My son has been showing some interest in knife making, so we went to the annual state knife show a couple of weeks ago. He got quite excited when we found some knife kits that were on sale there, so we bought one for him to try. It contains pretty much all the materials needed to make a knife using stock removal, you just need to decide on a design and start shaping. My son chose the design after a bit of searching and comparing designs. We made a start to the project this weekend, and got the rough shape done with the steel. We only had some basic tools, so it was slow going. Pretty much just used a hacksaw, with a little shaping from a bench grinder, a linisher and a dremel. After a couple of hours, he was happy to stop for the day, but we made some good progress.
Posts: 425 | Location: Australia | Registered: 03 September 2006
Good to see you working together on it. It will be even better when you get in the field and get to use it together. It is a memory that will last a life time.
Looks like a promising start on what can be a great hobby. I'm glad to see he's using protective gear and assume that includes eye protection/dust mask when grinding, etc. Someone's coached him well...
Good hunting,
Posts: 402 | Location: Houston | Registered: 09 November 2004
Thanks for the comments guys. My son and I both appreciate hearing from you on this.
It will probably be a week or two before we can work on it again, but I will certainly post our next session. We still have some shaping and clean up to go before we get to the grind, but in the mean time I am going to try to make a profiling jig to file the grind in.
Posts: 425 | Location: Australia | Registered: 03 September 2006
Originally posted by Emory: Looks like a promising start on what can be a great hobby. I'm glad to see he's using protective gear and assume that includes eye protection/dust mask when grinding, etc. Someone's coached him well...
Good hunting,
Yes, we didnt use glasses with the sawing work, but did on the grinding. I only have basic quality dust masks in my workshop, but will buy some better quality ones soon.
Posts: 425 | Location: Australia | Registered: 03 September 2006
Originally posted by Jerry Fisk: Good to see you working together on it. It will be even better when you get in the field and get to use it together. It is a memory that will last a life time.
I am really looking forward to processing an animal with a blade we have made ourselves. We already get a lot of satisfaction from hunting animals together and eating what we shoot, so dressing animals with our own blade should really add to that.
Posts: 425 | Location: Australia | Registered: 03 September 2006
Thanks. I remember skimming through that when you initially posted it, but I am looking at these types of posts in a much more focused way now. I am pretty confident about the metal work, but pinning and shaping the scales is the most intimidating part of this project to me.
Posts: 425 | Location: Australia | Registered: 03 September 2006
Originally posted by Jerry Fisk: Good to see you working together on it. It will be even better when you get in the field and get to use it together. It is a memory that will last a life time.
+1
Best,
GWB
Posts: 23752 | Location: Pearland, Tx,, USA | Registered: 10 September 2001
We spent a few hours on the project again today. Firstly some filing to clean up the lines from the initial shaping we did last time, then file in the bevel using an Aaron Gough style jig. Doesn't look like too much progress for one session, but today is the longest continuous time we have spent on it since we started. Anyhow, getting closer to the most intimidating part - the heat treat.
Posts: 425 | Location: Australia | Registered: 03 September 2006
Neat filing jig. A file is an honest tool; you get back pretty much what you put into it. Heat treat is super easy after all that filing. Good work! Mike
well maybe on the heat treat depending on the steel.
Posts: 350 | Location: oklahoma | Registered: 01 August 2006
Hi guys. Thanks for all the comments. We really appreciate all the feedback.
Just to let you know this has not been abandoned. We were planning to get back to it a few weeks ago, but my son got too sick to do anything that weekend. We haven't made it back since, but hope to get everything ready for heat treat in the next week or so.
Posts: 425 | Location: Australia | Registered: 03 September 2006
