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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 01-21-2013, 09:00 PM
Dave Mulvey Dave Mulvey is offline
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My First Three Knife Making Experiments (pic heavy)

Thank you for having me, I am newly registered and new to making knives so please forgive me if I step on established written or unwritten rules... I did read the stickies and didn't see anything that makes me think this is an inappropriate place for this thread.

(can you tell I've been on the giving, and receiving, end of newbie bashing on web forums? )

I just wanted to share a few pics of my first three knife making attempts... I'll refrain from labeling them as anything more than what they actually are and the process I used and materials. This is going to drive veteran knife makers crazy but I didn't read any books, I just looked at knife making supply house websites and looked at all the pieces they offered, and deduced how they went together. I knew I would scrrew them up and I would learn from the screw ups so here's what I did and here's what I've learned so far:

Knife Experiment 1 - January 15, 2013 - A re-handled dollar store knife in white wood from home depot (poplar? not sure, don't care).

I learned generally speaking how to trace out the handle onto "scales" or in this case cheap wood from home depot. Also this was my first use of my new harbor freight 1" belt sander which for the money has turned out to be a good first tool. I just freehanded this handle and as I found out, the spot where your index finger goes was difficult to access. I left it in the pictured state, just wooden pins holding it together, unfinished and it will stay that way.







This gave me some confidence so I placed an order for some drop point knife blanks and scales, and stainless thong hole tubing and small brass mosaic pin material.

Knife Experiment2 - Jan 19, 2013 - A drop point knife blank from a supply house, and faux stag handles, and stainless steel thong holes.

Lessons learned include be very careful and experiment with drill press speeds on a material like fake plastic stag, and don't drill machined side first, or material will crack off the patterned side. Also learned that that you're supposed to epoxy the scales to the tang before final shaping... I did final shaping with the pins pressed in, then disassembled and reassembled with epoxy and eyeballed the length of the pins, and got those flat wrong and ugly... I wish I had done final shape of the handles after epoxy and ground down the thong tubing I was using as pins at the end. I also used sandpaper (I forget what grit) to knock down the polish on this when I was done, because I felt it was a better fit and more honest to what the knife was - and experiment that ended up yielding a useful, but not pretty, field knife. All in all I the way this turned out. I wouldn't hesitate to use this knife to skin and field dress a deer.







More on Number three below

Last edited by Dave Mulvey; 01-21-2013 at 09:44 PM. Reason: Adding pics
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  #2  
Old 01-21-2013, 09:30 PM
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NorCal Nate NorCal Nate is offline
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Your well on your way....keep it up and learn as much as you can! There are some of the best knifemakers in the world here and you can learn alot.
Just for giggles I'd finish up the scales on that first knife.
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  #3  
Old 01-21-2013, 09:35 PM
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NJStricker NJStricker is offline
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Greetings Dave!

We're a pretty laid back bunch here. And, the Newbies arena is just that--for Newbies of any level of experience.

A couple of tips. When drilling the pin/bolt holes of your handle material, support the back side with a piece of scrap wood. This reduces the chances of it chipping out when the bit passes through the other side. (You can see the chip-out around the pins of your first knife).

Don't be afraid to not use your belt sander and shape your handles by hand. A fast moving abrasive belt basically acts like a file or rasp, just a lot faster. You'd be surprised at how fast you can shape a handle with just hand tools. A good quality half-round or small full round will get into those tight curves and corners you had difficulty blending.

Finally--mild steel from Lowes or Home depot is fine to practice grinding or to use for templates. But, it will not harden to the point that it will be a high quality cutting tool.

Nathan
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  #4  
Old 01-21-2013, 09:43 PM
Dave Mulvey Dave Mulvey is offline
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Knife Experiment 3 - Jan 20, 2013 - Home depot steel flat stock shaped by hand, with supply house ordered dymondwood? I think? handle scales.

Lessons:I need to do a better layout and design of the porportions, before committing to cutting the handles down to size. I also learned that dymondwood discolors if it gets hot, and when grinding flat stock with a 1 inch sander, it impossible not to cause low spots. Also, this time I ground the pins in place, much better result, I haven't epoxied this one yet and might not, might leave this in the state it's in. The blade is not heat treated but I don't intend to use it, it was just a further experiment. I also tried my hand at filing patterns based on a you tube video I watched. I now understand that you are only supposed to file in one direction, which would have yielded a better result. I also see that I still need to change something about the drilling process because I am ending up with material breaking away on the bottom side of the drilled hole. Not sure if I need faster drill speed or slower drill drop or what. I just realized the only final pic I took of this knife was in a box with #2, so forgive me for no clear final shot, but you'll get the idea from the other WIP pics hopefully.

















I have to run now, the coffee shop where I'm posting this from is closing. Thanks for any feedback or suggestions and I look forward to being a part of your community here on this forum.
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  #5  
Old 01-21-2013, 09:43 PM
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ckluftinger ckluftinger is offline
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You have a good sense of starting out and experimenting. Many try to accomplish a master piece right off the bat (I'm guilty...) and get hopelessly frustrated if it doesn't work right away. Live and learn. I'd still get a book or two. Saves you from making some mistakes which can be a bit costly, but in the end, nothing beats personal experience. Keep it up! You'll be showing off your first big success in no time.


