White Fox Forge

I am thinking of converting my table saw to cut steel. It will be super useful in my shop because I do a lot of stock removal. Here is the knife all finished up. The handle is dyed and stabilized oak, dyed and stabilized buckeye burl, purple heart and pine dowel. I found that turning the handle on the lathe in order to drill out the handle is far more accurate than the drill press. I use a four jaw chuck because I can control exactly where the hole is drilled. I am going to sell this along with some other knives tomorrow at a farmers market. Wish me luck!

Thank you for accepting my apology, Frosty. I would prefer No Harm No Foul as I do greatly appreciate your criticism and that you held me accountable. I had no business making excuses. I will definitely check out that book. I have heard good things about it. Could you DM me more info on the table saw you mentioned? I am very curious as to how that would work. Warm regards, Emery

Thank you for your post. I am by no means a master at knife making. I am still learning. If you missed my earlier post i said that i plan on changing my method of cutting out blanks. I also stated that I am working to fix my electrical situation. Perhaps i should not have posted this method as it IS unsafe. From one bladesmith to annother it is greatly appreciated that you called me on my unsafe practice. That being said. It does not justify the manner of your approach. You have attempted to publicly humiliate me by attacking my vocabulary, my intellect and my skill level. Your remark " I suppose you text and drive because other people do it? " was highly innapropriate for the circumstances. To answer your question: No. I would not text and drive. I am not even old enough to legaly drive. There again you assumed something about me. I suggest in the future you DM me if you have an issue with my methods. We can have a civil discussion about making knives without you throwing degrading at me. Please don't misunderstand me. I accept and acknowledge that my post described an unorthodox and unsafe method. Nonetheless it does mean something that someone with your experience has pointed out my mistake. Emery

Frosty: If i rememember correctly I learned this method from Murray Carter; the renowned Japanese blaadesmith. I have also seen others use similar methods, not that this makes it safe or acceptable I have done my research and experimentation. You were correct in that I feed the material into the blade however I am cutting up large saw blades which allows me to keep my fingers away from the blade. The blade itself is a 7/64" × 14 inch abraisive wheel. The gloves I use are heavy duty cut proof industrial grade Kevlar gloves designed to stop cuts and abrasion. The gloves really work. They stop the blade without cutting me and I have had several incidents where they have saved me, big time. To respond to your statement about the angle grinder, yes I do know how to use one and am very skilled in it use. That was what I first used when I started making knives. I stopped using it because I kept using up blades too fast when I was cutting the hardened steel saw blades not of my "lacking of skills" as you put it. In this situation it seems a little low and unfounded to assume that someone that makes knives cannot operate an angle grinder. I do use used motor oil as that is what I have available. It works well for me and I know countless others use it as well. Not everyone has access to commercial grade quenching oils such as Parks 50 or whatever you use for quenching. Don't be too harsh on people because you don't know their situation or the journey they have traveled to get to the spot they are at. I appreciate the concern that, although blunt and bounderish, it had good intent. Best of wishes, White Fox Forge

I completely agree with you. I wear Kevlar gloves every time I use it. Still won't completely stop accidents but will at least keep my finger on. I was just talking to my buddies dad about rewiring my shop to 220. In my research it would easily be over $1000 but he said it should be about half of that. I hope to get it rewired soon. Thanks for thr concern! Cheers! Emery

I glued it all up yesterday evening and the next step is shaping. I am excited to see gow it turns out.

I do have a plasma cutter but I don't have enough electricity to run it without tripping my circuit breaker.

Hi guys, These are some kitchen knives I have been working on for the past week. I thought I would post them and my process. I start with cutting out the pattern on some saw blades. I use saw blades that are made from 8670. I cut them out using a 14 inch chop saw. I use it almost the reverse way you use an angle grinder. I hold the saw blade and push it into the blade. DO NOT TRY THIS!!! I only do it this way because it saves me a ton of money by not having to buy angle grinder disks and because it is 3x or 4x faster. I have almost lost several fingers to this machine. From there I profile and bevel on my 2x72 belt grinder leaving about .040 thou on the edge. Next is heat treating in my kiln. I heat 8670 to 1450°f and then quench in heated motor oil. After this the blades go into two 2 hour tempering cycles at 400°f. I grind the blades vertically (blade pointed down) by hand from this stage to ensure a consistent cutting edge. It gives me absolute perfect geometry and a good finish off the grinder. You can see the way the grit scratches run on the bevel of the blade how I grind. I am preparing the handle material for glue up. To ensure a perfectly centered handle I drill them on the metal lathe. Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I will keep y'all updated! Emery from White Fox Forge

Thank you, Irondragon. The blade edge ended up being a little thicker than I wanted. I am nervous grinding a thin edge post H.T. It still is sharp but not as refined as I would like.

