I'm still turning an occasional pen, but here lately I've been spending most of my shop time figuring out how to make traditional slipjoint knives. Here's the latest one...5.75" overall length, 3.25" closed, ATS34 stainless blade and backspring, bone G10 scales. Thanks for takin a look! -Phil
Slipjoint
- Thread starter paps
- Start date
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
el_d
Member
Thats pretty nice Phil.
I have always wanted to get into knives but I good wood tools. What kind of tooling do you need to make that knife?
I have always wanted to get into knives but I good wood tools. What kind of tooling do you need to make that knife?
cnccutter
Member
Lupe dont let the tooling worry you. you can make a fine knife with simple hand tools. the first belt grinder i used was a simple delta 1 X 42 from the local HomeDepo. a drill press is a plus to have. If you stick tp useing a good high carbon steel like 1095 or O1 you can do the all heat treating at home. I am by no means a master grinder with 300+ knives now, but if I can do it Anyone can HA!
my guess is there are lots of guys like me and Phil that would be happy to help you take your first steps.
Erik
my guess is there are lots of guys like me and Phil that would be happy to help you take your first steps.
Erik
Thanks for the kind words guys.
Lupe, like cncutter says, you can make a knife with minimal tools, but you'd have to have lots of patients. I'd say the most important tools you'd need that you probably don't have is a good belt grinder and kiln for heat treating your steel. You can send your steel out for heat treating if you don't have the necessary stuff to do it yourself, and you could file in your blade bevels without having a grinder. It would kinda be like trying to make a pen without a lathe though. It can be done, but not easily. I have a pretty good set of tools for knife making, but there's always another tool that I have on my wish list. Right now, a milling machine is at the top of my list followed by a surface grinder. If you think pen making is an expensive endeavor, just wait til you start making knives. But it is a whole lot of fun! Holler if you need any help getting started.
Lupe, like cncutter says, you can make a knife with minimal tools, but you'd have to have lots of patients. I'd say the most important tools you'd need that you probably don't have is a good belt grinder and kiln for heat treating your steel. You can send your steel out for heat treating if you don't have the necessary stuff to do it yourself, and you could file in your blade bevels without having a grinder. It would kinda be like trying to make a pen without a lathe though. It can be done, but not easily. I have a pretty good set of tools for knife making, but there's always another tool that I have on my wish list. Right now, a milling machine is at the top of my list followed by a surface grinder. If you think pen making is an expensive endeavor, just wait til you start making knives. But it is a whole lot of fun! Holler if you need any help getting started.