First Knife.

[stringnstik]

http://www.ozbow.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.p ... 633#p72633 longbow steve!!
Its all your fault!!

My wife followed this post of yours and my comments and guess what arrived in the post... yep Silver fox knife kit for my bday. I can only assume Im spending too much time in the house and not enough out the shed. SWEEEETTTT

Now however Im going to have to put the blasted thing together. All pretty straight fwd but how on earth do you start shaping it? ok draw the tang on the wood and cut off the bulk then glue it on and start rounding over I guess? I have no idea what a comfy knife feels like let alone shape a rectangle lump of wood so that it does.

Its the silver fox kit, I might try it with some wood spares b4 I mess up the red dymondwood.

did you use the special epoxy or is 24 araldite sufficient.

[jindydiver]

to put your handle on your knife.

Clamp your timber to one side of your tang, then drill (with a press if possible) through the tang holes and through the timber. Mark your piece so you know which side it is. Then repeat for the other side. I drop a pin in each hole as I drill them to make sure they line up before drilling the next. Then you put your pins through the tang and into one side of your timber and mark around the tang. I am assuming that your wood is planks, that is parallel sides, and you can then cut around the line to get your shape close to the tang. Repeat for the other side. Then put your pins through both sides (without the knife) so you can work on both sides together, and mark where you think the front of the handles should be (this is if you don't have bolsters). Then you grind off the excess in the front and round the front to the finished state. You won't be able to work on the front once they are glued on.
Then you glue your slabs onto your tang with 24 hour araldite. Make sure everything is well cleaned and your pins are a little roughed up (100 grit paper will do). Clamp them hard and the glue will ooze out. Use some while vinegar or metho to clean off the excess around the front and allow to dry. Then you cut off the excess pins and shape your handle.

[jape]

What he said!

Or you can do as I just did and avoid glues, get some proper copper rivets, carefully shape your wood (my last piece of yew) and countersink the rivet holes, then give it a last tap for luck and watch it split into three pieces. if you do do as I did, make sure it is not on a bronze blade because they bend (if you are lucky) when you throw them at the bench in rage.

btw if you want an authentic tight fit, heat the tang and burn it to the haft pieces.

[pdccr]

How much does a knife making kit cost? Say if i wanted a hunting knife

[jape]

How much does a knife making kit cost? Say if i wanted a hunting knife

Toby, they vary of course. I suggest you go to the AKC site that every one is talking about and have a look around. http://www.knivesaustralia.com.au/knives.html

[stringnstik]

Jape , yew crack me up.

but guys ok i get the cutting it out bit and the pins etc but the final shaping n rounding off ?
I guess you just follow the tang for shape and round it off.

toby,,get a wife they seem to know how to find all these things on the web.

[jape]

There's no mechanical way I can think of to do it precisely apart from marking squares and using dividers and calipers and so on! It is an exercise in sculpting in the round as per Michelangelo (suck it and see with various degrees of skill, ability and luck). The best I ever got when making a haft was to shape it in plasticine, mark in pencil as close as possible, and shave and sand the wood away until it fitted.

But most shapes will work if you just start by rounding off sharp edges. Why be tedious and over complicated? After all, your own hand size and shape is unique, especially if you want finger-grip grooves so it would take a lot of work to emulate. Every knife or sword I have has a different shaped haft and they all work. The hand is quite forgiving.

[pdccr]

Wow, theres some mean blades there. Still sorting through them lol

[jindydiver]

Once you grind the pins off you can use your linisher to get the wood back to the edge of the tang. Then to round the edges you can do it roughly on the linisher and then you put the blade horizontally in a vice and use a bench roll to sand the handle to the shape you want. If you make aknife vice you can also clamp the knife with the blade flat, also possible with some plank and g clamps.
Bench roll
https://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage. ... mid=775102

[pdccr]

Well its not much but it'l do for now I went out to the shed and got an old paint scraper and attacked it with a pair of tin snips, gave it a similar design to some one that site and tried to clean it up with a file.

Image032.jpg (69.81 KiB) Viewed 4653 times

Now i just need to make a sheath and a cool handle. I saw a mini machete in porters yesterday so i am thinking of getting one and making it my new knife.

[stringnstik]

ok Im getting it the question was more of what sort of knife and what you use it for points to how you hold it and thus how it fits in your hand. Ill have a play whilst away on my camping trip.


Toby if you think thats a nice site take a gander at this. Lots of good info too.
http://www.jayfisher.com/index.htm

[pdccr]

Wow, he makes some beasty swords!

[Coach]

stringnstik,, I see you like a drop point design as well ,, how long is the blade etc , as I see they dont give any of those specs on the knife

[jape]

overall length is 6 5/8", blade is 2 3/4" x 7/8" x 1/8" thick.

[Coach]

Where did you get that info Jape ? I didnt see it on the site

[otis.drum]

pdccr,
it's always fun to play, but i'd steer clear of paint scrapers. they are thin and flimsy and can be dangerous as knives as per the above characteristics. they can suddenly bend/flex and give a nasty bite.

cut one out of an old circular saw blade. they are a good thickness and good metal to start out using. if you haven't got one go and see any chippy. they should hace plenty. make sure you don't overheat the metal when cutting it as it damages the metal (when it goes pretty colours its overheated) so this means take it slow. hack saw and file if you have the patience.

[Coach]

Yeah Pdccr ,, shouldnt you be making a bow ? Leave the knives alone till you mastered the bow making

[pdccr]

Haha i left all my tools and staves on the farm, i go there tomorrow and should be there for 5 days. Do you need a special cutting blade for the hack saw?

[otis.drum]

no nothing special. it should just say hi speed steel or something similar.

i use a small angle grinder in very soft short cuts. if you do this resist the urge to go fast. i cut a shallow line just outside the knife outline. then i cut along the same line again. try a line about two inches long. each time you cut it should be very short with a good few seconds between cuts. each cut will only take half a milimetre or so. if you see a colour change in the metal you are either pushing too hard, holding the grinderon too long, not leaving enough time between cuts or a combination or any of those.

once you have it cut out roughly a good file wil bring in into shape pretty quick. i would avoid using the grinder, but if you do, take it extremely slow and watch the metal colour carefully.

these blades are a hard metal and hold an edge well. they will rust though so keep the moisture off them or dry and oil them if they get wet. good luck.

[pdccr]

Not sure i have a grinder but i can get a hacksaw and i have a few files. I will give it a go. While my bow is drying that is coach