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Knife Making Start up
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Anvil Head
Senior Member
Big question with lots of answers. To broad to answer here because of all the variables. You will have to be much more specific on how, what and why. Your expectations, experience, skills and available tools.
You indicate you are in Middle GA, might be a little more specific there as well. There are a lot of very fine makers all across the state and you probably live close to one of us.
There are also several ops throughout the year that you can take advantage of to meet makers, see demos, learn skills, talk to pros and get answers, even accumulate materials.
>Georgia Custom Knifemakers' Guild winter meeting in Statesboro is the first weekend in Feb.
>Trackrock Hammer-in Spring Event - #30!, is March 18/19 at Trackrock Campgrounds in Blairsville, GA
>Spring Guild meeting will be in Lula, GA (date escapes me at moment)
>Etc.
Don't hesitate to attend any of these events, you will not regret the effort, I promise.
Send me your email via pm and I will send you info on educational knifemaking events coming up this year.
Caution: there is only one cure for this addiction.
Welcome to the Game.
You indicate you are in Middle GA, might be a little more specific there as well. There are a lot of very fine makers all across the state and you probably live close to one of us.
There are also several ops throughout the year that you can take advantage of to meet makers, see demos, learn skills, talk to pros and get answers, even accumulate materials.
>Georgia Custom Knifemakers' Guild winter meeting in Statesboro is the first weekend in Feb.
>Trackrock Hammer-in Spring Event - #30!, is March 18/19 at Trackrock Campgrounds in Blairsville, GA
>Spring Guild meeting will be in Lula, GA (date escapes me at moment)
>Etc.
Don't hesitate to attend any of these events, you will not regret the effort, I promise.
Send me your email via pm and I will send you info on educational knifemaking events coming up this year.
Caution: there is only one cure for this addiction.
Welcome to the Game.
John I. Shore
Senior Member
I could write you a book on how Not to get started. I believe the absolute best answer to your question would be to go visit a couple of knifemakers and pick their brains for a day or half a day and lay you a good base of knowledge before you start. There are basically two forms to this and each requires various things, first there is Forging, the second is stock removal. Though you must also know how to remove stock should you forge, but you don't have to forge to be a stock removal guy. That is the first thing you should discover/answer, which way you want to get into this new hobby. I started this adventure many years ago while stationed in Turkey so I can tell you that you can spend a lot of money getting started but many can tell you how to get started on a budget.
There is a great book out there that I recommend, "How to make Knives" by RW Loveless and Richard Barney, covers both methods and goes in great depth on stock removal since Bob was a stock removal guy. That part of the book is also avail on DVD, both are on Ebay for about $20 each, I highly recommend that investment, especially the DVD so you can see how each step is accomplished and explained in fine detail so you can understand what and how each step is performed and why.
Getting back to your original question; You'll need a way to shape the steel, probably gonna need to invest in a belt grinder, you can build your own or buy one, they vary depending on what you want to do and how much you want to spend. You'll need a way to make holes, that could be a hand drill or a drill press or on up to a nice milling machine. The absolute thing you must have (in my opinion) is a disc grinder, what most folks call a red neck surface grinder. This is used to make things relatively flat, a must for a quality fit without spending lots of time and elbow grease doing it by hand. Probably need some files, small hammer, and sand paper, epoxy, vise and you'll be set.
The Georgia Custom Knifemakers' Guild is made up of some of the best knife makers, collectors, and folks that just love knives, we meet once a Qtr to give demo's, answer ?'s, show our knives, help others, and promote the art of knifemaking. Our next meeting is in a couple weeks just south of you, down in Statesboro where we will meet, do the things mentioned above and it will give you the opportunity to pick the brains of some of the highly qualified makers in and around the state. I invite you and anyone else who would like to attend, the date is Saturday Feb 6 at the knife shop of Twin Blades so you'll also get to see first hand a real knife shop and the equipment we use to do this, from there you'll be on the right track to set yourself up in this adventure.
Hope that helps, if there's anything I can do to help just yell, I'll post something on here soon about the Guild meeting if no one else does it first.
