dodo knives

Thanks steve! I did try again I made a 30% ferric 70% distilled water then 50-50 that with vinegar. deffitinly a lil more contrast not as much as I video, I did notice when they pull it out its still wet and yeh that would deffinitly make it look different. if you scroll to the end of the video it shows another shot and it looks dry to me there. like I said a lil more contrast but not as much as in that last shot (the one that does look dry) but its deffinitly foggy, everytime I try and get rid of the fogginess I end up taking away the contrast that is there. you have any ideas of either what will get rid of the fogginess without loosing the contrast or just more contrast to start? I have tried several methods of removing the fogginess and keeping the contrast (and its not like there is a lot of contrast to start so I don't want to loose what is there) not much luck with any

steve... good point I didn't dilute the ferric the stuff I used is the pcb etch from radio shack I used that 50/50 with vinegar, to be honest I thought the 30% this is just how it comes because isn't muriatic acid just a dilute of sulfuric or hydrochloric one or the other. so I thought that was the same kinda thing but I will try again what do you think dilute it down to 30% with distilled water then 50/50it with vinegar?? temple hound .....yeh I know I wont get the contrast I could get with say 1084 and 15n2 that's a given but that video shows ALOT more contrast than what I am getting ill try it diluting the ferric then if its still not good ill give sulfuric a try THANKS GUYS

hey guys so I got a couple pieces of damasteel to use for bolsters on a couple folding knives. so I saw a video with todd begg on how to etch it and it came out beautiful. (link to video below). so I heat treated the steel ( even tho I am only using it for bolsters I have read heat treating it will effect the etch. so I followed this video exactly starting with muriatic in a double boiler with the water at 160 deg. put it in there checking as I went. in the video he said it took 2-3 mins and you want it to fully etch one alloy and just start on the other. then I neutralized it and dipped it in a 50/50 mix of ferric and vinegar to darken it. so in the video as I said it came out beauticful I tried it a couple times and it always came out foggy, I did have this problem a couple times with regular carbon Damascus and a quick wipe with 5000 grit sanding pad (the stuff you get in any auto part store) fixed it with regular Damascus but with the dama steel it took away the foddy ness but its still left with not much contrast at all. it keeps coming out like a hologram where you can only see the pattern at the right angles and lights. I tried doing a quick couple passes on the buffer with a clean buff and got the same reults as the 5000 grit sanding pad......any help would really really be appreciated I want a real good contrast as in the video I watched again link below THANKS to any one that can help.....couldn't figure out how to put the link up it keeps putting the video itself on the post sorry

Hey guys so I am getting into folders...did a couple practice prototypes and one complete regular liner lock. so then I tried a flipper using loose bearings like the IKBS system. it cam out ok but doesn't open as easily as it should just by tapping the guard you gotta flick your wrist also to get it to open. I have seen a bunch that don't need that just tap the guard and it fully opens (without a sping) using loose bearings were a pain so the one I am working on now I am using caged bearings pocketed into the titanium liners.....any one have and advice or tips on how to get this to open nice and easily??? I would really appreciate any tips!

thanks Thomas I have heard about Parkerizing but don't know much about it, whats the deal with plating is there a way I could do it at home I thought that kinda thing requires crazy equipment

