/BMG/-blade making general

[Anonymous No.1961569]

/BMG/-blade making general-fascine knife edition
Thread for knifemakers, bladesmiths, swordmakery axes and anything that you made that is supposed to cut/thrust.
here is the place to ask for advice, brag about your beltgrinder, show your jigs and projects in process and unfinnished.

[Anonymous No.1961572]

>>1961569
recent project of mine
some smol 5 cm blades for a guy who wnats them instead of engagement rings

[Anonymous No.1961593]

Made these from leaf springs a while back, been using the bowie for some time and I'm impressed

[Anonymous No.1961595]

>>1961593

[Anonymous No.1961617]

>>1961593
nice work
a bit crute but definately some talent in shapign etc
I am looking foward to use more tough steels for my larger utility knifes

[Anonymous No.1961622]

>>1961617
All I had for finishing was an angle grinder, didn't even bother hand sanding. I put the most care in the heat treating and I've never had better results, the blades are incredibly tough
I've repurposed this old Metabo bench grinder to run belts and I'm impressed by the ceramic belt, I'll also make a filing/sanding jig and I expect my work to improve a lot

[Anonymous No.1961630]

>>1961622
yeah beltsanders are realy important, i do the finish on by handsanding or stone by hand lot of work but it makes realy hiigh end finish, but well i often sell the knifes so it is not jus tfor myself

[Anonymous No.1962179]

pls no bully

[Anonymous No.1962180]

>>1962179

[Anonymous No.1964310]

Quillion dagger WIP

[Anonymous No.1964312]

[Anonymous No.1964763]

>>1962179
no bully but some ciritcism, thse all metal axes have their place in some cases but generally you have the problem that often the vibration when you hit something hard like hardwood goes through the handle into the hand which is very bad,
otherwise, trial error and training.

[Anonymous No.1964767]

>>1964312
nice
also made a daggger recently but a swiss one

[Anonymous No.1965025]

>>1964763
Someone had previously suggested wrapping the handle with a bicycle inner tube and then the paracord to help mitigate the bad vibes.

Your thoughts?

[Anonymous No.1965026]

>>1964763
Someone had previously suggested wrapping the handle with a bicycle inner tube and then the paracord to help mitigate the bad vibes.

Your thoughts?

[Anonymous No.1965027]

>>1965026
Otherwise, it's accidentally well balanced and throws very well.

[Anonymous No.1965029]

>>1965027
The mexicans I work with asked how I welded it lol

[Anonymous No.1965184]

>>1965029
I hope that kaowool is sealed my dude, silicosis is a bad time.

[Anonymous No.1966169]

>>1965026
idk worth a try
if it is fun to throw there is nothing wrong

[Anonymous No.1966172]

i had a lil plunder recently my epoxy glue well the hardener component kind of hardened on its own.
is there any use for just the epoxy stuff?

[Anonymous No.1966178]

>>1962179
Dig it!

[Anonymous No.1966179]

>>1964310
Looks almost like it’s 3D rendered

[Anonymous No.1966273]

>>1961569
I was just about to make a blacksmithing general, good thing I found this thread

[Anonymous No.1966275]

>>1961593
Holy shit those are awesome, not a fan of the handle design myself but you did a phenomenal job on the blade

[Anonymous No.1966278]

>>1965184
>I hope that kaowool is sealed my dude, silicosis is a bad time.
if the wool isn’t completely rigidized with a heavy layer of refractory you’re taking some serious risks, your lungs will be destroyed by 30

[Anonymous No.1966281]

>>1966275
You don't like the construction of the handle or what?

[Anonymous No.1966282]

>>1966281
Just in the last two to the right, I personally prefer a slight curve to the handle with a horned cap at the end

[Anonymous No.1966288]

>>1961569
How do I make a knife from a car’s coil spring? Can I cut it up and make canister Damascus, or should I straighten out the entire spring then keep on folding it onto itself?

[Anonymous No.1966869]

>>1966288
Why do you feel the need to make that faggotry?

[Anonymous No.1966871]

Anyone doing commissions? I want a fairburn Sykes dagger

[Anonymous No.1966952]

>>1964767
Nice, I now see where the Nazis got the inspiration for the SA daggers.

>>1966179
I'm gonna take that as a compliment.

