time!

Welcome to the forum and keep posting!


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Old 09-28-2010, 08:45 PM
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Good luck and have fun. I have done the file and chacoal hting in the past and it made a passable knife by my standards at the time. A known steel is much easier though. I would suggest 1080 for its ease in heat treat and you will be surprised how well it will perform if you do your part. Remember, read read, read and learn from your mistakes.

Nothing ventured nothing gained,
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  #8  
Old 10-03-2010, 11:42 PM
reefera4m reefera4m is offline
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You should easily be able to get the heat up to critical temp for annealing with charcoal and a hair drier - just make sure you have enough charcoal and keep the hair drier far enough away so you don't melt the plastic parts (voice of experience).

The real challenge to annealing a file is slow cooling. Many people prefer vermiculite which you can get at some Lowes Hardware stores for about $23 for 2-1/2 cubic feet (half a garbage can full). Some still do it the old school and put steel in a large tub of wood ash. I have both the wood ash and the vermiculite and both will work. Vermiculite is cleaner and doesn't leave a residue on the steel like wood ash will. And vermiculite is easier to keep dry or get dry once wet tahtn wood ash. Wood ash is cheaper if you have a fireplace/wood stove.

I've found some kep points that will help insure proper annealing:
1. Heat the steel to critical (non-magnetic) and hold for 5 minutes to insure a thorough heat.

2. Make sure the vermiculite or wood ash is of sufficient quantity and kept in a container that is large enough. When you put a piece of steel in either wood ash or vermiculite there should be at least 12" on all sides of the hot steel. 12 inches of either should provide enough insulation to keep the steel from cooling too fast. The slower the better with most steels - from critical temp to cool enough to handle should take between 12 and 24 hours with 24 hours ideal.

3. Place the container with the wood ash or vermiculite as close to the heat as possible so that when you remove the steel from the heat you can IMMEDIATELY plunge it into the wood ash or vermiculite. Many steels wiill start to re-hardened in the air so minimizing the time the steel is exposed to air can make a big difference in the end result.

4. If at first you don't succeed, try again.
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  #9  
Old 10-05-2010, 08:14 PM
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Welcome and we need pics of this knife when done.


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  #10  
Old 10-06-2010, 02:38 PM
Rusty Rusty is offline
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Hey old medic I'll post some pics of 3 small knives I heat treated with charcoal and a chimney starter yesterday. I didn't use a hair dryer just good ole fashion lung power. Maybe I'm being naive I'm just a novice, but they got red hot, non magnetic and after quenching the file slid right off. Into the toaster oven at about 425 3 times for an hour for a straw/copperish color. I'm going to take pics after work they ain't nothin fancy but they're knives. I've been using 0-1 it's cheap and holds a good edge.
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  #11  
Old 10-06-2010, 07:00 PM
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I had a set back on getting started but was finakky able to get started yesterday,,I thought it had went fairly well , I was able to grind the file to shape after annealing without to much problems. I used a 41/2 in angle grinder to start with to get the file to shape, then used the 1/30 grinder to get the shape I needed. the steel was hard to shape but I thought it was normal, that was until I tried to drill holes in the handle to put the scales on it, lol,,I got one drilled, the other 2 would not be drilled, I even went bought a new bit,lol,,I can only guess that that part of the file was not properly annealed. I am going to try reheating the handle again, maybe this time I can at least get the holes done. The file did sharped up great, but I guess like many i have read about the small scratches in the blade are hell to get out. I will keep sanding until I get them out , if my arms hold out long enough, anyway its been a great learning experience, for one I will bet the already annealed steal from now on, lol, thanks for all the reply,s, lets me know I am not lone in this, I will have pics up the next day or so.


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  #12  
Old 10-07-2010, 12:15 AM
Rusty Rusty is offline
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just buy you some tool steel 1095 or 0-1 for 7 bucks you'll be surprised!!!
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  #13  
Old 10-15-2010, 08:31 PM
reefera4m reefera4m is offline
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Oldmedic,

Get some of these at Harbor Freight -

They are inexpensive and on a 4" grinder can make removing sratches a breeze. If I remember correctly the grits are 40, 80, 200, 400 and 600. Using them progressivley and you can do must of the grunt work with the grinder. Just be sure to start out with the shape you want - I use a draw-filing technique to get flat sides on my blades the start removing the scratches with these pads.

I'd recommend finishing to 400 grit before heat treating - deep scratches can result in cracking during a quench.

To do the final finish I glue strips of wet/dry sandpaper to a 16" long, 1" to 2" wide x 1/8" thick flat bar using a good spray adhesive. Wet sand to get the most out of the sandpaper.

Last edited by reefera4m; 10-15-2010 at 08:34 PM.
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  #14  
Old 10-17-2010, 06:05 PM
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just a few pics of my wip so far



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  #15  
Old 10-17-2010, 06:07 PM
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a few more,,the quality is not so good had to take them with my phone









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