Knife making Class General Class Discussion

I'm no knife maker, made a couple over the years and they turned out just fine but it's not really my thing.I was asked almost two years ago to make a particular knife for one of my kids and I agreed to have it done when he comes home. He'll be home in 6 weeks and I get 3 more days in the shop maybe a couple more before he gets home. Knife is a through tang, the handle is mild steel, guard and pommel are also steel. What epoxies will work to bed the tang into the handle? I've heard jb weld and G flex epoxies mentioned in searching for an answer but that was in regards to scales I believe. Would they work just a well of used to bed the tang in the handle? Was going to pien…

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1236092261850560&set=a.534021302057663 Course will be taught September 8-10 in Washington, AR 8am-5pm. Hope to see you there. (870) 777-5722 [email protected] uaht.edu/bladesmithing

hey guys, i have this uncontrollable urge to grind some knife blades out of used lawn mower blades. just because i have enough to get in some good practice. i know, mystery steel, but this will be good practice for me and i can learn something from using this stuff while grinding and heating and so forth. so, my question is; any does or don'ts or if you have had experience using this metal , any good pointers??? any advice will be most welcome. i don't expect super knives, but some of these blades throw nice sparks,(high carbon). buzz:D

Good evening from SW Michigan! I have been selling my creations on Etsy, numerous things, including my take on RR Spike knives. On all of the spike knives I sell, I include this description and disclaimer: "Railroad spike knives are novelty items-spike steel is soft (in comparison to knife steel) and won't keep an edge under regular use." A potential buyer asked this: "Hi, I love this Railroad spike knife...and would love to buy it. One question --- any way you can put a serrated edge on the blade? I would like to buy one....use and inspect it...and then buy 7 more to use a steak knives for our outdoor dining. If not, how long will the blade stay shar…

¹Hello. Hope you are all well. I've got a couple of quick questions for the person who knows and isn't stuck on grumpy. ( or can't control it) 1 To forge how do I hold a pice of round nearly welded, started at 2" round cable, that is only about 4" long. I have a set of tongs and the v on the tips that gets a little smaller or bigger. I also have an 16-18" channel locks but they don't go far enough in on my little Wal-Mart forge. I'm forging on a railroad so space is limited. 2if I can see a very slightlyunwelded middle in a piece of cable I'm working on that's round, I can still forge it out right? Pre hardened can always be improved right? Bad pictures in nex…

For this post I define "spine side" and "edge side" as it relates to grinding a knife blade. If the abrasive (flap disk or belt sander) is moving from the spine toward the cutting edge, I would call this "spine side" If the abrasive (flap disk or belt sander) is moving from the cutting edge toward the spine, I would call this "edge side". In my opinion the "spine side" is safer because it's almost impossible for the abrasive to bite into or grab the blade and throw it at high speed. In the "edge side" mode, too much pressure or wrong angle of attack could force the blade to cut into or grab the abrasive belt of flap disk with unpredictable/dangerous…

So I just tried to make my first billet of damascus, and after only two heats the handle broke off. I had beveled the edges and welded it solid the whole way around to the billet, so I was pretty sure it would hold. Unfortunately it came apart on one side and peeled apart the layers it was still attached to, so my billet was ruined. Any tips to keep the handle on longer?

Hi All, I'm 4 yrs. in as a knifesmith. I have taken a liking to the Brut de Forge style, but I am having trouble using a vertical jig (I'll have to make a wider tool rest). I'm thinking of making a file jig. Question... Any ideas on how I can hold the knife flat, so so I can make an even bevel? I was thinking of a notch of some sort. Has anyone tried to make a jig for this style of knife? Thank you ahead for any ideas or pictures.

Debi has been working on building an adjustable knife grinding jig for a while now. I helped her with some of the grunt work like filing, drilling and tapping some holes etc. Finally got it finished today. I donated two old cast iron file handles and it looks pretty good and works like a charm. Knife attached Adjusted for cutting edge grinding. Need I say, I'm proud of her for all the work she did on it. She found the steel in our resource pile and did all the cutting to shape, layout of the holes drilled & tapped etc.

Greetings, after a long time lurking on this forum, I finally decide to post, unfortunately because I have a problem. I am trying to reproduce a dagger from a movie as a Christmas gift, and as I was grinding it, I discovered many, many marks on the blade. I managed to grind a lot of them while maintaining a homogeneous thickness, but there are parts where I just cannot get rid of them. I used a brush before and after working the hot blade, and always wiped the anvil to remove the scales, yet it is still badly damaged. Is there any solutions to fix this issue ? Should I put it back in the forge to try to correct it, or is it irredeemable ? I am a beginn…

I have been forging for over 30 years now, and started out making knives, though I kind of got away from making knives as time has gone by. Most of my knives were forged to shape and finished with file/ sandpaper. I didn’t have a grinder that was really suitable and thus never got the grinding bit down. Eventually I did add, not one, but several belt grinders to my ever expanding arsenal of tools. Some years ago I mentioned my clumsiness at grinding to one of the smiths visiting my shop and was informed that Gil Hibben was right down the road and he could show me a few things. I called and got myself invited over, and got the tour. I explained that grinding was giving me…

Is it possible to use engine lifters in knife forging? Maybe using for Canister Damascus. Thoughts?

3 days in rust acid removal I believe fosforic and this is happening on 4 blades some are broken in half but before acid bath nothing to be seen xxx???