On a side note, anyone got any tips/tricks for 52100, I've heard good things but never used it before. Just bought a bunch that came on sale at my local supplier and hoping to make some kitchen knives.

[Anonymous No.1967591]

>>1966869
>Why do you feel the need to make that faggotry?
Coil springs are spring steel you moron, do you not know shit about knife steels?

[Anonymous No.1967747]

>>1967591
I hope you never succeed in anything you try and that you die like the little faggot you are

[Anonymous No.1967806]

>>1966952
nice work anon

[Anonymous No.1968110]

>>1967747
Do these three things in no particular order:
Cope
Seethe
Dilate

[Anonymous No.1969268]

>>1961569
Is S-30V forgeable?

[Anonymous No.1969347]

>>1969268
Its definitely forgeable but I imagine you might lose the super consistent and fine microstructure from the heating and cooling cycles so it might be a waste.

[Anonymous No.1969350]

>>1969268
https://www.hudsontoolsteel.com/technical-data/steelCPMS30V

[Anonymous No.1969378]

Professional Knife Designer/Scale Maker/Refinisher. A.M.A

[Anonymous No.1969457]

>>1969378
Fuck off this is not the place for you

[Anonymous No.1969729]

>>1969457
You’re probably the same faggot that posted >>1967747 and >>1966869 aren’t you?

[Anonymous No.1969731]

>>1969457
>Fuck off this is not the place for you

Imagine being this self conscious about your work. But hey, at least you are self aware enough to know you are fucking garbage.

[Anonymous No.1969736]

>>1969731
Just ignore that brain dead sperg, he likes to do this on every general thread. Back to your post, do you use a jig when grinding/sharpening a blade or do you freehand it?

[Anonymous No.1969740]

>>1969736
>Back to your post,
Nah, im not the pro guy
The retard needs to know that at least 3 people are laughing at him, probably many more lurkers too

[Anonymous No.1969745]

>>1961569
The handle seems a bit off in op's pic, doesn't it ?
t. knows nothing about blade making

[Anonymous No.1970015]

Beat a tire iron into a pointy thing just to see if I could, it throws incredibly well.

[Anonymous No.1970206]

>>1970015
You almost had me there for a second

[Anonymous No.1970640]

>>1966952
yeah the swiss claim them as national symbol but actualy there were popular in the whole southgerman area, just the swiss liked them the most.
and i think they were SS daggers, there are some later ones that are 1:1 same construction as the nazi ones

[Anonymous No.1970644]

>>1969378
hey hellow
hope you are still in the thread,
where are you based? countrywise, i mean
what are the margines and prices etc?
do you work for a company or on your own?

[Anonymous No.1970648]

>>1969745
>The handle seems a bit off in op's pic, doesn't it ?
it is, he tang was not perfectly centered, but it all works out nicely

[Anonymous No.1970649]

anyone ehre knows the best small batch epoxid 2 components glue for knife making?not looking for anyhting ridicolously expensive or special.

[Anonymous No.1970670]

Forged this yesterday. Mild steel with forge welded on cutoff from a worn farrier's rasp. It's only the third thing I have forge welded, and the first high carbon to mild steel that I have successfully done.

[Anonymous No.1970689]

>>1970670
That’s pretty based, what do you plan on using it for?

[Anonymous No.1970696]

>>1970689
The original idea was as a drawknife for metal (I have seen sword smiths do this to rough the blade in shape) but it seems to wear a bit quickly. It may have decarbed too much, or I over tempered, or I should have water quenched instead of oil. I'll try and water quench it but if it doesn't pan out, I can always lower the bevel angle and use it as a draw knife for woodworking, which is a hobby I am also just starting.

[Anonymous No.1971029]

>>1970649
I've used BladeBond Ultra for a few years, its very shockproof, high temp resistant and waterproof at a decent price. The G-flex stuff is also very good

[Anonymous No.1971230]

>>1970696
Well at the very least you can use it to shape the handles on your knives

[Anonymous No.1971233]

>>1961569
Alright so how the fuck do I put an edge on a blade once I’m done forging and heat treating? All I have to work with is an angle grinder

[Anonymous No.1971271]

>>1971233
>the very hard way
Get a sheet of glass, metal or whatever you can that's dead flat. Put some 120g paper on it, water and start scraping away at a relatively consistent angle. Once its acute, go up to 180, repeat, 240, 360 etc

[Anonymous No.1971276]

>>1971233
You should be using flap discs and there are finer grit discs to take your work pretty close to net shape. There are many interesting modern abrasives available online.

