Gripes

HI guys.like your grit v-57.I am a disabled vet,and don"t have much to spent on tools.I have been able to just require a coote grinder.thought it would make allthe diffrent in the world.man!!just like tring to make my first knive by hand.not that i am a pro or anything.I have made a total of about 7 knives.but i like that feeling of how it looks at the end.OH guys,,any one know where i can get a used variable motor cheap!!!!!I am running a half hp on my grinder right now.NO power of coure,and can"t afford the the price they want out there.this site is great. rb out

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Right on guys. You tell them Bruce. I never expected this kind of response. Excellent thread. Cory

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" I am a shootist."
Clay Allison
" Does this mean we are bladists?"
Vaquero57
McAlpin Bladesmithing
 
Good responses from everyone on this subject. I will never get big expensive equipment as I already have enough to take the hard work out of making knives. It will be replaced as needed. The hammering is hard on my body so I built a press. I dont heal as fast as I use to. I too love the looks of that Neo Made knife! I just dont think I can do it that way phyically. My joints are wearing thin. The money invested now can be liquidized someday to take my grandchildren to Disneyworld.
 
Take a look in the latest issue of Tactical Knives... I made every knife featured in that article with equipment that cost under $2K..
I have better equipment now but that doesnt mean anything... My shop was an old house with no air, no heat, no water etc....
I have now moved out of Little Beirut and into a better shop, BUT its by no means a SUPER SHOP!!! I envy guys like Bob T. and Bob L... etc.... If I ever get my shop THAT together we may have something!

Take Care
Tracew Rinaldi
 
DAMN California edu... I mispelled my OWN name!!!! Sorry I dont know how to edit posts:)

Take Care
TRACE RINALDI
 
Wow, this is an intense thread!

I made my first one with files, out of a file and a 25 year old buffing wheel I found in the door of my dad's radial arm saw. I was 14 then. At 22 I have a pretty damn nice shop. But that's still 6, very close to seven years now since I started. I think the main breaking point is simply where you go from just doing it to see what you can make to see what you can make and how much you can get for it.

Everyone has posted good points.

That Tai knife is awesome!!! He made a bar of meteorite damascus for a dagger on the cover of KI that Bill Wolf made that was just as cool (several issues back).

The tools aren't a neccessity. It's all about perspective though. No power tools are neccessary for Tim Lively to make some awesome knives
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But for the way I make them, and Mayo and Hossom and Loveless and on and on, tools a neccessity to do it FAST enough and make money at it.

I don't know, it's all good in my book!
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Trace, just click on the little icon of a paper and pen on the top of your post and you can edit your messages.
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Nick
 
I have to agree with what everyone has said here I work in my parents garage on a very cluttered workbench I've been selling my knives now for about 18 months an I like most
people wanted what the"pros" were using before I was going to be happy to sell my knives. How ever Ijust could not afford it.
I lost interest for a little while until a customer who had seen some of my first knives
phoned and asked me to make him a knife to hunt pigs. So I forged my blank from 5160 and just got down to making his knife, he loves it and has since ordered another 7 knives (he is also a collector) I guess what
I'am trying to say is that yes it would be great to have workshops the likes of Bob Terazula or Tom Mayo (tom I've seen some shots in various blade mags)but once I learnt
to use what I had to its full potential I dont think i would swap it for anything else.
So I have a small contact wheel and cant hollow grind but there are other knife makers close by that I can send a customer to if he want's a hollow ground blade.My grinding is done on a 48" multi-tool (I don't know if there available in the USA but they attatch to the spinble of an 8" bench grinder.this will have to do me until i can afford a better machine.
I don't know if this has helped any but good luck with the knife making.

[This message has been edited by steve porter (edited 01-02-2001).]
 
