Hi everyone,
Inspired by the great knife I purchased from the talented @mick91 Ive decided to try my hand at knife making, Ive been slowly putting togther a samll workshop in the old garden shed.
Its been a steep learning curve so far with constant runs, mid process from the shed back to the WIFI haven of the house to watch Youtube clips.
Anyway, here is where I am at, I want to use this thread as a full WIP with lots of images of the different stages, please forgive the crappy mobile phone images!
First step was to draw up the knife design, I wanted a Full flat grind dropoint with a good handle length, primary usage was to be bushcraft. I went with a 3 pin design plus lanyard tube. I also decided on a Finger Groove (something I soon learnt to regret! :cursing: )
I marked out the design on a length of 4mm O1 Tool steel, then started to cut out using hacksaw and angle grinder (without setting my shed on fire with the sparks!)
I started to file out the finger groove using a Metal file...... at this stage I wondered if adding a large finger groove was a mistake for a first time knife maker, trying to get a clean and correctly rounded groove was a nightmare!
A clean up and smoothing of the edges using my grinder
Nail punching guides for the pins
Then onto the drill press to add pin holes and additional holes to lighten the weight
And this is where I am currently up to. Im going to add a few more weight reducing holes.
So far its been a really cool and exciting process, ive played around at grinding freehand using my small grinder on some spare steel... im making a small grinding jig to help me out with that!
Next stage is heat treating, I considered sending the blades off for heat treating but I really want to embrace the full process. Im making a two brick forge which should be completed over the coming weekend.