TransplantHunter
Active member
With winter settling in, I was trying to find something that would occupy a little of my time. I saw online that you could make your own knife so I decided that it would be fun to give it a go. Away to amazon and I ordered some 1084 steel for the forgiveness that it affords in the heat treating step. The 6 pack of bar stock arrived and I quickly got to work.
I found a template that I liked online and traced that onto my bar stock. Some gentle cutting with the cut disc on an angle grinder made quick work of the bulk portion so I was left with using a file to shape the blade the rest of the way. After several hours of grinding with a file, I had it in the shape that I wanted.
Next up was the heat treat. I was able to use some lump charcoal and blow some air through it in order to get my blade up to temperature. While I cannot be certain of its exact temperature. I made sure to raise the temp to just above the point where the steel becomes non-magnetic. I heated it up and let it air cool back down to room temp 2 times in order to normalize the steel. Then, on the third cycle, I quenched the blade in oil. Luckily, I had no warping and was able to move on to the tempering stage. I put the blade into a 390 degree oven for 2 hours, then air cooled, and then back into the oven for 2 more hours to ensure a good temper.
While that was happening, I made a handle out of cherry that came from where I grew up in Pennsylvania. The wood was made about 30 years ago from some cheery trees that we had and my dad turned into lumber - so I thought it would be nice to have a little callback to my dad.
Anyhow, after some polishing and sanding - I have everything assembled and ready to go. I treated the handle with Tung Oil so it should be pretty well protected. The only thing I have left to do is sharpen it on some whetstones and make a sheath for it. (Picked up some Kydex so I will do that soon).
Anyhow, I have 5 more pieces of metal so I might try and make a few more blades. It was a fun experiment and I think I know where I can make some improvements in the process. Anyhow, thanks for checking it out!
I found a template that I liked online and traced that onto my bar stock. Some gentle cutting with the cut disc on an angle grinder made quick work of the bulk portion so I was left with using a file to shape the blade the rest of the way. After several hours of grinding with a file, I had it in the shape that I wanted.
Next up was the heat treat. I was able to use some lump charcoal and blow some air through it in order to get my blade up to temperature. While I cannot be certain of its exact temperature. I made sure to raise the temp to just above the point where the steel becomes non-magnetic. I heated it up and let it air cool back down to room temp 2 times in order to normalize the steel. Then, on the third cycle, I quenched the blade in oil. Luckily, I had no warping and was able to move on to the tempering stage. I put the blade into a 390 degree oven for 2 hours, then air cooled, and then back into the oven for 2 more hours to ensure a good temper.
While that was happening, I made a handle out of cherry that came from where I grew up in Pennsylvania. The wood was made about 30 years ago from some cheery trees that we had and my dad turned into lumber - so I thought it would be nice to have a little callback to my dad.
Anyhow, after some polishing and sanding - I have everything assembled and ready to go. I treated the handle with Tung Oil so it should be pretty well protected. The only thing I have left to do is sharpen it on some whetstones and make a sheath for it. (Picked up some Kydex so I will do that soon).
Anyhow, I have 5 more pieces of metal so I might try and make a few more blades. It was a fun experiment and I think I know where I can make some improvements in the process. Anyhow, thanks for checking it out!