Yeah, I hear ya Vaq ol' Buddy. The first knife I made was done with files and sandpaper. Took a while, but then again I didn't know my butt from a bagel either. My brother-in-law saw that blade and it was gone. He loved it, keeps it in a little box all wrapped up in cotton. He has used it the last two hunting seasons and as yet has not had to sharpen it. This makes me proud cuz that blade is crude but a useful tool. About the time I finished the aforementioned knife, my father-in-law surprized me one evening with a ride to Bruce Evans shop. Man was I impressed. This guy makes his living doing what I wish I could. His shop is impressive to say the least.He has the advantage of his parents own a junk (salvage) yard. When I first meet him, he opened his shop and himself up to me and made me feel at home. He demoed how to weld up a cable billet - with his homemade gas forge, using a post vice that is at least 100 years old to twist the cable up tight. Hammered out the billet on an anvil he got from a fellow he stopped to help on the side of the road, with an old hammer he found at a flea market, ground out on a homemade grinder. He has a cheap bench grinder set up for buffing. A little bandsaw and drillpress
from loews. If he needs something, he makes it usually or finds a broke rusted forgotten orphan and coaxes it to life. I have discovered that in large measure, the joy and satisfaction of a well made blade is thoroughly enhanced and hieghtened when you have to stretch your ingenuity to complete it. Furthermore, the openness and true friendship that good folks like Bruce, Mr. Goddard and the like offer for no charge completes the package. We've all seen the quality of Bruce's work and I feel safe in saying he is living proof that a passion fully pursued finds its own solutions. So dude the question to ask is "how bad do I want to do this?" Don't stop stirring the pot my friend cuz you get us talking and I for one learn more and more from the discussions.

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Who is John Galt?
 
Sharing is the name of the game in my book.People have helped me out at no expense to me so I feel it only proper to pass on the knowledge to others at no expense.
The only time I get bummed is when someone comes to the shop and I spend a day or two helping them build a knife with me doing allot of the work as they want to watch and then try.Then leave the shop with a knife and then never here from them again,and then here from someone in town that that guy is telling everybody that I made him a special knife for FREE,And they never will or have made a knife by themselves and just used me for a free knife.But I put those experiences behind me and help the next one the best I can......
Bruce

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Bruce Evans Handcrafted Knives
The soul of the Knife begins in the Fire!!!!!
Member of,AKTI#A000223 and The American Bladesmith Society
 
Yeah Bruces work is awesome and although he forges andf I do not I know that one of his main grinders is the same thing I use a cheap 4x36. They are cheap but they do work. Thanks everyone for the awesome responses. This is cool.

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" I am a shootist."
Clay Allison
" Does this mean we are bladists?"
Vaquero57
McAlpin Bladesmithing
 
It is intimidating when U look at the whole picture of knife making and the equipment used by some makers. I got lucky and can use someone elses shop and still pay for school. Everyone starts at the bottom and works their way up...I am buying tools 1 @ a time and storing them in my bed room at home till I can set up a shop....The high dollar tools just make it easier for the makers who pay their bill with knife making.

Just my 2 cents

Otha
 
One of the great things about stock removal is you can do it almost anywhere. If you have a place where you can use a forge though, bladesmithing can be a lot cheaper. I have less than a thousand dollars invested in my entire shop set up and half of that is in the ramada style structure. My main forge cost me $50. Tongs, hammers, files, and punches cost me around a hundred for the basic ones and that allowed me to make more myself for free. My anvil is a 4 x 4 inch stock of mild steel stuck in the ground and it cost 15 cents a pound and came to under a hundred dollars. My post vise was $75. Everything else I scrounged up from garage sales or used tools shops, salvage yards, and the occational bargin on ebay. My main source of blade steel is from US vehicle leaf springs (5160) made in the 50s & 60s. I bought the entire set off of a 57 Dodge 1/2 ton pick up for $80 and that was enough steel to make over a hundred bowies and whole bunch of smaller knives. My fuel is natural charcoal and I can make it for free when I have the time but I usually buy it commercially made for $8.50 for 40 pounds. I burn about 2 pounds a hour of forging. I don't use electricity or gas so there's more savings. I have that cursed disease that makes me buy tools even when I don't need them too. I have so many hand cranked blowers now they are begining to look like yard art. I don't make boat loads of money as a professional knifemaker but my bills get paid and I somehow, with my wife paycheck too, am putting my oldest daughter through college and bought here a decent vehicle to get there and back. She still lives at home.
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I am not bragging here, I'm just saying I do OK to prove a point that you can make it without the use of expensive machinery. My work is forged to shape so closely that I just don't need a grinder. I do have a little hand cranked one but it is such a pain in the butt to use that it has been sitting in the shed lately. Files are easier for the little amount of stock removal I do. My knives generally have a hammered finish but there are others out there that finish them like stock removalist do only they use files. Folks like Tai Goo, Phillip Jones and Wolfgang Loerchner have shown that amazing work can be acomplished with basic files. Big bucks are not a requirement to be a good knifemaker. Enthusiasm is the key. I'm not going to change any of the old dogs minds around here but I hope I at least present an alternative to the beginers.

