First blade -- total newbie

[Mark Reich]

Hi Bud, Welcome to the Forum! Thank you for the kind words!

Wade has the right basic description. I don't know of a simpler answer than "bladesmithing involves forging". 

"Knifemaking" means almost everything else. From $25 kits that that come ready to be assembled, to priceless masterpieces from incredibly gifted artists. 99.999% of knives produced in the past century fall into this category. 

Folding knives are almost always totally stock removal, and hand made folders can be astonishingly intricate and heavily jewelled. Gayle Bradley is one of my favorite knife makers. His knives run from $5k- $25k, and he's one of several 'smiths in that layer of the stratosphere.

Bladesmithing begins with a piece of steel and something to make it really hot so you can put it on a big old chunk of steel and start hammering away. I think it speaks to the caveman in us all. It's a much cruder way to start, which seems to make a blade more interesting when the finished product has the "Wow!" appeal.  

Overall performance is most important to everyone. There are things that bladesmiths do to maximize performance far beyond what I've seen from stock removal blades. Mostly the good old simple high carbon steels that have continued in use, unchanged for 100 years, like 52100, can be manipulated to have extraordinary performance that you almost have to see to believe, but I have videos. 

Sorry for being long winded. Hopefully I'm getting off on the right foot with good information.

[Soxx]

Step aside Mark Reich and wadebevin and let a couple of idiots through. I promised a picture of the output of a couple of rank amateurs and here it is. We made a couple of different efforts at this and here are the results although quite "kitchen worn" by now. I threw in an old blank just so you could see what we started with. It's .033" 1095 spring steel  cut out on one of Mike's lasers. One of Mike's vendors used a water jet to cut the handles out of Delrin. We used the spring steel because it was already heat treated and tempered and at only .033" thick didn't require too much tough grinding to form something that could be sharpened. I have to say that while the handles don't look like much they are very comfortable. We call them "Man Handles".

They sharpened up very nicely, about 180 as I recall. The black handled one has been in my kitchen for about two years now and sees very regular use. Of course you have to keep them dry after use or they will rust up.

   

[wadebevan]

Soxx, you made them sound pretty bad when you first mentioned them... those look pretty cool.
And, they have been used with success, which is for myself the first measure of a knife.
Thanks for sharing!

[Mark Reich]

The more people chiming in with their experience the better by far!

Yes, thank you for sharing!

I like the the design. Why not grind the extra handle off? Can I help?

[wadebevan]

Hey All,
It is finally spring, and I am looking to build some tools for the garden.

Probably my most used tool is a stirrup hoe. But, the ones you can buy pretty much suck.

Was thinking of making one out of 52100, but, that may be overkill, as would the O1 tool steel.
Any recommends on a good steel for such a purpose?

My thought was to shape then heat treat to critical, then temper the hell out of everything but the blade.

Any advice?
Thanks,
TW.

[Mark Reich]

There's nothing wrong with overkill!

Spring steel is easy to find, and it would make great garden tools.

1018 would be fine. It should be easy to source locally. That's probably what garden tools are made of.

Actually, I think T-posts are 1018. Whatever they are, that sort of mild carbon steel would work.

Railroad spikes are good mild steel.

[wadebevan]

Let me clarify my overkill statement, I would rather make a knife out of the higher grade steels

I did want to use something with some carbon in it, in order to harden the blade edge.
The trouble with this type of hoe is that they are usually made out of soft steel, and dull easily.

But, this type of hoe isn't for diggin, it is just drug an inch or so below the soil to slice off small weeds.
I end up sharpening mine a dozen times a season, and figured a nice hard edge would maybe cut that down to once or twice a season.

One thought was an old used up firearm barrel. The older ones are 4140/4150, which might work pretty well.

[Bud]

Just so you know Mark and Wade I really miss your talking about creating knives. There is probably not a chance that i will ever make a knife from scratch or otherwise but I sure enjoy following those who can. I know that you are busy but I just wanted to let you know that I enjoy reading and following your posts. You're both gentlemen and willing to help. I appreciate that very much. I'm just sitting here on Saturday night with not much to say but I guess I can say this, you are really great guys and very good at what you do so thank you.

[wadebevan]

Hey Bud, thanks for the kind words.
Now that the snow is flying, I plan on getting back to making some knives.
Just gotta finish up a few projects first, including my Kally build.
Will post when I get there.
Wade.

[Bud]

That's really good news Wade and thanks.   I really look forward to it. I've been thinking since my last post here and started wondering. I've been a collector of old tools for a bunch of years now. Part of my collection includes maybe 200 metal files of all sizes. Seems to me that I've heard of guys turning these old files into knives. Is that a practical thing to do or a pipe dream? I wouldn't want to put in a whole lot of effort and end up with a piece of junk either. Any ideas on this from people who know what they're doing?