[Anonymous No.1971277]

>>1971271
Why are you telling me to use sandpaper when I own an angle grinder? How much of a sadist are you?

[Anonymous No.1971278]

>>1971276
Do you think 40, 80, and 120 grit flap disks will do the job?

[Anonymous No.1971289]

>>1971277
Well... you could try with the flap disks, but they will rapidly heat up the metal around 120g so if you even pause for a half second it will overheat the edge and then you'd be crying about me being a cunt for ruining your blade

[Anonymous No.1971292]

>>1971289
So would it be better to use the angle grinder to make the primary and secondary bevel, then quench and temper the blade?

[Anonymous No.1971293]

>>1971292
No, do it after the tempering cycle
Reason being is you don't want very fine, acute edges during the hardening process as there's a risk of decarburisation of your steel and also cracking. There's huge internal pressures on the metal once you go from 800C down to about 100C in under 5-10seconds so it can cause fractures

[Anonymous No.1971297]

>>1971293
>>1971289
So what makes an angle grinder any different than a 2x72 belt sander when it comes to heating up the blade? I see plenty of bladesmiths dipping the knives in water when using a belt sander, wouldn’t the same apply for an angle grinder?

[Anonymous No.1971422]

>>1971297
Mostly because it hot-spots areas extremely rapidly. Its not because I dislike angle grinders (and I'm a fucking surgeon with one) but its not the right tool for the job. Typically your contact point on a grinder is about an inch across and spinning at somewhere around 7-9000rpm, when I do post-heat treat grinding on a 2" I'll ramp the speed right down from 7500rpm to about 2-2500rpm and be very careful to move quickly and precisely, dip and repeat.
Plus with a grinder, you have to secure it, you can't hold it in your hand or it'll go flying across the room, back into your hand or stuck somewhere you'd rather it not be- then you'd have to rapidly un-clamp, dip and repeat on every pass. Extra heat really isn't your friend when grinding so its something to avoid at all costs even if it means going slowly, do it properly and just don't rush things. Because you can really easily fuck it up on just one wrong pass and then you're shit out of luck.

[Anonymous No.1971426]

>>1962180
Cool! Fallout-esque
>>1962179
Also cool, but what the other anon said might be avoided by giving it a really thick rubber handle instead of paracord.

[Anonymous No.1971544]

>>1971422
So how would you recommend making the secondary edge bevel if I don’t have a 2x72 grinder? Files will do basically nothing post quenching as far as I’m aware

[Anonymous No.1971570]

>>1971544
I would just do it with stones. A secondary bevel is very small and can be done by hand pretty quickly. Especially if you have diamond stones. You can also do the sandpaper stuck to glass thing like the other guy said.

[Anonymous No.1971658]

Here was my first and only knife I ever made so far in my life... After forging and twisting. I just did this with a rosebud tip on a torch.

[Anonymous No.1971660]

>>1971658
After shaping and polishing the blade up some... Went with a tanto style point obviously.

[Anonymous No.1971662]

>>1971660
And finished product. Ended up giving it away on an online forum gift exchange. I used a Lansky system to sharpen it up and it was sharp as fuck. The guys dad actually used it for shucking some oysters and cut himself pretty badly. I dunno how well it held an edge as it was obviously not proper knife steel.

I'm planning on knocking another knife out here before Christmas for a kitchen knife for my wife. I'm making this one out of some Hardox that I salvaged from the gravel pit on our place... Still not proper knife steel, but higher carbon content than mild for sure.

[Anonymous No.1971666]

>>1971662
>>1971660
>>1971658
For a first ever knife, on a railroad spike nonetheless, that’s pretty good

[Anonymous No.1971667]

>>1971666
Thanks Anon! For this next one I'll be doing less forging and more grinding. I need to throw together one of those beveling jigs for my angle grinder. This one will have a proper handle with scales.

[Anonymous No.1971672]

>>1971667
Is that Hardox steel you plan on using at least medium carbon?

