Knife Making Class 101

Book: Introduction to Knifemaking by Steve Sells. A portion of the money from every sale made through the I Forge Iron site, goes to the support of this website. This book started as a request for a rewrite of the knife chat series from 2009 through 2013. The result is "Introduction to Knifemaking" A 6 x 9 inch format soft bound book, with 209 pages and over 100 black and white illustrations and photo's. The list price for this book is $29.99. Hard cover is available for $47.99 plus postage. Click the link below

Please feel free to post questions in the threads. Steve and Rich will answer as soon as they can, and may even include them in future lessons. These tutorials are a part of an ongoing online chat for learning how to make blades. 100 Series is for begining blade working, start there to learn then basic skills of knife making.. 200 series is about advanced blade techniques. The section assumes a reasonable level of skill in making blades, and knowledge of forge welding, If you are just starting, first you must learn to get 100% solid forge welds all of the time. Also be aware there will be many things in this section this may not mean much until after you have lea…

I know files have been used many, many times for making knives and other edged tools. Here's my main questions, 1. For using a single cut mill file, do you need to grind off the teeth before forging or can you just flatten them with the hammer? I know we'd want to avoid cold shuts or stress concentrations creating cracks during the heat treat. 2. What would you quench in? I'm thinking to make a crook knife and a carving adze (the kind you lash onto a branch handle). I've made a few knives successfully from a table saw blade with stock removal and a heat treat, and done some other beginner forge work but that's about it.

I've been messing around with making a few small things here and there since I'm still getting my feet wet, and, inevitably, I wanted to hammer out a few knives. Despite all the warnings I've heard of making knife-shaped objects, I'm a firm believer in there being no greater teacher than failure. Here's the one I've been working on and off on for the past couple of weeks. One of the biggest annoyances I've had with forging out blade blanks is that when forging the edges to a rough shape, it inevitably causes more material to build up around the edges by some distance, leaving the center area of the flat thinner, enough such that it takes a very, very lon…

Greetings all, been gone a long time. So I'm having a reoccurring issue. I'm making a laminate blade using an edge steel of high carbon, clad in 15n20, and that is clad in wrought iron. I'm on episode 3 of explicatories and thought I'd ask some of you beautiful minds. First attempt was using an edge bar of 1095 and it went great until the temper where the edge bar split down the spine as shown here. Next attempt I used an edge bar of 1084 and everything looked really good. I started hollow grinding the edge and found this. I noticed it was only on one side of the blade so I began chasing the crack trying to get past them. So my question is.. wha…

Hi All, I'm working on a billet of damascus for the first time I was wondering if anyone had tips for how to best draw it out by hand? Anything helps.

Would anyone know of classes or anyone willing to give some one on one classes in CA? I’m in Pasadena CA, hard to find anything really.

Hello, I'm currently making my first knife. For the stock I used an old farriers rasp. I first annealed the rasp and then quenched the tang and break it to see if it's worth using the material for a blade. It broke easily. So I will heat treat it like 1090/1095. here a picture to get the size of the knife (40x165 mm / 1.5 x 6.5 inch, 4,5mm/0,177 inch thick). The shape is inspired from the "Chunky Monkey" shape of YT Simple Little Life. I want to use the knife for cooking. The rough shape I did with an angle grinder and a 3x21 belt grinder. I did the bevels with a hand file and a jig. I removed the deep scratches with an orbital sander (80 gri…

hello people, greetings from Puerto Rico, I have a question, I don't know how to stretch the material, or how to make it wider, for example, if I want to make a wide blade to mince meat, I don't know how to forge it so that it stays wide, I don't know what hammer to use or for what direction to hammer I hope you can help me thank you very much

10:00 PM Rich Hale Thanks also to all the regulars here for letting us take over the room for this hour WE have covered how to make and install a couple of styles of guards in past sessions. WE did a hidden tang with a slid on guard, And a pair of bolsters last week, Remember that all of the lessons are posted in the forum under knife making. you can view them and pose questions in those threads. Tonight we will talk about slotted guards, To prepare for this type of guard the full tang blade has to have a slot cut before heat treat about the fuzzy pic I did not look close at it till today and the scales are on that knife now Several things to see in this f…

I made this knife from mild steel just to get some practice. The blade is pretty rough though. I cleaned the mill scale off the anvil between heats but the knife still ended up rough, there is pitting and other marks too that may be from mill scale on the anvil, but imp not sure. Maybe i need to be aware of new scale that falls on the anvil as i forge? Please let me know what you think, any pointers would be welcome.

I am brand new to forging/blacksmithing having just lighted my forge for the first time 2 days ago. So far I've made a few leaf keyrings, but today I wanted to try something different. I got some railroad spikes off of ebay, so I threw one in the forge and started heating it up. After about an hour and a half I had what I think is a decent start to a small camp knife. First Forged Knife by Andrew Marjama, on Flickr I forged the bevels in as best I could. Next I had to go to harbor freight and pick up a cheap $50.00 1 x 30 belt grinder. I've never had one before, always working with angle grinders when welding. I'd LOVE to get a 2x72 but they are …

So first of all, any assistance appreciated. Starting on forging knives. I took a couple of glasses with a bladesmith on a coal forge and am hooked. I have a single burner propane forge that works well, a decent anvil, some hammers and tongs and grinders (both bench and angle). Its the bare minimum but I think it will work. The first knife I made was a railroad spike knife. As will the next 10 be, since I bought 10 "HC" spikes. Yes, I know they are not the best steel but its what I know and I can play with to get a better idea of how to work steel. I'm sure I could find better 'free' steel and will later. A few questions: How thick of a piece of…

Not sure if this is the right site to post this (it not being forged) so sorry if this is the wrong place. I started my first knife today; my own design (by which I mean I didn’t copy something off the internet- obviously it is influenced by common knife shaped and such). I only finished the blank, but what do y’all think of the profile so far?

