knife making power point.

How to Make a Knife: 

How to Make a Knife This is one of my own knife making methods

Step One: finding metal: 

Step One: finding metal The first thing you will need to do is find a piece of metal to work into the shape of a knife. I recommend a good sized circle saw blade, they are made of high quality carbon steel and are made for cutting, which is exactly what we want our knife to do.

Step two: choosing handle material: 

Step two: choosing handle material The next thing you will need to do is find a piece of hardwood or bone of your choice. There are many materials to choose from so be creative here. I suggest a fairly soft piece of wood for your first try.

Pins: 

Pins You will need some form of pins to insert into the handle in order to mount it to the knife, I’ll go into detail on this later. You can usually find brass or steel rods at a hardware store that can be cut into small pieces and used for pins.

Step three: gathering tools: 

Step three: gathering tools These are the tools you will need for knife making. A hand grinder, a belt sander, a bench grinder with polishing wheel, and a drill press. A cutting torch or plasma cutter, a random orbital sander , and a band saw. these are all highly recommended

Cutting torch / plasma cutter: 

Cutting torch / plasma cutter A cutting torch or a plasma cutter can be a great help to cut a rough knife shape out of a piece of metal of your choice, however they are expensive. If you cannot afford these you will just have to do more work with the grinders

Hand grinder: 

Hand grinder The hand grinder is one of the most important tools in shaping metal. You will be using it to shape up the roughed in piece of metal that you are working into a knife. If you were unable to acquire a cutting torch you will also be using this to cut a knife shape from your choice of metal.

Belt sander: 

Belt sander A belt sander is also a must have for knife making, you will be using it to finish shaping your knife, then later you will be using it to shape your handle.

Bench grinder with polisher: 

Bench grinder with polisher Y ou will primarily be using this tool to clean up your knife blade to give it a real shine, there are various colors of polish you can research in order to do different things to the metal, however I will not go into detail on different polishes.

Drill Press: 

Drill Press The drill press will be used to drill holes into the tang of the knife and later into the handle material in order to mount the handles onto the knife.

Random orbital sander: 

Random orbital sander The random orbital sander is recommended to clean up the blade before polishing the first time. The first blade polishing comes before the handles are mounted.

Band saw: 

Band saw The band saw is recommended to save you some time with the belt sander. You can place the tang of your knife on each piece of handle material you have selected and draw an outline of the tang and then use the band saw to trim the piece of material close to what you need before you finish it with the belt sander.

Now that you know what you will need….: 

Now that you know what you will need…. First take your piece of metal and cut out a rough knife shape with your hand grinder or cutting torch Next use your hand grinder and a vice to clean it up around the edges. It should look something like this (these images are from google )

Now that you have your knife roughly shaped in….: 

Now that you have your knife roughly shaped in…. It is time to use your drill press to put holes in the tang wherever you want them. You should come up with something similar to this. This one has two holes for handle mounting and a 3 rd hole for a lanyard, feel free to be creative here as well.

Beveling an edge…: 

Beveling an edge… Now you will carefully use the hard plate mounted behind the belt on the belt sander to push against with your knife against the sanding belt to create an edge, this is a very tedious part so be careful.

Cleaning up the blade….: 

Cleaning up the blade…. Now we need to clean up the knife blade, first use the random orbital sander to sand down both sides of the blade until they are a glittery grey color. Once both sides feel slick use the bench polisher to give the blade a shine, remember you will need polish.

Now you should have something like this…: 

Now you should have something like this… Now obviously your blade won’t look exactly like this but at this point you should have an edge formed, holes drilled, and it should be polished up pretty well.

Working on the handle…: 

Working on the handle… Now its time to take whatever material you have chosen and ensure that you have two pieces that will fit flat against each side. One of my favorites is buffalo horn. You can use the band saw and belt sander to help you shape the material so that it fits flatly against each side of the knife tang.

Roughing in handle: 

Roughing in handle Place the knife tang on the handle material and use a black marker to trace the tang, then you can use the belt sander to get a roughed in handle shape.

Now your ready to mount the handles on the knife: 

Now your ready to mount the handles on the knife This step is another tedious part that must be done correctly. You must do one side of the handle at a time, also you will need some super glue to help steady the handles while you work. First glue one side of handle onto the knife, once dry, drill through the holes you made to make holes in the handle in the correct spot. Then repeat for the opposite side. Once both sides are in you will need to use your brass dowel rod to make pins to put into the holes of the handle in order to mount the handle.

Bradding pins….: 

Bradding pins…. Once the pins are in you will need to brad them, this can be done by placing the knife on a hard metal surface such as an anvil, be sure the handle is flat on the surface and use a hammer to strike all of the pins in the handle until they hold the handle onto the knife firmly. For a one handed blade no more than 3 pins should be used. More may weaken the wood, and for a knife, 2 is usually adequate. Once you have your pins cut, and your holes drilled, place a pin in a hole, back it with an anvil, or similar object, and GENTLY tap the outside edges of the pin until the edges flare. Once they are flared, flip the knife, and repeat. If the pin is too long, cut it off with a hack saw.

Now that you have that done…: 

Now that you have that done… Your next step is to shape the handle however you want it, this is another opportunity to be creative, use the belt sander to shape the handle material.

Next…: 

Next… Once the knife handle is shaped to your desire, it is time to polish the handle, and once again polish the bade if needed. Some materials do not polish well on a bench polisher most often wood and other porous materials, for these there are certain oils that can be used for polish. Once polished your knife will have a nice shine like this.

Well that’s it…: 

Well that’s it… This concludes my brief guide on how to make your own knife. It is a complex art that takes time and patience, along with practice and skill development. Good luck. With practice you can make anything.

sources: 

sources All images were found on Google images, aside from the last one, it is one of the many knives I have made. these are good sources for anyone who may wish to get into knifemaking http://www.premiumknifesupply.com http://www.knifehandles.com/ This knowledge comes from my own trial and error along with a few tips that I have picked up from other craftsmen. I have no web sources or any books to cite.