[Anonymous No.1971688]

>>1971672
From what I have read the steel should be hardox 450 which should have a carbon content of 0.23%. Not ideal but better than plain old mild steel!

[Anonymous No.1971691]

>>1971688
Imo if you’re going to make a knife you should just shell out the $20 it costs to get proper high carbon blade stock. Making knives out of mild steel is kind of pointless because at the end you can’t even use what you put all your effort into

[Anonymous No.1971962]

>>1971688
Hardox is mostly used on stuff like skid plates, dozer and scraper blades, its not a particularly good knife steel unless you're making something like mulcher or chipper blades. Very tough, but you don't really need that kind of strength considering it'll only be powered by your arm.
1074 and 1085 are good choices for starting out- cheap, forges, heat treats easily in canola or motor oil and produces very good results to the point that people continue using it well into their careers. You could look at 1095, W1 and W2 but personally I find it a complete pain in the arse as it needs a fast-oil and its not very strong.
80CRV2 is also a great 'bit better' all rounder like 1085 with some added vanadium to give it edge holding and usually is a teeny bit more expensive.

If you just buy it with a mill-finish it'll keep costs down and after all you're just going to be beating on it and grinding it anyway so there's no need for precision ground stock

[Anonymous No.1972016]

>>1971570
Alright, thanks for the advice. I’ve forged a knife into shape a long time ago but never put an edge on, I guess now I know I need a set of sharpening stones first

[Anonymous No.1972315]

Here is a 12 inch carving knife I made from W2 steel stock removal and a hand forged fork. Made it for a friends bday. Ive got some other cool knives Ive made if anyone is interested.

[Anonymous No.1972357]

>>1972315
Beautiful figure on the timber, the fork turned out great too

[Anonymous No.1972391]

>>1972357
Thanks. Very fun project. The handle materials are almost more interesting or exciting than getting the best quality and function from the steels.

This one is stabilized spalted tamarind, ebony, and cpm s35vn, which is a pain in the ass to work with, but a good stainless.

[Anonymous No.1972443]

>>1972391
I haven't made anything from S35VN, mostly because the steel is kind of cripplingly expensive for the amounts I'd want to use it in. So most of my stainless knives are in N690. Still doing a lot in Voestalpine 26C3 which is sort of becoming my preferred high carbon steel for kitchen and smaller knives, it takes a really viciously sharp edge without too much effort and happily sits in the 64-66HRC range well enough.
Also takes a hamon really easily too if that's what you like to do, I've done it a couple of times but for now just leaving it out and going for a dark acid finish instead.

Finding good timber at the moment has been kind of hard, I've blown through a lot of my better stuff so this is the last of my stabilised Tasmanian Blackwood and Myrtle I've got a couple of bits of burl left and a few planks of unstabilised timber left I might use in some things, but not sure if I can get them done in time for xmas

[Anonymous No.1972445]

Its dark as shit here so sorry for lack of lighting, its a shed, not a studio :)
Some little 4" fish and game knives also out of 26C3 I did a few of, these I went the full bluing on though and really just a G10 scale with stainless pins and a turquoise inlay along the spine for the pretty.

I also blew through a lot of kydex so its time to also go throw money at them.

[Anonymous No.1972587]

>>1971691
Mild steel knives are underrated
Obviously a real blade steel is going to give you a better result, and if you're choosing a material you should go with what works best. If you have easy access to good stock definitely go with it.
But if all you've conveniently got is random mystery steel don't let that stop you, you can still make perfectly usable knives out of it. They might not get quite as sharp, hold an edge as well or survive abuse, but you can make pretty much anything cut, and really for 80% of what most people use knives for that's plenty good enough.
Hell, I have a little draw knife made from a chunk of rebar. It's not as nice as a real one, partly because of the material and partly because of my lack of skill, but it does what I needed it to, took less time to make than it would have taken to go buy one, and I still use it once in a while when I just need to shave down a chunk of 2x4 for something.

[Anonymous No.1972642]

>>1972443
Nice work. That 26c3 looks like a very cool steel. Ive wanted to mess around with the japanese paper steels and this looks like a great way to do that without paying an obscene amount of money to for it.
Ive been dabbling in japanese natural whetstones to polish, sharpen and refurbish japanese knives, so hamons are something I am very interested in making, but I still havent gotten it down with w2 yet.