Hey guys so I am trying to experiment with different coatings and such, I have tried ceracoat wich I like the options everything from black or earth colors even bright colors, however I would like it to be a lil more durable, I had tried that specificly because I figured regular paint would wear and scratch off pretty quick. yes it is more durable than spray paint and more even profeshional look but I wish it was alil bit more durable has any one used this is there any tricks to get it wear less? what about dura coat ?? I haven't tried that is it any better, I also did one or 2 blades cold blue and its ok, I sand blasted one knife, I am just playing around right now and am tring to find some cool finishes/ coatings. I have had a couple people that I had made knives for like the idea of the cera coat but I don't know if I would want to do that and sell it unless I found a way to make it more durable, I guess sand blasting would be the most durable but I only did one blade that way a couple days ago and from what I hear it can make the blade rust and corrode a lot quicker. does any one out there either have any ideas of how to improve with my experimenting or even OTHER coatings or finishes I may not of mentioned ??? just trying to experiment and see different options like I said I have had a couple people say a black blade would look cool and others say colors would look good but right now I cant get it to meet my standards, I have a lil pocket knife made by Kershaw that has some kind of black paint or coating on it and this thing has been abused soo much for years and not even a scratch that's what I am looking for but that may take a whole bunch of equipment that I don't have and is only realistic on a manufacturing level, but any coating or finishes I may not have mentioned and you guys would think its worth trying please let me know ....THANKS GUYS

thanks guys I ended up making it ok could be lil cleaner but it acceptable I ended up getting coper pipe wich was thicker than the brass I was using. I cut it and flattened it out to a flat plate cut out what I needed rolled it back up and brazed it togather then took a square piece and brazed that on the end and ground off all the excess, I think using copper and since it was thicker is what helped

Thanks guys yeh I think I am going to use larger wire, and actually just got home with some copper pipe had the same idea as you Thomas....and no it is not like the cold steel tanto, I have done knives with a similar tip but the handles looked nothing like a Japanese handle.....to be if your going to do it trandionally it should have the curved tip just as a katana or wakizashi would

Hey guys so I have been working on a traditional Japanese tanto ( eventually I am going to work up to a full size katana) I have the blade done the tsuba (guard) the sepa's (spacers) are all done I am having trouble with making the fuchi (the sleve/collar on the front of the wrap) and the kashira (the pommel) I have tried what I saw in a video of creating a thin brass oval the size of the end of the wrap then taking a thin strip of brass and wraping it around the oval piece and brazing. it has been very hard to get these 2 pieces together and lined up before brazing and then even what I have had luck keeping it together with thin coper wire tied around everything keeping it in one place the wire melts while brazing and every thing comes apart I have tried it a couple defend times and at best I got it together but it looks HORIBLE and is impossible to clean everything up and make it look good, any advice tips or other ways of doing this would really really help e out

just seen this thread is still going...i learned exactly what you were saying yesterday i will explain,, so in the past when i show a knife to anyone who ever is around my mother my sister whoever, even when i know there is a flaw in it MOST of the time they don't even notice it but i know its there because number one i put it there i built it i know exactly how everything SHOULD go and when it doesn't i take notice even if no one else will. so yesterday i went to the new York custom knife show (my first time there it was great met a lot of good people and got advice and criticism on some knives of mine i brought with me) anyway one knife i did is completely a "show" knife its a mirror polished dagers with front and rear bolsters. so the front bolsters have a point in the shape of a triangle mimicking the shape of the dagger itself well lets say getting that point to the exact same shape and direction on both front bolsters and getting them mounted PERFECTLY identical to each other was a pain (i actually grinded off the first pair i made) the second pair after a bunch of tweeking were "acceptable" but in my book one side the point points dead center down the blade the other side is off a tiny bit probilly 1/16th of a in MAYBE IF THAT. but let me tell you it has bothered me since i made it. well i was talking to 2 makers at the show and one had 16 years and the other 11 years of making knives i showed them this dagger and asked whats wrong with it they couldn't tell not even after i pointed it out and one said "your being ridiculous the only way any one would know is to sit down for a hour with it with precise measuring tools" so point is exactly what you were saying frosty OUR tolerances for our self can get so high that even another maker that has ALOT more experience than i do cant pick out a mistake that drove me crazy for weeks, i have learned a lot since i started this thread about pricing and realizing that the perfect knife may never exsist and at least for me i gota stop being my own worst critic cause that just gets me stuck and frustrated and then i make even more mistakes