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  #6  
Old 01-21-2013, 09:52 PM
Dave Mulvey Dave Mulvey is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NorCal Nate View Post
Your well on your way....keep it up and learn as much as you can! There are some of the best knifemakers in the world here and you can learn alot.
Just for giggles I'd finish up the scales on that first knife.
Thanks Nate for the encouragement.

Am I a weirdo for deciding to leave each one as it sits, to be a representation of where my skills stood on that day that I worked on it? I intend to engrave a date on each of these. I think it will be fun to look back over the mile markers of my improvement all lined up in a row sometime in the future.
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  #7  
Old 01-21-2013, 09:56 PM
Dave Mulvey Dave Mulvey is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NJStricker View Post
Greetings Dave!

We're a pretty laid back bunch here. And, the Newbies arena is just that--for Newbies of any level of experience.

A couple of tips. When drilling the pin/bolt holes of your handle material, support the back side with a piece of scrap wood. This reduces the chances of it chipping out when the bit passes through the other side. (You can see the chip-out around the pins of your first knife).

Don't be afraid to not use your belt sander and shape your handles by hand. A fast moving abrasive belt basically acts like a file or rasp, just a lot faster. You'd be surprised at how fast you can shape a handle with just hand tools. A good quality half-round or small full round will get into those tight curves and corners you had difficulty blending.

Finally--mild steel from Lowes or Home depot is fine to practice grinding or to use for templates. But, it will not harden to the point that it will be a high quality cutting tool.

Nathan
Thank you Nathan for the tips on the drilling and filing, they are much needed. And thanks for the heads up on the steel from the hardware stores, I really sourced that because it was Sunday and I had the itch to try to hand shape a blade, after doing the faux stag knife I wanted to do something a little different than the supply house drop point... it turned out much better than expected and I intend to leave it like it is, not to try to harden it or ever use it as a tool.
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  #8  
Old 01-21-2013, 10:03 PM
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NorCal Nate NorCal Nate is offline
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Your welcome! And I encourage you to finish that handle too! Its all just practice.. and well you know the saying!
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  #9  
Old 01-21-2013, 10:03 PM
Dave Mulvey Dave Mulvey is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ckluftinger View Post
You have a good sense of starting out and experimenting. Many try to accomplish a master piece right off the bat (I'm guilty...) and get hopelessly frustrated if it doesn't work right away. Live and learn. I'd still get a book or two. Saves you from making some mistakes which can be a bit costly, but in the end, nothing beats personal experience. Keep it up! You'll be showing off your first big success in no time.
Thank you Chris, It's funny you say that about the frustration when pursuing perfection.

I am usually guilty of analysis paralysis too. but I was encouraged by a talk that Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame gave (or maybe a number of talks, I have tried to hear them all) about the importance of making mistakes when learning a new skill... when it comes to other hobbies and sports, I tend to try and get everything right the first time and it doesn't always serve me well.

This rapid-fire knife building was really an intentional exercise in "dive in before worrying if it will be perfect" for myself, and I am pleased with the journey so far, as much as the knives themselves, and I am happy that the "are what they are."
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  #10  
Old 01-21-2013, 10:26 PM
Bowman Bowman is offline
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Well done. Not a bad way to go to get started. I took the approach of: read all I can, order some knife steel, read more and look at a ton of pics, draw a design, read more, profile and bevel, read more, build a forge, read a lot more, heat treat, read, sand forever, prep and attach scales, read more, get sheath materials together, read on sheath making, make a sheath...you get the idea.

You have a good approach. Thanks for posting.
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  #11  
Old 01-22-2013, 02:22 PM
thales thales is offline
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Another drilling tip:

I'm another newb, just finishing my third knife. The first two were full tangs. After drilling the tang for the cross pins, I epoxied one of the scales on and then drilled it. This was before final shaping of the scales, so any break-out from drilling would be removed in finishing. But if you use a material like stag, you may want to keep the surface intact.

You can do this with a drill press and vise. With the work in the vise, you find the center of the hole with a same-size drill bit. Then, without moving the work, replace the drill bit with a much smaller one and drill the hole through. Now you have the center accurately located on the surface of the scale so you can drill it from the other side. No break-out chips!
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  #12  
Old 01-22-2013, 09:10 PM
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NJStricker NJStricker is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thales View Post
Another drilling tip:

I'm another newb, just finishing my third knife. The first two were full tangs. After drilling the tang for the cross pins, I epoxied one of the scales on and then drilled it. This was before final shaping of the scales, so any break-out from drilling would be removed in finishing. But if you use a material like stag, you may want to keep the surface intact.

You can do this with a drill press and vise. With the work in the vise, you find the center of the hole with a same-size drill bit. Then, without moving the work, replace the drill bit with a much smaller one and drill the hole through. Now you have the center accurately located on the surface of the scale so you can drill it from the other side. No break-out chips!
This works for the most part, but, it is very difficult to finish the front of the knife scales while they are on the blade, without marring the finish. This approach also doesn't work so well if you have filework on the tang that you are trying to preserve. I understand the quick, direct approach--glue two pieces of wood to the tang and grind off anything that is not handle. But it takes a little time, and practice, to pre-drill pin holes and finish the scales part of the way before you epoxy them in place.
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  #13  
Old 01-22-2013, 09:54 PM
thales thales is offline
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Well, I don't see that it is really necessary to attach the scales permanently before drilling them. That's just the way I happened to do it in those two cases. You could also just clamp them onto the tang and mark the hole centers accurately, or use a temporary cement. I'll try that before long, but for the next build or six I'm working on hidden tang knives.
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