Just finished my first knife

[veezer]

I figured I would try my hand at knife making. After watching countless hours of YouTube, I ordered some O1 tool steel, brass pin stock and some micarta grips. I didn't have any fancy knife tools. I mainly used a grinder and hand files to do all the work. I made a filing jig courtesy of Gough customs video and had at it. I decided to parkerize the steel when I was finished to give the steel a durable finish that looked good.

I bought a small belt grinder about half way through and found that it is a real good way of screwing things up. I think I will stick to files for the final finish next time.


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[jeo556]

Just finished my first knife

Kudos brother, thats pretty bad ass if you ask me. Nice size and looks great. You should be proud of that!

How much time and money of you have into that? I'd love to try one myself.

 

[Cstanm70]

Wow that looks great. Well done sir

 

[Name Enough]

Congrats on your first knife. This is something I want to get into and we have an excellent supply store here in Houston. I am retired and have the time to take my time.
Here is my last purchase:
CRKT Sakimori - Designed by James Williams

 

[Fuzzy Bunny]

Looks good. What did you do about a heat treatment to harden the steel?

 

[veezer]

I built a small forge using insulating bricks and a propane torch. You can find it on YouTube if you look up micro forge or search for Gough custom and then look for his video on how he built a similar forge. After heating to a non magnetic state, I plunged it in peanut oil and then put it in the oven at 400 degrees for an hour. According to the paperwork that came with the steel, that should have hardened it close to 60 Rockwell.


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[veezer]

As for costs: The steel was about $25 for a 16" long piece of 3/16" x 1.5" O1 steel from McMaster Carr which is enough for a few more knives. I bought a few bolts for a couple of dollars and used plywood I had laying around for the filing jig. Bought a few files for around $30. The insulating bricks were around $35 shipped for 3. Sandpaper that I already had on hand. $6 for peanut oil. The grips were around $6 and the brass pins were around $3 for a 1' piece.

So there is a small investment to get started but you can use all those items multiple times.

It took me about a week to do it just working here and there. The longest time spent was grinding the initial shape with a crappy grinder and hand files and then filing the initial bevel took probably 1.5 hours. Mainly it took so long because I had to figure a lot of things as I went. Yesterday I spent about an hour grinding out 3 neck knife designs and about 4 hours filing the initial bevels in the blades and sanding them down to 220 grit. After that is finished it doesn't take long at all.

If you guys are interested, I will look up the YouTube videos that helped the most and post the links.


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[Rob.308]

great job on that one!

 

[Eblade2004]

Nice looking knife! This has been on my list of things I want to do "someday" for years.

 

[fx77]

Excellent start..U have skills !

 

[Jerrrrstanley]

I just finished my first and started number 2. I am using 1095 steel. I am amazed at how good of an edge a homemade knife can take. I have got lucky twice now with my hardening and temper so Im going to keep doing what I'm doing!
You're knife looks great and it looks like it will be razor sharp too!!! Did you make the handles yourself or buy them? Keep making knives and keep posting pictures!

 

[veezer]

I bought micarta slabs and contoured them. I watched some videos on making your own micarta but that stuff is really cheap and I don't have to make a mess and fill my basement with resin fumes.


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[veezer]

Here are a few videos that helped me get started:

Mini Forge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMuCId2Uo6U

Filing Jig


How to heat treat a Knife Blade


Three River Blades has alot of good how to's and advice. Here is one on how to do a full flat grind with a sanding belt.

 

[Donr13]

cool knife

 

[nissantech]

That looks awesome and would love to get into it. I know it takes a lot of time and energy. The investment looks low also. What will your next knife look like? What are you going to use the knife for?

 

[veezer]

Here are a couple I finished recently. The two outside have g10 and the middle one is linen micarta. The g10 is a little tricky to get the color layers to look perfect when you grind it and I figured out that if you peen the brass pins too much it will make little imperfections In the g10. You can see it a little in the picture around the pins. Basically these are neck knives made of 1/8" o1 steel.

