Any knife makers on here?

[Jolley78MT]

Jpadia I love the looks of your loveless style drop points, very nice.

Fwiw I've made my living making knives for more than 20 years. Made my first knife in 1998.

As many already suggested you can put your own grinder together and really don't need much to get started. Grinder, drill press, vise, torch and a few hand tools files etc will get you started

I can almost guarantee that you will spend more on materials than what you would need to spend on equipment to get started.

If it were me I would start with a good forgiving Carbon steel to get your feet wet. 0-1 and 1095 are two that come to mind.

You can pm me anytime if I can be of assistance.

Here's a couple I just finished up

 

[sahunter06]

Good looking knives. Many opinions. You’ll need to have a budget and stick to it. I’ve been at this for over a decade myself as a hobby. Quality not quantity. Forge and stock removal.

As for beginner forging steels, many mastersmiths advise 1084, 5160 or W2 ( hamon) because of the ease of forging, normalizing and tempering.

Stock removal I’ll use SS series 440c, AEB-L, cpm154. You want high chromium above 12% in those steels which provide the water resistant ( ability to pit from water stains) unlike high carbon steels.

As far as the 8670 ( from Pops) you can forge it or stock removal just like 1084. 8670 is heat treat ready 1500 10 minutes, Parks 50 then slap between aluminum plates to reduce warp. Temper cycles vary on your Rc. I’ve gotten 58-62 depending on your temper cycles. I live down the road from Pops and have many discussions about steel and their properties.

It’s easy to let the equipment expenses get away from you.
If you have any questions shoot me a message.
There are plenty of discussions/pictures about knives throughout the Slide so look around.

 

[madtinker]

Thanks guys. When I asked about knife makers I never thought I’d get this many, let alone this quality. Any knife posted here I’d have been super proud to have made. I’ll be sure to reach out once I get things rolling.