[Anonymous No.1972644]

>>1972587
Knife people, in general, worry to much about the steel and too little about the blade profile and edge geometry for the task at hand.

[Anonymous No.1972690]

>>1972587
Rebar is medium carbon steel though and thus hardenable. Theoretically, there have been people that have hardened mild steel via "super quench" quenchents. I've never tried this before and have no idea if it is for reals. I kind of agree with the other anon that for something you put this much effort into, and given the cheap price of hardenable steel, you should probably go with a known quantity. I have done stuff out of leaf spring and file but at least I know it is hardenable, even though the precise specs for doing so the best way are not known.

[Anonymous No.1972705]

>>1972644
I agree with you regarding the people online that autistically compare the very minor differences between different blade steels, but edge geometry means absolutely zero if you’re using a mild steel blade that can’t harden. I don’t care if you know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guys cousin that made a blade out of mild steel, it is NOT knife steel and never will be

[Anonymous No.1972725]

>>1972642
Yep, it was originally created as a razor and scalpel steel so it has extremely minimal amounts of phosphorus and sulphur, the rest is just 1.2% carbon, a bit of chromium, silicon and manganese. I really like the Hitachi steels but the Japs are so autistic about letting it out of the country and really don't like selling it to humble home beaters unless you're buying it by the tonne. So for a non-powder, low-no impurity carbon steel the Voestalpine products are much easier to find in large plates at what I consider a reasonable price.
Its not 1095 or W2 cheap and its hard to get outside of 3mm strip form though. You could probably sandwich it between some 420SS, nickel and make a decent san-mai out of it though

[Anonymous No.1972728]

>>1972705
Say modern knife steel and I'll agree with you 100%. Here are a few links to show what unhardened steel can do.

Here is a tested and documented claim:
http://cliffstamp.com/knives/reviews/tension_bar_proto.html

Watch this video using 304 stainless:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PuuTbbsbNq4

[Anonymous No.1972733]

>>1972705
Humanity made blades out of copper and bronze for thousands of years

[Anonymous No.1972745]

>>1972733
We also used horses as our primary means of transportation for thousands of years. The future is now, old man

[Anonymous No.1972754]

>>1972733
Bronze and copper work harden differently from steel. Bronze alloying must have some effect on edge stability too.

I'm told knife-shaped objects of bronze are still used in environments were a spark will kill everyone in the building.

[Anonymous No.1972763]

>>1972754
>I'm told knife-shaped objects of bronze are still used in environments were a spark will kill everyone in the building.
Wtf? What kind of job involves being constantly surrounded by open flammable liquids and gasses?

[Anonymous No.1972767]

>>1972754
Hammers mostly, the berylium-copper alloy is mostly preferred for whomping on things which might explode

>>1972763
Quite a few, anyone working near fireworks, flour mills, petroleum products, liquid gas, fertilisers, rocket fuel etc
Doesn't take too much to kick off a world ending fireball and technology has provided us all manner of horrible occupations involving shit that explodes

[Anonymous No.1972806]

>>1961569
Why do so many people hear treat using an oven? Don’t they know a differential heat treat using a torch is superior?

[Anonymous No.1972840]

>>1972806
I heat treat with molten salt.

[Anonymous No.1972848]

>>1972840
Please explain what sort of electrical contraption I’m looking at right now

[Anonymous No.1972864]

>>1972848
Graphite crucible, induction heater, thermocouple, 48v power supply.

[Anonymous No.1972869]

>>1972806
Technically you are creating a zone around the heat treated zone that is in the blue embrittlement range. Does this have a noticeable effect? I have no idea. But it is theoretically better to raise everything to temp but mask off areas you don't want to harden with refractory or clay like the Japanese do.

[Anonymous No.1972871]

>>1972733
Copper would probably suck, but bronze can work harden pretty decently. Blades were cast and then edges peened cold to work harden them. You may be able to do this with mild steel, as it would also work harden. I'm guessing it doesn't harden much though or it would be a more widespread practice.

[Anonymous No.1972880]

>>1969729
He's right though, it would be faggot welded steel.

