Knives

[Lance]

Dadgum ya'll! Those are some awesome knives!! Didn't know we had a few folks on here that could make knives like that! I'm impressed! Do any of ya'll take orders for knives??

I lost my shop last year to one of the many wildfires that hit Texas. I lost twenty years worth of tools that I had put together that I used to make my knives, spurs and bits. I have slowly been buying a little here and there but it will be awhile before I get enough to make it feasible to start takeing orders again. It takes so long to make one with what I have right now. I hope to have my new shop finished and  be back at it by this time next year.

[DARDEN]

My step da takes orders he does anything from pig stickers to everyday carry knifes with like 3 inch blades such as that one with the triple bs on it that's just a fixed blade pocket knife! Thank Tex you need to use that thing on a big Bo hog you will not be dissappinted!

[DARDEN]

Another one my step dad finished for my buddy.

[charles]

 has any1 ever made a knife outa spring steel? i some leafsprings outa my pig waggon that i was thinkn bout heatn up, flatn out and make a cutter out of it. i know them springs are hard, yet flexible and was thinkn it would make a good knife. my dad made a couple knives outa spring steel wear band when he was workn at a foundry but it didnt hold an edge good. i bought an eyebrand knife, its hard to get an edge on it once its dulled out bad, but will hold for multiple deer, say around 5 and thats even ringing the leg joints instead of cutting them off with a saw.

[WayOutWest]

I've made a couple, one worked one didn't. I didn't normalize the blade on the first and when I quenched it it bent on me. Had to heat and cool 3 times and then it worked well. Keeps a pretty good edge but hard to sharpen.

[Lance]

Charles, spring steel makes a very good blade if it is done right. Rudy Ruana, who was one of the three big custom knife makers during the 1940's-1970's along with Bill Scagel and Bill Moran, made his knives out of automotive spring steel and they are still some of the best knives ever made. People are still using his knives and some of them are over 60-70 years old and are worth several thousand dollars to collectors. I would'nt use the springs off of your trailer though. I would get a spring off of an old Ford or Chevy because the new springs are not made out of as high quality steel as the old ones, kind of like the vehicles they come on are not as high quality. When I first started makeing knives I made them out of spring steel, files,hoof rasp and saw mill blades because they were cheap and easy to get and held a good edge. One good thing about spring steel is that it is not as hard to sharpen as a knife made from a file. I can talk you through most of it over the phone and if there is something that I can't then you don't live very far away. They're pretty easy to make the poor boy way which is how all knife makers start out. Just let me know when you get ready to start.

[tuskbuster]

what Lance an WOW  said,dont set yourself up for failure right out the gate. you can buy enough good new steel to make 3 or 4 big blades from any of the knife supply houses for 15 or 20 bucks.Jantz here in davis,okla, or texas knife maker.new 5160[springsteel] is pretty cheap and forgivin  for first timers.another thing ,start with a smaller blade first ,nothin thicker than 1/8 in.it always helps get ya goin on the right track.  have fun guys

[charles]

Wayoutwest, that sounds like that german steel knives iv got a couple of. Hard to sharpen, but holds once the edge is there.

Lance i will get up with you in the nxt few wks obce i get some of my other irons in fire finished. I got more irons in the fire than an ironsmith

[Lance]

Tuskbuster makes a good point. It's best to start out with a knife that is not very big, not very thick and not very fancy. Just a good plain looking using knife, like a capeing knife or a fixed blade skinner with a 3- 3 1/2 inch blade with a full tang, wooden scale handle. Like he said, through one of the supply stores you can get bar stock ( 01 or D2 tool steel would be good to start out with ) that is already annealed and precision ground to what ever thickness you want and the price is within most peoples budget. After you make your blade you can either send it in to them to heat treat or you can do it yourself.

[MrsLouisianaHogDog]

Beautiful craftsmanship all y'all! I'd love me one like that one day if I can ever afford it! Very nice.

[charles]

 lance, there was a guy askn bout how to inset a "ma-duce" ejector/primer base into a knife handle. that got me to thinkn about using a 30mm or a 25mm casing for a handle. whats your thoughts? i could put it in a vise to flatn out the roundness to make it more handle like, but i like to be unique. it would slicker than owl poo on a hickery limb, what could i use to rough up the casing if it was left round? i dont have a lathe to run a checkering wheel over it, so what could i use instead?

[Lance]

lance, there was a guy askn bout how to inset a "ma-duce" ejector/primer base into a knife handle. that got me to thinkn about using a 30mm or a 25mm casing for a handle. whats your thoughts? i could put it in a vise to flatn out the roundness to make it more handle like, but i like to be unique. it would slicker than owl poo on a hickery limb, what could i use to rough up the casing if it was left round? i dont have a lathe to run a checkering wheel over it, so what could i use instead?

It would work just fine and I would'nt flatten it out or rough it up. I would just buff the heck out of it and make it shine like a new penny but if you did rough it up I would just use a hand engraver like you would use to put your initials on your tools and just rough up the whole surface of the shell. It would'nt be much different than using the crown ( base ) part of a deer horn. You would just have to use more epoxy but that's no big deal. The thing is you will have to make a hidden tang knife with a slotted finger guard that will slide up the tang and but up to the base of the blade. That guard will need to be silver saughtered to the blade to keep it from moving around but I can do that for you or try to show you how to do it. I think it would look real cool and unique. This is fun, I love talking knives !