I am new to this forum so be nice. I am in the midst of buying and reselling old kitchen knives, old forged blades by various makers. I bought this Nicholson and Bellota 12" Knife Blanks Made in USA and Spain NEW . The vendor says it is 1095 with rockwell hardness of 62-65 ! I know this is hard and all I use right now is a HF 1x30 belt sander with belts from red label ? Can this be shaped as is but slowly. I think she said it .125 thick I guess it make a BIG chef's knife, I'm also thinking maybe a paring knife but how do i cut it-cut off wheel ? Thanks for any help Mike

I decided to try forge welding a billet (1095 and 15N20) for a blade without using flux. I have some kerosene, so I chose to soak the stack in kerosene after arc welding the stack together and also arc welding a short bar on the stack to grab with tongs. I'm using a propane forge, btw. The initial weld went fine. I had a solid billet with no apparent delaminations or dark lines as it cooled. After drawing it out, I hot cut the billet in the middle (leaving only a thin layer uncut), brought it back up near forge welding temperature, used my butcher brush vigorously on the mating surfaces, and folded it back on itself. I brought it up to welding heat and attempte…

So guys this is my sparks of leaf springs from Yugoslavian car named zastava 101 so your opinion on sparks test about steel type?

Hey everyone, As I'm in lockdown here down under for another month I recently decided to give blacksmithing a crack! Something I've always wanted to do but never had the time to. I've run into a lot of setbacks in my first 2 weeks or so and was hoping to get some advice on what I could do better / how to do things. I tried forging a knife from a billet of 1075 steel I purchased (dimensions 3.2 x 38 x 200mm (0.125 x 1.5 x 8″)). It is quite a thin piece and the idea was that I try draw out a tang and then go on to shape the rest of the blade (was aiming for a Tanto style blade). I'll provide pictures of what it ended up like but I initially began by just hitting a…

I’m just now getting back into blacksmithing after four months of PT. I had a wrecked right shoulder and recovery from surgery had been slow and difficult. I feel good enough to wield a hammer now and decided to come back in grand style. I’ve had several successes doing regular Damascus, but I decided to try a canister. I TIG welded up a 2”x2”x4” canoe, 1/8” thick walls, painted it with White Out, and filled it with spring coil segments from a garage door spring, cut nails, some hurricane shutter screws, and powdered steel. When I picked it up, I immediately knew I probably made it too big for my coal forge. I accidentally burned off one side of the canoe…

Hey everyone, so far I’ve been using pretty decent sized chunks of leaf spring, or pre bought and rolled knife steel (1095, 1.5x12”, 1/4” thick). I am starting to forge weld and get into Damascus. First couple billets will be a combo mild steel and spring steel, all 1/8-1/4” and all about 2.5” long. My question is roughly, how big of a billet would I need to make a 8” full tang drop point? That’s total length btw not an 8” blade. just trying to wrap my head around how many layers I would need to do once I get the confidence to step up to 1095 and 15n20 billets

I am new to the forum so forgive me if I post this question in the wrong category. I have a knife I forged from coil spring and when I quenched it in oil it would not get hard. After three attempts I tried water and the blade was still easy to cut with a file. I saw a couple of sparks shoot off the blade once during the forging process. Do you think I over heated the blade and caused this problem?

I’m getting ready to attempt my first canister Damascus billet. I have an eight inch mild steel can with a bottom welded on. I spent way too much time cleaning enough old rusty nails to fill the inside. I have 1095 powder to fill in the gaps. My questions are... What would be a good way to keep nails away from the cutting edge? Would 1084 powder be a better choice? Would I be better off using less pieces of bigger steel for my first can? Any other tips/tricks would be greatly appreciated.

In the past I've bought pry bars from harbor freight because it's cheap flat stock. I know it's hardenable because it skates a file but I've wondered if the steel is even good quality steel for knives. Is it fine to use or am I better off buying a known steel?

I have recently started making Damascus billets and in some of my research ive heard "you have to have compatible metals". I don't really understand what makes two different steels compatible for forge welding. Mainly I'd like to know what I can use out of my scrap pile (since im a farmer with 4 generations worth of scrap). I have tried an old duck foot shovel, ( basically a hoe for plowing ground ) with a stainless saw blade. These haven't really been working and I'm not sure if it's my ability to forge weld or if it's the materials. Thanks.

When I started out making Damascus I failed for 8 times. It was frustrating, but now I can make it consistently. To save you some trouble and to help you start with Damascus I’ll describe my process. I'm sure there are other ways, but this one works for me. Preparation: 1. Get 2 contrasting steels. I mostly use O2 and 15N20. O2 will turn out black as it’s a plain carbon tool steel, 15N20 has some nickel in it which will resist the acid and turn up bright. The more nickel or chrome content, the brighter it will be after etching. 2. When starting out, I recommend not going bigger than a total of 7 layers. Max measurements would be 80x30x4 mm per layer. 3…

Hello, I am very new to blacksmithing. I have only shaped a few things with a hammer and have made a stock removal knife. I am curious about how difficult it would be to upset 1/8 flat stock. I have an 11.6 inch by 1.5 inch by 1/8 inch piece of flat stock to learn to make knives with. I decided to make some small knives first to get the hang of it and to save money. I made a knife that I am fairly happy with but wanted to try to give a bit more handle to the next knife. With limited supply I thought making 2 knives from each piece of steel saves money and gives me more practice. So I have a 6 inch piece leftover from the last knife but wanted to try to give it…