[Anonymous No.1972947]

i need your help /bmg/
my brother got into drugs bad, went to jail for a while, went through that cycle a few times
but he's been out since february, and he's really gotten into blade making. i figure he picked it up in jail. he's gotten a few tools for it, and recently assembled a little furnace in the garage
i want to encourage him in this hobby. anything's better than being bored and turning back to drugs
so what can i get him for christmas that a blade maker would want

[Anonymous No.1972958]

>>1972947
How much are you looking to spend?

If you are willing to spend a few hundred dollars, then a real anvil or a 2x72 grinder. There is a bit of research involved for the anvil (and probably the grinder too but I don't know much about this subject) so if you are interested I can type you a summary. Unless you are very lucky this will be decently expensive though.

[Anonymous No.1972973]

Just built an angle grinder beveling jig tonight. What angle are you guys beveling your blades to before the final sharpening?

[Anonymous No.1972981]

>>1961622
Learn how to forge-to-finish and only grind the very edge. It's way quicker than grinding.

[Anonymous No.1972994]

>>1972806
I use an electric-gas kiln with a thermocouple because I can't be fucked guessing temps or staring into a pit of IR radiation
Differential treating I just clay-satanite the back of the bits I don't want hard

>>1972840
Very cool, I'd probably kill myself with it

[Anonymous No.1972996]

>>1972947
Good set of files is always handy, a nice 10-12" bastard and set of tiny fine or diamond ones will always come in handy.
Fucking dremels. as much as the shit me still gets used basically all the time. A 4.5 or 5" angle grinder and 1mm cut off and flap disks also gets a lot of work too.

[Anonymous No.1973001]

>>1972958
i was looking to spend somewhere between $100-$200
where do real anvils come from

>>1972996
thanks for the tips

[Anonymous No.1973005]

>>1972871
>You may be able to do this with mild steel, as it would also work harden. I'm guessing it doesn't harden much though or it would be a more widespread practice.

as i understand it used to be common practice to peen scythe blades to get them to hold a proper edge

[Anonymous No.1973006]

>>1972958
were do you find a real anvil for a few hundred dollars?

[Anonymous No.1973012]

>>1973005
>as i understand it used to be common practice to peen scythe blades to get them to hold a proper edge
They where hammered to be thin. The final bit was always touched up with a stone.

[Anonymous No.1973045]

>>1973006
About all you'd get for 200 is one of the smaller farriers portable anvils, which are actually quite good for small work and shaping
Another thing which is quite handy is a drill press, even a fairly budget one with 5 speeds is just got a heap of uses and infinitely better than a hand drill

[Anonymous No.1973282]

>>1973001
Most will be higher than that though this depends heavily on luck and your area (places that were heavily populated back when anvils were still a common thing will have better prices) but just start looking on CL or whatever. There is one new one currently on the market that supposedly works. The main thing is that most new ones are cast iron and thus too soft. You want forged or cast steel. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075YSCQ4Q/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_mom0FbXG10NZS

Its not perfect. For example, the prichel hole is basically worthless since this was designed by since retard who has no idea what they're doing. But it's is hardened steel.

Otherwise, I'd go on Craigslist and look for the heaviest one with good edges and face. That is also forged or cast with hardened face or all hard.

>>1973006
Used with luck or that one cast steel one lol.

[Anonymous No.1974115]

Heirloom fitted the spacers, made the pommel and threaded the tang.

>>1967806
Cheers

>>1972315
Gorgeous work, that fork is choice.

>>1972947
If he doesn't have some already, I'd argue for a good set of digital calipers. Being able to accurately measure makes a huge difference in quality in my limited experience.

[Anonymous No.1974926]

>>1971029
>BladeBond Ultra
damn, it's sold out. at amazon it seems huh

[Anonymous No.1974929]

>>1973045
drill presses are realy important i got a cheap one , supreme chinese tooling, you hurt by just touching the finish, as it is rough af but it somehow works with some modification
buy him a drill press or some beltsander.
>>1973006

[Anonymous No.1975289]

>>1972763
My father worked with petrol transport, pipeline, storage and delivery. He had a complete set of bronze tools. Hammers, pliers, specialty wrenches

[Anonymous No.1975372]

Just finished this one 2night. Really liked how it turned out :)