Knife making

[Kevin L]

I believe that knife manufacture might be a useful skill post SHTF.

I'm perfectly competent at making prison-style shanks from scratch, and I can actually knap a flint blade from a core.

What I would like to learn is how to make high-quality utility blades from scavenged steel (like car parts), and how to create sheaths and grips.

I'm interested in function before appearence, and I want to create a good product without neccesarily becoming a master bladesmith...I'm not prepared (or inclined) for the lifelong dedication that one sees of the 'smiths who make katana and ho-tachi in Japan.

Can anyone (maybe Roninsensi?) direct me to an educational resource for rank beginners?

Thank you.

 

[DrHenley]

I am assuming you don't want to try to forge the knives, but just shape them. I've done it with a grinder and with a belt sander. The handles are easier to shape than the blades, but you need real coarse sandpaper on the belt sander. I have used a bench grinder on the handles for really hard walnut heartwood.

Probably the easiest way to start off is making one out of a file. Find some old files and start grinding!

Car leaf springs are supposed to make good blades but I haven't ever tried that. I started off using industrial hacksaw blades.

 

[Proud Prepper]

I know the car leaf springs are very good scrap to use. High carbon spring steel makes excellent blades.

 

[Kevin L]

Thank you both.

I'll try.

 

[Squirtgunsquirter]

Snow plow blades are typically 1095 high carbon steel, and make great knives. Otherwise, I have used stock removal (not forging) on 440C stainless with great results.

You can get snow plow blades super cheap (in my case, free, they were in the metal scrap dumpster, but I would ask, they get paid for the scrap).

Then draw out a shape, I like to cut a rough outline with a cut off wheel, then grind the primary bevels, then a rough and ready secondary edge bevel, then touch up the corners and make it all smooth, then heat treat and finish.

I'm actually about to grind a blade out with an angle grinder, I already have it rough blanked. I could do a vid, if you wanted, maybe hack on it this weekend.

Here is a link : https://www.knifeplanet.net/fixed-knife-blade-design-guide/

Otherwise, search knife making on youtube, there are some good guys doing some great instruction.

The handles and sheath are another matter. I have kydex, and a rivet press, and heat resistant press foam I can use in the oven, and I still don't make kydex stuff as nice as Some I have seen. So, I'm not a good one to make any kydex recommendations.

My knives are better than shanks, lol, but not Bob Terzuola Century Starfighter nice, which is the knife that inspired me to start making knives LO many moons ago.

I've made maybe six or seven, as gifts. So still a beginner. This is the Starfighter, I would argue it started the tactical knife genre. Ain't she a beauty?

 

[Kevin L]

That knife is gorgeous.

It has an elegant, understated simplicity that I find very appealing.

 

[Kevin L]

Thank you all for the info.

 

[Roninsensei]

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCWizIdwZdmr43zfxlCktmNw

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCOtEL_pEg-2wBVykkPsf3sg

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCkLxJCuQZ4hStBfs8TCnT9Q

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGIJghPSMkUFefzqVLBgSd2_YgXqfO-Pq

 

[bigpaul]

knife collecting is the prepper disease! I've got so many I don't think i'd ever run out!

 

[Kevin L]

Thank you both for info.

 

[Arcticdude]

Years ago I cut out a couple Bowie and hatcht blanks on a laser. One of these days I'll dig them out and finish them. For the Bowie knives Im going to use wooly mammoth ivory for the handles, not sure what to use on the hatchets yet, rose wood maybe? The only real critical part of knife making is getting the heat treatment done right. I've never made a knife before so this should be a fun project.

 

[Arcticdude]

.

 

[bill harrell]

Heat treatment 101....
Try this guys, you need to be able to heat your steel uniformly ( the same temperature throughout) not with hotspots. You need to be able to measure the temperature accurately. You need to be able to shock it in a quench without excessive structural stress. You need to be able to forget all that bullcrap on that tv show. I think they are just selling you on the idea without revealing any trade secrets. So ....where else could you learn this except here.DPF remember though, I ain't educated much and it might take some time for me to get back to you but I will try to walk you through this and make you an astonishing master of the art.

 

[bill harrell]

Ok first hardening steel is a alost art. It went the way of the smith when a 7018 rod and an arc welder was invented. True is the fact that the union of two steel parts could never be matched by hammer, but at the same time ,vast amounts of knowledge was lost about what is taking place in the steel because nobody has to know this any more to do the most common use of metallurgy which is welding.

