knife making OT

[capt jake]

OK, I saw a handmade knife given as a gift the other day. Very nice work and something I have wanted to re-visit (I did one years ago). I need a whole new set of kitchen knives anyway.

I have only been able to locate 3-4 websites that sell supplies. Do you folks have any recomendations??

Thanks,

John

[Mike Pennington]

John,

Are you looking to buy already shaped and heat treated blanks for the blades?

Are you going to use pins or bolts for the handle scales or just epoxy?

Are you going to use an exotic wood or micarta for the handle?

Are you going to use a bolster?

I went looking for some of the companies I use to buy from, none of them look familiar, sorry. This is the only one I recognize.

http://www.knifeandgun.com/index.htm

I would suggest Knives magazine's advirtisements. Otherwise go shopping on line and look for the best deals. If you are using preheat treated blanks you might consider a softer steal because they will be a bear to sharpen.

I still have the knife shop, I'm leasing it out to Sam Little an Alaskan custom knife maker. I even still have the furnace to heat treating at 2100 degrees. After heat treating I would put them in a -70 freezer, the blades averaged a Rockwell factor of about 80. The knives hold an edge real well, but they are a booger to get sharp to begin with. One needs a good belt grinder.

Mike

Good luck, keep me posted with your progress.

Oh yeah, I can't resist telling this one. Ever go to dinner and can't cut your steak with the cutlery they give you to eat with? Well, nothing like whipping out your own pig sticker.

[capt jake]

Thanks Mike, I thought there was somebody here with a background in Knife making. Sam Little, that name sounds very familiar. Was he making knives back in the 80's?

Are you looking to buy already shaped and heat treated blanks for the blades?

Yes, already shaped, possibly heat treated. After reading your response, probably not.

Are you going to use pins or bolts for the handle scales or just epoxy?

Either way (pins or screws), but probably pins. Not just epoxy.

Are you going to use an exotic wood or micarta for the handle?

I was thinking of an exotic wood, Cocobola, Rosewood, etc.

Are you going to use a bolster?

Here again, it would depend upon the design. I guess for my sanity; whatever the 'kit' comes with. I think I would be smart to go kit form.

I found several websites, but only one that has a kitchen knive set in kit form. Unfortunately they don't say a lot about there steel. I will post their link here and let you take a look. 'Prestige' is the set I am contemplating.

Thanks again!

http://216.218.203.171/cartease/item-detail.cfm?ID=SS809

[Tom Lathrop]

John,

Put "knife suppies" in google and lots of sources will show up. Koval has finished blanks for sale. I looked for someone (internet, magazines, knife shows, etc) who would make custom unfinished blanks for quite some time but never found anyone who would do that.

I did find one really fine knife at:

http://www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_detail.html?s=lin4970

Liz bought this one for me for my birthday. One main thing I wanted is the straight cutting edge. This is a real heavyweight, can go through an old 1/2" nylon line in a single swipe and comes with its own marlinspike in the sheath. I don't like the sheath it comes with and plan to make my own.

I am never without such a knife on my belt unless the social occasion demands it. I made the one I now use (along with a couple of kitchen knives) from an old table saw blade. It works great but will not hold an edge very well since it is not properly hardened, a process I have not yet learned.

[Mike Pennington]

You can send the blade out to be heat treated, though I can't recomend anyone at this time. Very touchy process. Sometimes they bend in the cooling, they also tend to scale up with carbon, tough to grind off.

I'm going to check that site out John.

Some of the kits are more finished than the others, the bevel for the edge is all ready cut. This wouldn't be to bad to work with, plus the polishing of the blade is done for you. Buffing a blank blade is more work than grinding one. I can't stay at the wheel like I used to. The vibration from the belt grinders or the buffer are too hard on my wrists anymore.

I like the 440c steel or AST 34 which has nickle in it.

I'll look around a little more.

Sam inherited the knife business from his brother Jimmy Little. Sam's pretty well known in Alaska and Texas. But Jimmy was the true artist, if you ever see one of his knives buy it, the piece is worth a lot of money to a collector that new him.

Yes we made knives in the eighties to the mid nineties, Sam of coarse is still at it. He mostly makes hunting knives now. The bowie and sword days are long gone.

[capt jake]

Thanks, I will look forwrd to what yo have to say. I also ordered Jantz' catalogue; hopefully it will have more information than the website.

Tom, I checked out that site; mostly finished products, though there were a few suppliers listed.

[Tim Diebert]

Hi Cap.

Although I have never made a (large) knife (I make small knife-like tools all the time), I have always had a keen interest in this topic.