This is my latest blade. It is my first Japanese kitchen knife with a wa style handle. The blade is forged from a recycled saw blade (8670) and the handle is buckeye burl and triple dyed oak. Both are stabilized.

Just thought I should add. I made a kitchen knife and used the layout fluid to trace the pattern. It was a little pale and transparent for my taste but still did the job. This could have been how I applied it or the amount of dye I added. I think I will add more dye next time. It withstood me grinding with a used belt and not dipping in water to cool it so I am also impressed in that respect.

Huh. I'll have to try that recipe too. Thanks. Hope this helped. Let me know how it works for you.

Thank you for the encouragement. I am not sure about alcohol and instant coffee. Maybe as a form of beverage for some. Jokes aside I am not certain on the affects on steel. The shellac acts as a resin to hold the dye on the steel. I would give it a try tho. Who knows, maybe it'll work better than this recipe. I may try that myself after these batches run out. Thanks again. White fox forge

I used Sunnyside denatured alcohol which runs about $13 a quart. The shellac is about $20 a quart for the name brand but I'm sure you could find some generic for half the price. The dye I bought from Tandy and I had it on hand anyway. This is enough to make at least twice the amount of layout fluid for the price of dykem plus you can color it or water it down to the consistency you want. That being said I think most metalworking, or knife makers have these ingredients on hand or could purchase some easily. It took me 5 minutes to prepare and I am probably mostly going to use it for lathe work and laying out patterns on knives. I use scrap knife blanks that I have made for templates to scribe the design on. I've tried spray paint before and I didn't have the best luck. This could have been due to the fact it was walmart generic spray paint. Thank you for the recommendation anyway. For me this recipe works wonderfully and I just thought I'd share. White Fox Forge

About a week ago I was out making a knife for a family member and the sharpie I was using as layout fluid kept smudging so i couldnt see my scribe lines. It was quite frustrating so I decided to make my own layout fluid. I did some research and watched a couple YouTube videos. From what information I could gather it seems that most layout fluids are made from alcohol and a sort of lacquer. This is the recipe i found to work the best: 4 oz of denatured alcohol. 2 oz of Bullseye shellac. 1/4 oz of Feibing's Royal Blue Pro leather dye. Of course you could use other colors or even different dies but this is what i had on hand. I am not sure how it withstands heat however I do know that it is extremely water resistant. I apply a thin coat of it with a paintbrush and let it dry for 10 minutes. It is imperative that you wash the paintbrush out afterwards to avoid ruining the bristles. Let me know if this helps! Cheers! White Fox Forge

I am in the process of making a waste oil burning foundry. This is how far I am. My design Is fairly simple. I got the design from a fellow on YouTube and a user of this forum so it is not my own design. I made it out of some pipe that I had laying around and brass fittings. I believe It is basically an fuel injector. Are there any flaws so far that anyone can see? Cheers! Emery White

I have 3 cats for my shop. Mostly used for mousing in my hay barn. They like to hang around the shop when I forge. The orange one is Nigel Abudhabi, the grey one is Chaka and the brown one is Whiskey.

Woah! That looks awesome! I like the design. It looks nice. White Fox Forge

I made a edc/hunting knife for my buddy. Not its intended purpose for him. Just something for him to carry around. It is made from 8670 steel, has a brass guard, leather, deer antler and dyed oak handle. Got it HT to. Around 59 Rc as far as I can tell. The other is a skinning knife I made for myself. It is also out of 8670 and has a wrought iron guard, leather, cocobolo and elk antler handle. Cheers! Emery White