Suppressors Anybody make their own blades?

[JJones75]

I've got the itch to make a couple knives and was wondering if anybody here makes their own , not looking for anything exotic , maybe a nice skinning knife for my father in law and a tanto style for a buddy of mine.

I have a few piececs of D-2 and A-2 steel that i was considering using but was wondering if you guys ent your blades out to be hardened or if you did it yourself

 

[tompdw]

Re: Anybody make their own blades?

I make my own blades. I use leaf springs which I assume is about 1095 steel. I do my own heat treating with my propane forge, a bucket of motor oil and a toaster oven.

 

[Schleifalot]

Re: Anybody make their own blades?

My first blade was made about 25 years ago. Till now I made about 150 knives, mostly for me and for friends.

D2 is a high alloy tool steel with a very narrow temperature window and heating/cooling regimen. If you want a good, fine grained and reliable blade, send it to a good heat treating company, I prefer cryo treatment with D2.
Please do NOT attempt to harden D2 yourself.

A2 is an airhardening medium alloy tool steel. With the right equipment, it can be hardened by yourself.
Reaching the right temperature and holding it for the right amount of time without twisting or bending the blade is paramount.

You can download the datasheets of both steels from the manufacturers, the heat treatment regimen is documented there.

Low alloy steels like 1095, with a little experience, can be hardened and tempered with backyard equipment.

The bladeforums.com is full of info about knive making. Have fun for the next 10 to 15 days of reading into this topic

I send my blades after grinding out from the blanks to a company here in Bavaria. Heat treating with deep cryo and tempering to +- 0,5 HRC costs 8 €uro per blade. For this € I get the best performance possible of my preferred steel.
At testing I put a set into a stainless blade (SB1 steel) at proven 61HRC. Try this with ATS34 or 440C, you get a face full of shards.

Sorry for the rant, but I think you get my point.
After putting a lot of sweat and elbow grease into a knive, please spend the $ for decent heat treatment.

 

[SpenceDaddy]

Re: Anybody make their own blades?

I made my first Knife in Afghanistan in 07... i made it out of armor plate. A lot of time goes into it and can be very frustrating, but i now have it hanging on my wall ^_^ ! as long as you temp and quench it right and in the right stuff you should be fine with any kind of metal..... i would assume... not an expert

 

[JJones75]

Re: Anybody make their own blades?

Well , I don't have the things needed to do a proper heat treat so i'd send it out.

I was thinking on the Tanto blade that I would only bevel one side to make it easier to resharpen , like a chisle

 

[Jim_D303]

Re: Anybody make their own blades?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: JJones75</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Well , I don't have the things needed to do a proper heat treat so i'd send it out.

I was thinking on the Tanto blade that I would only bevel one side to make it easier to resharpen , like a chisle </div></div>

If you do that, it will cut angling towards one side and not straight.

I personally despise blades with single edge sharpening because of this.

 

[SkaerE]

Re: Anybody make their own blades?

emerson CQC7 has a blade like that. supposedly for some self defense reason. i dunno, mine mostly opens boxes. Jim D is right, on long cuts it will pull to one side.

i would suggest a scandi grind. very easy to do at home, incredibly durable, easily sharpened. and doesnt require too much grinding.

read more here:

http://backyardbushman.com/?page_id=13

 

[SkaerE]

Re: Anybody make their own blades?

FWIW a good grinder makes all the difference if you want to make more than a few.

i built this one and it worked great. 2HP variable speed w/2''x72'' belts. it would hog out metal like you wouldnt believe

that being said, i know folks who use files and sandpaper. i just dont have the patience.

 

[oldolds442]

Re: Anybody make their own blades?

d2 and a2 have to be sent out for heat treating go buy some 01 oil quenching tool steel. you can get it a lot of places. build a grinder, too. it makes life easier...