Knife Making

I am watching this show on History, "Forged in Fire." I don't know how many people have seen or even like it. I watch them quenching their blades for hardening, but not tempering it. Is that even possible; to harden the blade and not temper it?

NUTS! If that tag shows up it's my bad. What I really want to do is let you know I just saw an ad for a new series on "The History Channel" called, "Forged In Fire." I've only seen the trailers and ad one time and didn't even catch the premier date but I believe it's a number of blacksmiths involved in a contest to make the best . . . thing? I didn't catch the project, I was replying to a thread here and wasn't paying attention. It was the yellow steel, hammer, anvil and shower of sparks that grabbed me. Here's one guys. We've been wanting a TV show or series about blacksmithing and it looks like we have one coming up. I'll reply with date and time next tim…

Welcome to about the easiest most helpful site you might find if you are getting into knife making, Long ago information about how to start was carefully guarded by those folks in the know. A few hints might help you get more out of this sight in a shorter period of time. What is your experience as far as working metal and what tools do you have at hand? Forged or stock removal or a bit of both,,What have you done? Keep in mind that there have been questions asked at most levels for many years on this site. Might help if you can at least look through the questions asked recently and see if they provide anything useful. You will see the term sticky refered to many ti…

What is the moment where you give up on welding certain strands? Some that look like theyve gotten black still go in. And how do you put toggether a big split in a billet. Lots of firm taps or can i hit it finally. Was tight but loosened up. Sometimes i hit a line "cooler" and it rips up the whole line from my weld but it made my rr track ping. Tx Sorry, wrong place

I dove in a bunch of videos on YouTube about the Hadzabe Hunters in Tanzania. Their preferred prey, amongst others, is Baboon. ...the Baboon arrows have the most brutally barbed heads...that tells something about the prey and the hunter. I watched all the Hadzabe videos I could find, because I was interested what kinds and sizes of knives they are using. In all the videos I only saw one small knife in use and this was used collectively. Apart from this, Hadzabe hunting knives mostly seem to have blade lengths from 6-8 inches.... Of course every hunting knife should be tough, sharp, and strong..... but due to their hunting style the knife has to be light weigh…

This winter had two damascus projects fail. I was struggling with them. Last week I pulled them out of the bin, broke them open at the failed weld, heated and flatten them out. Cleaned up, stacked, boom got them to weld together. Drew out in a square then twisted. Flattened cut, stacked and final weld. I have no idea how many layers, but it turned out nicely. Still can't figure out why my welds failed this winter. Anyway this is what came out. Just glad I could salvage it.

I got started years ago making knives. Over the years I probably have make two or three hundred knives, yet I have never sold one. I retired from the U.S. Army Reserve in 2006 as a Sergeants Major. My job as a SGM was taking care of the troops, that has continued today. All the knives I have made go to others, yet I never take money for them, instead I have my customers donate the money to groups who support Vets: Warfigher Outfitters, Nettin With Vets, my VFW Post 3886 (I am a life member), Greenleaf Friends Academy annual auction (where I attended high school). Living in Denmark I am far from other Vets, there are none around where I am. I am a member of a grou…

Howdy! Here are two Wootz blades I just finished for book IV .. Both are single edged and flat ground.. 10 1/2" blade lengths on the two with phosphor bronze furniture. The Kard has an impala horn grip and the belt knife has some of my bovine ivory... Both blades show very fine crystalline structures (they are from the same melt/crucible)... All in all didn't turn out tool bad for an olde fart working out in his front yard.. These two will be listed on my website shortly... Thought I would share.. JPH

I ran into a guy that was relocating his sawmill, and scored 31 blades. After talking to him later, I found out they are the Silver tipped "Woodmizer" blades. Has anyone pattern welded with these? Figured I'd check before I forge weld some samples to find out if they are worth the time and effort. Jeremy

I knocked one out today. Only took me 3 hours. The handle is a bit too narrow but I'm still learning. Here's mine. Post yours.