Years ago when I was working in a small shipyard in Sidney, a couple of the lads and I went to the pub after work. There was this rough looking, living on-your-boat-hippy-type fellow ( a lot like me) walking to all the tables trying to sell a knife in sheath he had made.

It was a fine thing to behold. Wonderful balance and amazing polish and edge. As for quality, one never knows until you use the thing....but he only wanted $40 for it 20 years ago. I didn't have that kind of money to spend on something like that...at that time of my life. But I always think of that knife.

Turns out he was from one of the small islands there abouts. He made the knife from old leaf springs and used local hardwoods for the handles. Made the scabards himself as well. We bought the guy a beer(s) and had a great visit.

Years later, I made a guitar for a Canadian chap that is a world class knife-sword maker. Wally Hayes. Ottawa I believe.

http://www.hayesknives.com/menu.html

Great guy, fun to chat with. He was in the middle of a commission (this is 10 years ago) for some fellow in Virginia...making a rapier(sp?). Very fancy and decorative with a real jewel encrusted <handle>. I don't recall the price he was getting...something like $15,000.

I also have a client that collects swords. He once sent me one for a gift. (Rich friends are a kick!) It is 40" long...weights 3 1/2 lbs. and is a two handed broad sword, British...from a design commonly used 650 years ago.

I sharpened the thing (they are not sharp when they sell them) and it is an awe inspiring device. I love to drag it out from it's hidey hole and give it to someone to hold...the reactions are fun. You hold something like this in your hand and it makes you think of what going to battle might have been like back in the day. man O man.

Anyway...let us know what resources you uncover....and let us see what you end up making.

[Dave Fleming]

After looking closely at the LINDER knife, I recommeded it to Bob Smalser. I know he got it and made a dandy sheath for it and the 'spike.

He did a write up over on the WB Forums. I haven't heard back from him on how the knife performs.

On leaf springs...I have read in the USENET newsgroup, rec.crafts.metalworking, that after a certain date the steel formulation of auto leaf springs was changed and this later steel is not well thought of for knife making.

Alexander Weygers wrote a nifty book or two on making tools from scrap steel that were later collected into one volume, still in print. Plus there is a web site devoted to his work, sculpture, metal, wood.

[capt jake]

Well I received the Jantz catalogue today. The kitchen knives are made of 440c SS, hollow ground, satin finish and sharpened to an exceptional edge. Handles are pre-drilled for three pin holes. Handles made of dymondwood black ink Cocobola or White Micarta (though I think I would go with the Cocobola).

Mr Pennington, what do you think of this? Set is only $99.00

http://216.218.203.171/cartease/item-detail.cfm?ID=SS809

[Mike Pennington]

John,

Sorry it took so long to get back to you. Yes, heck yes!

I like 440c, a good metal to work with.

I like cocobola, very stable wood, does very little shrinkage. I used cocobola a lot. Shrinkage and expansion is something to think about if the knife gets thrown in the sink.

At $99 a set you can't go wrong.

Can't wait to see a picture of the first one finished.

Mike

[capt jake]

Thanks Mike That's what I thought also; $99 is pretty reasonable. On a reasonable note, I probably better finish some other things before I start another project. :roll: I will probably get the set and work on it as I have time. Oh, and the Cocobola turns out to be diamondwood; which I am sure you already know is very stable.

I was also eyeballing the new folding knife by Darrel Ralph at Texas Knife Makers Supply. http://www.texasknife.com/store/s-pages/TKS_MainframeStore.htm?TKS_FolderKits5.htm~smain though the skill rating is probably higher than I would be capable at this point.

Today I am going to try and fit the sails on the wooden model I have been trying to finish for 4 years. :oops:

[Mike Pennington]

I might go for the serated blade, becuase that kind of edge is better for cutting line in an emrgency. As you well know we use them to cut seat belt straps some times.

Nice looking kit. If the scales are unfinished, meaning just slabs of wood, I would look in to finding my own material for the scales.

Like Dahle Sheep horn or bouffalo horn. Smells like burning hair when you shape it up on the grinder but both are beutiful. My persian dagger is buffalo, black and semi-transparent there's depth in the scale. The sheep horn tends to be blues and greens kind of like opals or mother of pearl.

Speaking of Pearl they would be nice with that blade. Are those allen screws or pins? Hard to make out.

[Mike Pennington]

I still have a few knives around. This is my J.L. Little collection. Minus a few the kids have.

Check out page four of Mike's Vacationer

http://www.messing-about.com/weekender/albums.htm