Hey guys so I went to a knife show today tons of fun! but it inspired me to start learning how to do folders. I did some research on this a couple months back and found a ton of info but I put it on hold. so I want to try and do a lner lock. my problem now is I am not sure where to start as far as what stuff I need to order like screws? pivots? titanium? that kida stuff I am confident that if I get what I need that with the reading I have done I will be able to get it togather. so I am wondering if you guys can help me out with a list of supplies I will need to order to be sucesfull at this i assume the titaniu is for the liner? is there any size that is usually used?what about screws? shims? piviots or bearings? am i missing anything......any help would be appreciated i have done some research on this but i don't want to forget anything when i order some stuff well you missed we have an entire section devoted to folders. I will move it for you.

that's what I thought I keep telling him to just save for another couple weeks and get the KMG like be but he has been bitten by the knife making bug as a lot of us did early on and he wants to upgrade from using files asap....steve have you heard of any one using these http://grindermaster.com/#vitrina looks like a kmg clone to me however the price is cheaper and its made in Russia so that's not really a plus I have only heard of it recently so I am wondering if any one has encountered this and know about the quality

Hey guys so I use a KMG grinder but one of my buddies new to knife making is getting a Grizzly 2x72 grinder. so we were wondering about a couple things first can you swap out out platens and maybe even add glass on a grizzly like you can on a KMG??? second on my KMG I have the attachment for small wheel (like 1/4 - a inch or what ever) I use them for tight spaces like finger notches does the Grizzly have any attachments like this???

Hey guys I have had ALOT going on recently not just in knifemaking. a lot of family stuff too so I haven't had time to keep reading this post even the I started it. however I just took the time to read all the posts I hadn't read. All of you gave very good advice and I thank you for that. I tend to think the answer to this question isn't one answer is a blend of many things yeh fix it if you can but some customers might not care or they might even like it as it shows its hand made. and then it can always be a gift for family. so yeh I think its up to me to blend everyone's answer into something that works for me. so again really guys thanks every one had real good advice!

yeh theo I have a pretty large even heat oven ( this one http://www.evenheat-kiln.com/?pg=models&c=17&p=82 ) I only got the hardness tester recently so when I started with the 440c I was stuck to using the brass rod test and other things like that (wich is actually a pretty accurate way of testing you wont know the number but you will know if the blade is too soft or to hard) ialso broke a blade or "coupon" every once in a while to check the grain size. since I got the hardness tester I have been testing the 400c and as I said 2 blades were done is cpms35vn. and since I got the hardness tester I have realized how accurate the spec sheet are. ya know the say do this or do that and they all have a graph wich will show depending on quench temp, temper time and temp what the hardness will be and from my experience so far with the hardness tester is that the spec sheets are very accurate, now for quenching I have parks 50 oil, also some thick aluminum plates for plate quenching (some steels can cool in air) and I also made a lil "enclose" I can use with pressurized air to do positive pressure quenches. about the only thing I cant do right now is salt tank quenching. I also have the liquic nitrogen for cryo, the positive pressure I have only done twice on the cpms35vn (actually it was oil quench for a few seconds and then positive pressure. since with that steel you need both fr the best heat treat) also I have found a lot of stainless has either air or plate quench as a option. and from the testing I have found plate quenching may make the steel SLIGHTLY harder than a oil quench but I did testing on that in the beginning and everything that was plate or air quenched when broken had a much bigger grain size so I would rather use oil. the tougher the alloy of steel the harder you can make it without breaking that's what I was saying I can effectily make cpms35vn harder than I can with 440c. I assume the 154cm will fall in the middle of those 2 normally I would do the testing however its my uncles birthday and I want to make him a blade and the only steel that I have the thickness that I will need for his knife is 154cm so I need to get this knife done soon and don't have the time to do a bunch of testing to see how hard I can make it with out having the edge chip in use. that's what I was asking about how hard can 154cm be made. I think lacking time to test ill shoot for 60HRC hardness and hope for the best