As for my plans with them, I think I will keep practicing and use them as Christmas presents this year. I'm also going on an antelope and elk hunt this fall and plan to use them for that purpose and see how well they hold up.

 

[ZombieMonkey]

Thanks for posting, looks good. One day I will try my hand at knife making once I have the space and a little more spare time.

Great links to those videos.

 

[beb0541]

That is beautiful! Are you just making these for personal enjoyment or are you selling them?

 

[veezer]

So far, I am just making them for myself until I get everything figured out. If u are interested in buying one let me know.


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[DroidSniper]

Nice man. Looking into building a few fixed blades for myself. Also gonna use 01. I'm gonna cerakoat mine.

 

[kytrapper]

Tag............made a few always nice to see someone else starting

 

[Scimitar]

nice

 

[veezer]

Finished up a knife for a friend today. He had the blade but never had any handles. He ordered up some g10 and I went to work on it. I wasn't sure if I would like the orange and black but turned out pretty cool looking. Also made a kydex sheath for him. Gut hook blades are a pain to make a kydex sheath for!





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[veezer]

Just about finished with my next knife. I intend it to be a bush/hunting knife. I used 3/16" O1 steel again and am undecided on what finish to put on the steel. What I have thought about is 1. Blasting and clear coating with duracoat. 2. Cerakote fde. 3. Hot vinegar patina.

Anyone have any other ideas/thoughts?



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[Bravo17]

looks good. Practice on the belt grinder. Its a huge time saver. Google Leethal Cutlery to see some of my knives. If you ever have questions or need help with something pm me. Im happy to help. You are def on the right track

 

[kyle528]

Just finished my first a few days ago.. forged from 1/4x3 flat and walnut handle

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[Drew9299]

That's impressive. Never thought of making my own knife. I like the idea

 

[veezer]

Since then, I made a few more...

These were some neck knives I made that have 1.5" blades and can be worn around the neck with a piece of paracord for around camp use or just an easy to hide knife.


This one was more of a bushcraft/hunting knife made from 3/16"



Made this one for my 8 year old nephew who is crazy about knives and is in the Boy Scouts



And made these. The small gut hook one is like the outdoor edge ones but smaller and works like a charm. I tested it on 4 deer and an elk and it was still sharp. The Schrade looking one was made for my Dad who loves this type of knife and I made this one so he would have one that would stay sharp and be more durable.

 

[MidCitiesMildMan]

Impressive! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Nooch13]

Great work guys! Do you do your own kydex work too?

 

[veezer]

Great work guys! Do you do your own kydex work too?

Thanks. Yep, did my own Kydex too. It is fairly easy to do it. All you need is a home made press, grommet tools, an oven and something to grind/cut away the excess.

 

[Nooch13]

Thanks. Yep, did my own Kydex too. It is fairly easy to do it. All you need is a home made press, grommet tools, an oven and something to grind/cut away the excess.

any chance of seeing a pic of your press?

 

[veezer]

Basically, just like this one but I used the foam that knife kits.com sells

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx8vw_8kdVU

 

[gatorbait308]

you are now a god in your nephews eye's, he will keep that knife forever. excellent skills you have there sir.

 

[Fishkat]

Veezer and all you others, really nice job and wish I could do that.

 

[morganlamprecht]

made a handful over the past few months...mostly out of files/rasps, but the black ones (cerakoted) were done with 1095...the piece of 1095 stock i got wasnt perfectly flat on both sides and it kept wanting to warp on me so that was a pain...idk if that was causing the warp or my quench process, but the files never gave me an issue...no expert tho, was just bored one day and decided to have at it

 

[Alphatreedog]

Thanks for posting . Very inspirational . I've been bit by the knife bug as of late . We are doing home remodeling so I'm in the firearms no by zone . Been wanting to try an infantry fighting knife with W1 . Your finished product looks great .

 

[sirhrmechanic]

There is some really cool stuff here!

Great work, folks.

Cheers,

Sirhr

 

[RPRlongshot]

Nice job. blade looks real good

 

[jlsustala]

looks awsome let me know what u are charging for one good job brother

 

[EternusVigilantia]

Nice looks great