Howdy!! Just finished these two "feather" pattern knives..one is a "traditional feather" and the other is my Quetzalcōātl feather pattern.. Both are 1084 and L-6 steels..one with blackened bone and the other has an old chevy horn grip....Phosphor bronze mounts.. Turned out pretty much OK... JP (still troubleshooting that mill) H

Over the last 15 years I made only four of those big Temple Knives, and its design reminds me always of a Vulture. Cold work Tungsten Tool Steel(1.2419.05),Copper and Ceylon Ironwood. I like this material combination very much because its dark and sinister and no fancy color distracts from the actual forms. The belt clip and the retension spring are made of heat treated high carbon spring steel. Cheers

This is my first go at a Karambit blade. 15N20, 1089 combo. I cast my own epoxy resin scales. This blade was custom ordered by a fellow Vet for his wife. He picked the color for the scales. It is hard to see in pics, but they are kind of translucent, plus you can see the white more in real. Was a fun build.

well folks...we lost another Master....Ed Fowler passed on..He was a real character and a bit controversial. You either loved him or hated him..either way he was a real craftsman.. He and I would have some great discussions over breakfasts back in the day...Another one gone...rest well amigo.. JPH

Gentlemen, my Sunday is already in full swing, while yours is still asleep. So here is one for the Sunday. Most of the time knives are named after predators, but not this one. O7 tool steel blade, copper ferrule and fittings and Sambar stag (the prey) The tang is riveted over the butt forming the pistil of the "wild flower". Cheers

Gentlemen, all the best and happy new year! Two iconic knife shapes which are originally hidden tang designs, translated into much easier to build flat tang constructions. Starting with 2 Tantos, followed by a Puukko, which I might have posted already 2 or 3 years ago, but I am not shure. I added it to give some context according to the topic. As the history of the shapes already presumes, they perform very well if not partially better than their historic hidden tang relatives. This, like already said is due to the easier construction of 3 piece flat tangs, and in use they are much slimmer and less bulky which performs better while they are carrie…

Good evening, Getting ready to do a broken-back seax out of a big file with my kid and had a question. I'm not as into knives, but I'm taking a brief break from aluminum...because I want to and definitely not because I'm frustrated with the way the last casting pattern turned out... My oversized 13-year-old (6'2" - Yeesh!) has taken an interest making pointy things, spearheads, knives and the like, and I felt he should be encouraged to do...well almost anything not involving screen time. I've got him most of the way through a socket on a psuedo-celtic spearhead, and I'm comfortable with that, having made a few, but it's been a hot minute since I did any blades t…

Decades ago, I read "Water Music" by T.C. Boyle...what a brilliant book...read it three times...at least. So good that the word "Water Music" has taken on a whole new dynamic for me over a long period of time... ...and it's been clear to me for a long time that I would make a knife called "Water Music" someday. Mother of pearl, copper, and 2519...the timeless shape was already predetermined by the narrow mother-of-pearl scales; it fits wonderfully into the Victorian era...the time when Livingston tore his hair out and tried to "understand" Africa.... An ear for the sheath brings it close to an interpretation of a "Gaucho knife"...the clip is made…

Hi all - I'm SlimW, and I like knives. I've been reading threads here for a few months, and just made an account. I've made a few knife-shaped objects so far, but nothing I've wanted to stick my name on yet. Now, I'd like to do a little better. My next project is a "skinner-ish" thing that I intend as a gift for someone who did me a favor, if this all works out and doesn't look hideous, that is. This is a stock removal knife. I'd like to grind a swedge along the top of the blade, since this is fairly thick steel (15/16" 7/32"), and I've made myself a jig from angle iron to clamp the knife onto. My question is this: is it better to grind the main bevel…

I have been getting some major progress in the blade making lately, First pic is what happens when you are impatient and have a slight warp that I should of left alone, second is a knife for my sister its what she wanted but i dont like the feel of it, Second is for another sister and I really like this one. last three pics is i am having a go at an explosion pattern and so far its worked out.

Howdy All!!: The latest from the old man in his front yard: This one is a Kindjhal that was featured in my latest video series on YouTube: "Hilting a Wootz Kindjhal.. This dastardly deamon of a blade fought me every step of the way..starting with the melt, to forging, to heat treat, to grinding.. to the fittings and the sheath.. What a pain this was to finish...but here it is below.. The blade is wootz.This is the largest wootz blade I have made so far..I have three "sword length" pieces that I hammered out from earlier melts (but I need more experience in heat treating this stuff before I am doing a sword length piece...). I have made a bunch of (…

So I like to peen over my pins on knife scales just for added support but my question is how much do I want to have sticking out on each side and is there a better way to peen them over so I don’t bang up my handle scales and make dents in the wood

Just putting the finishing touches on my first knife it might look [bad] but it is my first knife made out of a chunk of railroad track i think it turned out semi decent considering i am self taught but please tell me what I can do better!!!

16 Layer twist damascus made from 1095 and 15N20. The handle is made from padauk. It is 11 3/4 in long and weighs in at 7.73 oz.