Oh yeah, here is a pic of the disc grinder I mentioned.
Good Luck with it!
John I.
There is a great book out there that I recommend, "How to make Knives" by RW Loveless and Richard Barney, covers both methods and goes in great depth on stock removal since Bob was a stock removal guy. That part of the book is also avail on DVD, both are on Ebay for about $20 each, I highly recommend that investment, especially the DVD so you can see how each step is accomplished and explained in fine detail so you can understand what and how each step is performed and why.
Getting back to your original question; You'll need a way to shape the steel, probably gonna need to invest in a belt grinder, you can build your own or buy one, they vary depending on what you want to do and how much you want to spend. You'll need a way to make holes, that could be a hand drill or a drill press or on up to a nice milling machine. The absolute thing you must have (in my opinion) is a disc grinder, what most folks call a red neck surface grinder. This is used to make things relatively flat, a must for a quality fit without spending lots of time and elbow grease doing it by hand. Probably need some files, small hammer, and sand paper, epoxy, vise and you'll be set.
The Georgia Custom Knifemakers' Guild is made up of some of the best knife makers, collectors, and folks that just love knives, we meet once a Qtr to give demo's, answer ?'s, show our knives, help others, and promote the art of knifemaking. Our next meeting is in a couple weeks just south of you, down in Statesboro where we will meet, do the things mentioned above and it will give you the opportunity to pick the brains of some of the highly qualified makers in and around the state. I invite you and anyone else who would like to attend, the date is Saturday Feb 6 at the knife shop of Twin Blades so you'll also get to see first hand a real knife shop and the equipment we use to do this, from there you'll be on the right track to set yourself up in this adventure.
Hope that helps, if there's anything I can do to help just yell, I'll post something on here soon about the Guild meeting if no one else does it first.
Oh yeah, here is a pic of the disc grinder I mentioned.
Good Luck with it!
John I.
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Anvil Head
Senior Member
The Loveless/Barney book is definitely a good read, but don't limit yourself. Other good and informative works are also available from Jim Hirsoulas, Wayne Goddard, David Boye and many more. May be confusing at first but the basics in each is solid just slightly different approaches to getting there.
There are also several forums that are more specialized to the knifemaking world - Knife Network Forums, Blade Forums, Knife Dogs, Primal Fires, British Blades, etc. Read and research all you can before you start and you will have a much better idea of what/how/why to do so.
Note: Just remember, same as here or anywhere else, use discernment about what you see/hear/read. You alone are responsible for you decisions. And.......keep it fun! Knifemaking is an enjoyable activity for the most of us.
There are also several forums that are more specialized to the knifemaking world - Knife Network Forums, Blade Forums, Knife Dogs, Primal Fires, British Blades, etc. Read and research all you can before you start and you will have a much better idea of what/how/why to do so.
Note: Just remember, same as here or anywhere else, use discernment about what you see/hear/read. You alone are responsible for you decisions. And.......keep it fun! Knifemaking is an enjoyable activity for the most of us.
bbs383ci
Senior Member
you can make great knives by using a file and a filing jig, takes a lot of elbow grease but is cheap and will give you great results if you take your time. I started by using premade blanks from jantz, then built a filing jig and made a few knives that way and quickly built my own grinder which worked but wasn't the best.
the book/dvd john mentioned is great and will give you some insight on what it takes to build a quality knife.
here is one that I built using the filing jig it has a 4.5" blade if I remember correctly and was 3/16" stock took a lot of filing but if you take your time it will work. I used a bandsaw to bring it close to shape them draw filed it to finished shape, took a few hours to get the shape but this just shows you, you, can do it if you really want to.
the book/dvd john mentioned is great and will give you some insight on what it takes to build a quality knife.
here is one that I built using the filing jig it has a 4.5" blade if I remember correctly and was 3/16" stock took a lot of filing but if you take your time it will work. I used a bandsaw to bring it close to shape them draw filed it to finished shape, took a few hours to get the shape but this just shows you, you, can do it if you really want to.
