just finished this up today. got the steel from home depot (labeled carbon steel) annealed it in my brakedrum forge, filed and sanded it all by hand. hardened it in old motor oil and heat treated it on the stove. back of the blade got to purple, blade was light straw to straw. handle is poplar and the pins are brass. "polished" it best i could, 600 grit was the smallest grit i could find and i dont have a buffer or any buffing compound.

this could not have been possible without visiting this forum extensively as a visitor, joined today to say thank you to the community and share what i have done with the advice i took off of the many pages of tutorials and helpful advice.

i will try to post them in order of process




I hope to improve and again, thank you guys for making this possible

That work is nice enouigh that you should use a knife grade steel from now on......Pick a simple steel like 1084,,,5160 ,,,something that heat treats just like yoiu tried with this one...I do not have my color heat sensing glasses on now so hard to tell, but a wild gues is the blade out of the forge looks a littel hot to quench,,But you can tell when it is right for sure,,that temp on knfe steel is the point where it will not stick to a magnet, sneak up with the heat until youi get there..memorize the color...by the time you test with magnet it will cool a bit,,bring it up to the right color and into some oil heated to 110f or so,,measure the oil temp ahead of heating the blade...After quench a file should kind of skate across the blade if it is hard enough. After that happens into the oven for a half hour or so at abouit 375,,check with a file,,if it still skates it goes back in oven another half hour,,,If the file cuts it easy harden it again. And home depot does not sell any steel with enoiugh carbon to make a knife.........I like your work,,keep it up!

the flash on the camera made it look brighter that it was in real life, brought it up to temp that a magnet wouldnt stick and turned off the forge and set the steel back in and let it cool overnight to soften it. i didnt want to spend the extra $$ to get better steel for my first attempt at knifemaking. i will next time tho for sure! after i hardened it in oil, i tested with a file. I really appreciate the feedback! thank you

if you understand what Rich said, you're years ahead of other novices. I read this thread a few times before I decided not to comment further because I don't know what you two are talking about.

If you would like a little help stop by my place in Glendale for a few hours and we can go over wot ever you wish...Or I will jus tdo wot I do and you can observe or help me!

That is a beautifull knife - and really nice "first try"

That's a good looking first knife. You should be proud of the effort you put into it. However, "carbon steel" from Home Depot is almost certain to be either A36, which may be hardenable in oil if you're very lucky, or 1018, which won't harden in oil at all. If you did manage to harden that blade, put it down to serendipity.

I second the advice to get yourself some real blade steel. Heat treating is among the most critical skills to learn if you want to make knives, and practicing on A36 won't teach it to you.

all steels are "carbon steels" what you want are HIGH Carbon Steels for blades What the big box stores generally sell is A36 which is not knife grade by any stretch of the imagination!

As you should be able to get steel that is suitable for knives for *free* I don't understand how *buying* is cheaper?

I sure wish you had asked us about the metal before you spent that effort on it! That's a really good job of finishing for a first knife!

I have a friend, Ellen, who's a smith in Apache Jct I could send some knifegrade steel to her and you could arrange to pick it up.

Keep a look out for old files at garage sales and fleamarkets---never pay over a dollar for one as you are not buying it to file but to make knives from.

As soon as you improvise an anvil you can really make use of found steels like coil springs (around 5160) or track clips (1050) while files are up towards 1% carbon!

Thomas, some of the files I've had tested have run 1.2%-1.3% C! (The modern Nicholsons do appear to be 1095 with a dash of chromium, though.)

Yah; I have a drawer full of the old "Black Diamond" files from when they were still 1.2%. Just the thing to juice up a billet that's running a bit low!

Glad I stocked up when I lived in OH as I haven't seen any out this way that I recall

If you have a vague idea what type you have to begin with, you can always do some sampling. i.e. cut small pieces off and make them a wedge shape. After this, follow what you think will be the HT recipe. Then do some stress testing. You should be able to figure it out after a little trial and error.

Great first knife even if it is mild steel. Sometime just going throught the motions to start is a big help. I agree with the others though..... you should def get some good knife steel and go at it. You can aquire spring steel (5160) pretty easily if you have a scrap yard in your area. I sometime go to the off road shock shop down the road and the guys working there let me go through there scrap pile. One successfull visit to either should set you up with enough spring steel for a while. Keep up the good work!!

Thomas.. I have not seen Ellen for a long time,tell her I said hello,,A wonderful person!

well, obviously i am a noob, but going through the motions was a nice first step, i feel confident that my next will be better AND knife grade, not just knife shaped.

Thomas Powers and Rich Hale, if you could PM me the contact info i would greatly appreciate it!

Looks good man :) I like the shape of the blade and the nice "mora/frost" style grind.

where do you live Sonoran? i work in a welding shop in Cave Creek (n. of phoenix) and we get all sorts of scrap coil and leaf springs that i rescue every time.