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First Attempt at Knife Making

I think these came out quite well for my first knives.

Materials

I needed to choose a steel with quite forgiving heat treating requirements, since I have yet to build a heat treatment oven. That ruled out stainless steel, but I prefer high carbon steel anyway for its superior sharpness, hardness and edge retention.

I ended up choosing O1 tool steel for several reasons. It’s an excellent knife steel, preferred by many top bladesmiths for its toughness, abrasion resistance and ability to hold a cutting edge. It’s also readily available. However, the main advantage for me is that this steel can be heat treated without specialist equipment.

The wood is a bit of Old Chair.

Process

Filing the bevel after heat treating.

Project Status: Complete

Next Steps

  • Make a belt grinder
  • Experiment with unusual handle materials
  • Try moulding and casting handles
  • Try inlaid wood
  • Try etching steel

Completed

  • Draw blade profile in Illustrator
  • Laser cut profile out of paper
  • Glue paper to the steel
  • Shape the steel with hacksaw, angle grinder and files
  • Use homemade filing jig for the initial bevel
  • Drill holes for brass rods
  • Heat with blow torch until it becomes non-magnetic
  • Quench in rapeseed oil
  • Harden in the oven for an hour
  • Sharpen bevel
  • Cut scales from a piece of old chair
  • Drill holes in the wood for the rods
  • Cut brass rods slightly oversize
  • Test fit handle
  • Shaped scales on upturned floor sander
  • Glue everything together
  • Hand sand to finish

Mental State

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