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http://www.livelyknives.com
 
Lively, God bless you people. I looked at your site, and Man I am IMPRESSED! I did not know what Neo-Tribal knives were but from what I saw about how you all make knives. That is what knife making is all about!!! Makes me feel bad(or spoiled) with all the "stuff" I have to have. My hat is off to you guys. I am going to look into this more. The guy complaining about the grinders needs to look at your site. Makes me want to go get a file and a couple of rocks and make a knife. Once again, I am impressed!!
 
I don't think that he was complaining about the grinders.Just the fact that some people make the newbie believe that without all the fancy equipment they will never make quality knives,Which in my book is totaly wrong.
Bruce

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Bruce Evans Handcrafted Knives
The soul of the Knife begins in the Fire!!!!!
Member of,AKTI#A000223 and The American Bladesmith Society
asmallpicofbruceforforums.jpg
 
Thanks Mark,
We have a tribe in your area. North Carolina. They call themselves the Blue Ridge Tribe and they get together on full moons sometimes and BBQ and forge and talk knives and such. It's a lot of fun. There's some great talent there. If you're interested I can give you the contact info.
timlively@eudoramail.com

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http://www.livelyknives.com
 
What can I say? I'm just a tool junky.

Having a grinder is no more necessary than having a forge. Hacksaw, hammer, and a few files will do the trick. Send it out and have it heat treated. Put it together.

I think the line might be drawn where a guy is just making a knife or two in his lifetime, or plans to make a living at it. I'm not trying discourage anyone wanting to learn to make knives. I've probably taught as many people how to do it as anybody. I'll never turn a guy away if he really has the desire. Good equipment, and I didn't say what, or how expensive, is the only way to go. Find the way you enjoy making them and improve on that.

Just thought I'd add this to keep the thread going strong.


 
That's the nice thing about knives, making them, collecting them or just liking them. It's all about enjoyment and whatever you like.

For a number of years I hobbied at woodworking. Although I did acquire a few good power tools I took a lot of pride in my work and did most of the work by hand, at my own pace. Everything that left my shop was individual and personal. Some days I would sit out there all evening and sharpen the blades for my handplanes. I really loved woodworking. Than a friend got me into a really sweet deal, he hooked me up with a unfinished furniture outlet. Pretty soon I might have an order for 7 or more cabinets etc. a week (this is a hobby, not my day job). I bought more tools to make the job easier, and faster, and I turned out a whole lot of stuff I felt no pride in. To make a long story a little shorter, I no longer work at my hobby and once again it is a treasure to me.

Now don't take me wrong, those who have chosen to make knives for your living, I admire you (and your knives)and there is nothing wrong with having the tools you need. For myself, I am happiest sitting in my shop working steel with my files and paper. But then again it doesn't have to pay the bills! DH
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">I am happiest sitting in my shop working steel with my files and paper. But then again it doesn't have to pay the bills!</font>
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Yep. I make knives for fun. If I had to depend on it to pay the bills it would not be nearly as much fun.

Making knives is like a vacation with your mistress. Making it pay the bills too is like having your mother-in-law along.
 
If you have to make and sell a certain number of knives a month,(to operate your your business)then you can't afford to spend alot of hand time on details that an expensive machine will accomplish in a very short time. You can sell a knife for x amount of dollars and only afford to spend x amount of time on it. At the same time you have to maintain the quality so these machines are the answer for that.
 
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