evening
so after a long time I have finally kicked my knife making back into action. so far I have the blanks for 1 bush craft knife, one heavy duty camp chopper (oo er 🙂 ) and 2 different neck knives. as they are test pieces that need some field time I am going to do basic ash handles, brass pins and probably some even more basic kaydex sheaths and see how they cope… what do people think?
[/url]DSC_0434 by daftvader77, on Flickr[/img]
still need heat treating, bevelling, polishing and finishing but thought I’d share…
cheers

I love making stuff – especially from metal.

It’s hard to tell scale / material etc from your photos. Unless that’s a knotted pine bench?

Where’d you get / how did you make the blanks? Are you following a plan or fitting the metal to the wood (or v.v)?

Cooool. What material are you using? Part of me feels things like knives must be made out of something super special (like samurai swords) but i guess MOST knives are made of any suitable steel or similar. I saw a chap on youtube making a camping machete out of an old leaf spring, which was cool.

[/url]DSC_0435 by daftvader77, on Flickr[/img]
that should sort the scale! 🙂 I’m using 3mm and 4mm (for the big one) O1 tool steel which i got from cromwell tools. i am following the plans from some of my own designs. they all started as simple flat stock steel, blued with extra big sharpie and then marked out from wooden templates i made . then used a belt sander to shape the blanks….

My favourite are knives from SE Asia like:

1. Parang (various versions and names)
2. Thai e-nep (various versions and names)

Condor brand do plenty of work horse type knives that are reasonably priced.

This Iban (not Eban) parang by Ben and Lois Orford is very nice. Very well made and the curve profile is right.

Their website

😀

how do you heat treat them?

chewkw… you were interested in me doing some handles for you when you got them back to the uk. ive got some 100 yr old iron wood that weighs a ton that would balance one of those up a treat!
as for heat treating i will heat the blank up till it gets non magnetic (around 800*c) then quench in oil, then 2-3 tempering stages in the oven (haven’t told mrsvader that yet) at reducing temperatures. then i’ll bevel polish and handle.

daftvader – Member

chewkw… you were interested in me doing some handles …

Yes, but all my Thai e-nep knives (two – think one is for throwing) have been left behind at my parents as the local airport security guys like the look of them and tried to take them off me so I will have to bring them back next trip instead, provided those two on duty do not take a fancy to them …

no worries… a throwing knife would be a challenge as it may upset the balance…

My small e-nep is similar to the one on top apparently for throwing.

I try to collect the set of three and the large one is very nice.

Pongsak 😆 and his class

Once they are here, just give me a shout and we can work something out.

My favourite cooking knife needs a new handle. The old one is all split and warped and I guess contains loads of bacteria. The knife is a 40 yr old Sabatier made of non-stainless steel so it goes rusty if not looked after but has a lovely sharp edge.
I keep thinking about replacing it and I’m quite handy with wood but how do I get the materials and how do I get the rivets in without it looking like Ricky hattons nose?

Big John…. Best bet is to have a look on YouTube for handling a knife. Supplies can be got from wood and knife supplies or English handmade knives. I’d personally use either a good hardwood or a stabilised wood with either corby bolts or brass pins then shape after its been epoxied on. Hth…

Hmm…. I just wasted a couple of hours on those sites. That knife is going to be perfect when I’ve finished with it. Thanks.

No worries… Post up some pics when you have finished…

The guy from Crusader Tools came into work this week with some fine examples of his handmade knives.
Looks like we may be laser marking his logo and customer name onto his blades.
I think there may be a deal to be done…
CRUSADER TOOLS

Chewkw, those knives have a very similar profile to kukhri, I guess form follows function. Nice knives, too.
Olly, old leaf springs are a common source of good steel for knife makers in the States, lots of old trucks in scrapyards, or just dumped in fields.
I’ve made a couple of knives myself, but nothing too sophisticated, I’d love the space and the tools to be able to start from a blank, but unlikely without a lottery win to replace the shed and pay for belt sanders, etc.

CZ I’ve only got a small belt/disk sander combo from Axminster. It works great on 3mm steel but has struggled on the 4mm tho. Alot of the tools I use are hand tools rather than power. I would love a proper knife makers belt grinder…. But that’s very expensive.

been inspired by this thread, so have started doing some designs on paper again.
Not made any knives for over 10 years.
Last one I made was from RWL34 as I was so lucky that my work place had a hardening facility, including a vacuum oven 🙂
Keep wanting to make a little coal forge in the garden but seen some neat little home made gas forges.