 

[bill harrell]

First let me explain, all steels have to be stressed to be hardened. Either structurally or mechanically. The latter will cause much debate , but I welcome the challenge. To structurally induce stress you have to heat capable steels to their critical temperature and shock it into a locked position.(quench). Now you would normally have to know the exact composition of your particular piece of steel, but ,not so. Only on DPF
Place a large magnet next to your heat source or forge. As you heat your steel as evenly as possible, keep taking it out and holding it against the magnet, as it heats up , the attraction to the magnet will decrease. When your piece of steel will offer no attraction to the magnet, quench it. Immerse it strait down or cutting edge straight down or there will be warpage.
You have to be above critical temperature or it will not harden. Now , that said every little bit you are above that temp. you increase the size of the crystalline grain structure. The larger the grain structure the weaker the strength. The smaller the grain structure the greater the strength. If done well you will have created a piece if steel that will cut glass, but , it will also shatter like glass if you drop it, or hit it at this point.
Now , clean the carbon and scale off your blade and sand it down till it has a nice silver color. DO NOT GET IT TO HOT TO HOLD IN YOUR HAND. Any heat above 350 to 400 degrees will ruin every thing you have done to this point. And the most likely place of damage will be where the metal is the thinnest,(the point and the cutting edge.)

 

[bill harrell]

Now lets anneal this dog.
Annealing is the way you soften a piece of steel to reduce the stresses in it to make it functional for a particular use , in our case a knife. Knives can be left in various degrees of hardness depending on application. Generally the harder the steel, the more its capable to be sharpened. Also the harder the steel, generally the more brittle the steel. So decide what your intended use is gonna be therefore what degree of hardness can it tolerate. And take into consideration the mass of your blade. The greater the mass the greater the strength.
. What I like to do is heat a large block of steel (about 5 pounds) to a good cherry red,and place it on the anvil , then take my blade and stand it on the back ( edge up) with the contact point between the knife and the hot block touching right near the tang. Sliding the blade back and forth across the block watch closely as the colors form and do not let the colors reach the edge.
The light yellow colors will yield about 59 to 62 Rockwell c scale on hardness. With the purples coming in at about 40 to 45. So if 75 percent of your blade is purple and red with the edge either no color or faintly yellow,( only can be seen in bright light.) I tip my hat to you. Great job. Now if you can do tha in that three hour time frame on tv , go get that 10.000 dollars . I will guarantee you a win.

 

[bill harrell]

Ps. I didnt explain a lot but if you have questions please ask.

 

[bill harrell]

Hey I have a quick and easy educational plan . Get your magnet ,a heat source ,nothing fancy ,just a fire will work or a torch. An old file or a junk piece of tool steel. A hammer , something to hit it on.
Now heat the steel to where half of it is glowing and the other half is not.get the glowing end white hot to where it is throwing sparks. Slide it across the magnet and feel the difference. Quench it, water is fine. Now, take it and starting at the tip where it was hot, hit the very tip and break it off. Examine the size of the grain. Now moving down about an inch break it again and look at the grain. Keep coming down the file and you will notice the strength differences as you progress relative to the temperature it was heated to. As the grain structures decreases the strength multiplies phenomally.

 

[DrHenley]

We don't really know how they made true Damascus steel. What is called "Damascus" now is either pattern welded or wootz steel. The Japanese techniques are not all lost though.

But Damascus steel was simply an attempt to duplicate the properties of Toledo steel with pure carbon steel. Toledo steel was not pure carbon steel but an alloy that was by far the superior steel of the day. And it wasn't just the alloy, but the process, which Iberian blacksmiths began perfecting in the 5th century B.C.

By today's standards, Toledo steel would rank among the superior steels for blades. Much better than most commercially made knives. However we now have steels that are even better. CPM 10V and O1, and possibly A2 when properly treated for example. Oh what the Toledo blacksmiths could have done with some O1 steel to play with!

I have made a few knives from O1. Not many as I really didn't have the right equipment, and for some reason my blades had a tendency to warp when heat treated. I lost about 40% from warpage. But a blade made from O1 is something else!

Really all you need to know is that one of the primary uses of O1 is for making dies to stamp out parts from tool steel. So we're talking about something that has to be hard enough AND tough enough to cut tool steel on impact without breaking or dulling.

 

[Squirtgunsquirter]

Tempering is bringing the hardness back down after the quench, and adding toughness.

Annealing is softening the steel to make it workable.

https://www.metalsupermarkets.com/difference-annealing-tempering/

So I have, in the past, annealed a file by heating it, then burying it in vermiculite. Then, I could file that file with an un-annealed file.

Then, once shaped, harden it, then temper it.

It's not really that complicated to make something functional, but the better you want it, the more complicated it gets. Plenty of online resources to get you started in blade making.