some of my knives

[coolhippy80]

hey all, like i said in my last post, i have been making some knives lately, and just thought i should share som of them
i got into knife making when i saw a blacksmith at work at a market, so i went home and made myslef a little vacuum cleaner fed charcoal forge, and started beating some re-bar on a section of railway track again, excuse the shoddy phone-camera pictures
im no artist, but im improving
my first knife... (learned a lot from this one)

my second... tryed to counter the curve a bit with a reflexed handle, came out ok...)


then i went to the tip shop and bought myslef some old files, whacked one in the flames and... (handle not shown, it was a nasty failure...)


then i decided to have a go at the stock removal method, where the steel is annealed (softened) in a fire, by whacking it in a wood fireplace and leaving it till the fire dies out, the steel becomes soft enough to work with hand tools, and the knife is ground from flat stock.

i jammed a few of my files in the fire one night, got them out the next day and hit them with an angle grinder.
came out with a very clean neat little knife and gave it a handle with plywood scales (the plates on each side of the tang), which supprised me with how good they looked! no pics yet... knife is at mums house...

later i got another one and ground out this baby... not finished yet (needs handle and polishing) but looks pretty promising...!


i will try too get pictures of my other knife soon, and keep going at it!
I have a question for you coach, i saw an old post in which you showed a sort of belt sander attatched too a bench grinder you have? can you please tell me more about this? i want one...

[Gringa Bows]

getting better with each one ,good onya mate..........Rod

[coolhippy80]

thanks rod
forgot too mention me other blacksmithing... upgraded my forge, it collapsed, and im making a new one now, but i have been doing some other stuff in it... forging tongs and fire pokers... but then i ran out of steel...
if anyone is interested in any blacksmithing stuff, shoot me a pm and we will chat

[Nephew]

If your really interested in learning to make knives, Hippy, you could do a lot worse than to have a chat to Coach. The guy has genuine talent and if you massage his ego enough, he may just share some knowledge with you.(oops, gotta run, here comes Coach! )

[Coach]

No need to "massage my ego" . Just ask . And I'm sure there are others on here that know more than me . Shouldn't you be practicing Moreton ???

[Nephew]

It's bloody nighttime and freezing up here! I'll be out practicing by eight tomorrow morning. Ring me, you'll see!

[Nephew]

[quote="Coach"]No need to "massage my ego" . Just ask . "
I know, I just wanted to see if I could get a bite outta ya!

[coolhippy80]

haha, yeah, should get in touch with coach...
so, coach, do you know the belt sander attachment im talking about?

[Jaydo]

congrats mate, you've certainly come a long way from your first knife, i am interested in forge work as well did a heap of it at school, took a pretty keen interest into it too

you said you were trying to forge re-bar, that at best is a mild steel, its pretty soft, so that the steel fixers can bend it without too much effort, you'd be much better off with the higher carbon content found in the files,

your best bet would be to play around with a lot of different steel and work out which ones work best for you, something like a saw blade, or an old ploughshear blade,

do you know/ understand the heat treating side of it, if you like pm me and ill see if i can find the colour charts for you, it'll tell you the relevant colours that steel will turn in accordance to the temperature,

good to see your out having a go, ill get into all this someday,
your latest sure looks to be a good knife in the making, how big is it ?

Jayden

[Coach]

The belt sander attaches to your grinder , it is called a Multi Tool . You need a decent grinder to drive it , at least a 3/4 HP one . Mine cost $200 at a local Tool King store . It sure made my knife making easier and better

[coolhippy80]

ah ok, thanks coach i take it they are not so likely too be fried by the steel dust like a linisher or belt sander might be?

you said you were trying to forge re-bar, that at best is a mild steel

jaydo, i have checked into this, and most re-bar is made from whatever steel they can get, all melted up and whacked into re-bar. this means that in a piece of re-bar, the carbon content can vary from high to near nothing in each end of a two foot section. you should just spark test the piece before using it.
i am basically using whatever steel i can get me hands on right now :
and yes, i am familliar with heqat treating and tempering steels, i have done a lot of research into all this stuff thanks anyway!

[Jaydo]

no worries mate,

yeah the spark test is the best for working it out,

good luck with it all,

hope to see more up soon

jaydo

[Coach]

i take it they are not so likely too be fried by the steel dust like a linisher or belt sander might be?

No mate , they are much better than a linisher .

[coolhippy80]

thanks coach... i am extremely tight on money, so i couldnt afford a $200 tool... is that as cheap as they get?