Others certainly have posted on this approach but I thought it would be fun to remind newer smiths that not all PW work requires tack welding the stack and tack welding on a rebar handle. The process for making San Mai (3 layer - 1018/1084/1018) and Go Mai (5 layer - 1018/15n20/1084/15n20/1018)) PW blades without a welding machine begins with tying the stack together by wrapping it with steel wire. Tightening the wires is done by twisting with a pair of needle nose plier (middle picture) I keep one outer layer of the 1018 at a 3ft length (top picture) to serve as a carrying bar for the initial heating, fluxing, tacking, and forge welding. Works great. When the stac…

IMG_0437.MOV Hi can anyone help me with my canister making please. I’ve made a billet of 1085 powdered steel and this time I’ve just used fish hooks I’ve used ball bearing 5mm in the past but have had similar issues . I’ve used a coke forge and got the can up to temp then hand set it turning it onto each edge and hammering it down to what felt very solid . When I’ve opened it up about an inch and a half at either end is perfect but I get this in the middle every time can someone please tell me what I’m doing wrong thank you all in advance David IMG_0437.MOV IMG_0436.MOV

Hello everyone. Has anyone ever heard of a book called "Ed Fowler's Knife Talk, The Art & Science Of Knifemaking"? I've happened upon this book for free and picked it up. I've skimmed it and it seems a reliable resource so I was just wondering if anyone had came across this book as well and what your thoughts are on it. Thanks in advance for any input I haven't delved into the book just yet. I'll post a pic of it once I get somewhere with better service.

Good day all----a general question if I may. And if it has been previously discussed, sorry!!! Over the years I have acquired a number of "vintage" logging hand saws---the big ones !! some marked some not .I have a few blade ideas in mind, wondering if these might provide good material-----YES, I know back in the day quality was all across the board-----just wondering IN GENERAL what success there has been in using these old logging saws. Further, if care is taken (temp wise) is further heat treating needed. Thanks in advance !!!

Heyas folks, Any suggestions on what type of steel I should use for a 5.5" Scandinavian grind Bushcraft knife (simple heat treat)? Cheers! Nick

Tonight I will talk about sharpening.... And of course that is all dependant on the type of steel and how it is heat treated. Think about a couple of uses for blades. One a machete Other a box cutter blade. Machete needs to flex and hack and chop. Box cutter slices,,if you flex it it will break. You could get both of those from real similar types of blade steel. But the heat treat would differ a lot, Same with a straight razor,,real hard,,keeps a real nice edge,,,will break if flexed I have terms I better cover. The angle of this file to the blade will give what I call a course edge Think machete Now I have changed the angle a lot so i…

I was just digging through one of my old tool boxes out in my shed. Needless to say I found myself some re bar and a piece of 3/8 inch steel. Commonly found in welding shops (3/8 inch steel). Now I know I could make a blade out of the 3/8 inch. But before I waste that, the re bar that I have. It is in small 1 foot sections. I have about 4 or 5 pieces of it. So I figure that would be enough to get me started on certain projects. But I know Id like to start practicing with bladesmithing. How ever I have watched several you tube videos, with individuals making re bar knives. Some of them actually turned out pretty decently. But I've also read that making a re bar…

Rich Hale Lets start with materials and quality of work. Keeping in mind that it is your shop, and you make the rules and can change them whenever you wish. If you make cheap knives, you will sell cheap knives,,, That simple; Excellence is a decision. Talent is not necessary for excellence; Persistence is necessary for excellence. If you wish to make real nice knives, decide at some point wot is the worst thing you will allow to leave your shop, and if you do that, look at each piece before it leaves and see if it meets your expectations. A knife is an assembly of pieces.Hopefully each part will complement the others. I like to have a plan in my head or on paper…

Ok, this is my first post I became a member because I am new to smithing and need some tips. I'm 14 and I just bought a 3"x 60" belt sander with a grinding wheel and made a diy jig for grinding bevels on knives. I also just forged my first knife out of spring steel and did a hollow grind for the bevel because it was kind of thick. Well, the platform on my sander to put the jig on does not go down to the wheel for doing hollow grinds. I attached some pictures. Does anybody have any tips on how to do hollow grinds freehand. Because I ended up with waves in my bevel and looks kind of bad. (If the sander pictures are confusing the arm tilts back for the wheel to be exposed.) …

I've been getting a friend into blacksmithing, and they seem really interested. I spent today with them showing them how things work, and they even forged a little leaf. They are really ancy to get into knifemaking, but I've been holding out for them to get at least the basics down before they start. My question is, what should I have them do? How many leaves, hooks, punches, tongs, etc should they make before they get to try a knife? How fast should they be able to forge these?

So when I am putting the tang onto a billet I am running into the issue of a dip on both sides the knife where the tang starts. Almost like it is buckling inward. Not sure what is causing it. You can see it somewhat in the attached photo. I used an old beat up billet to practice some stuff on. Could it be I am not drawing the metal out enough before starting the tang?