Life lessons for the knife maker

Drill spirals on the floor can get embedded in the sole of your boot. Anything your boot walks on can get damaged quickly. My hardwood floors bear a few scars.

Wherever you do work, practice dropping something. See how much damage it takes, and where it rolls off to. Take countermeasures. Rubber horse stall mats are great for me.

If you have a gap between your work rest and your belt, this creates a pinch point. Your work piece may get pulled into the gap. Your fingers may follow. This happens more easily if a flat platen is set at an angle. I now use a flat piece of steel clamped to the work rest as a "bridge" over the gap to protect the survivors of the fingernail assault.

Tacking on to the "don't work tired" - fatigue creeps up on you. The smaller muscles that you rely on for balance, fine motor skills, etc may not feel "exhausted" but they may be less than 100%. These can cause errors. If you work a needle file on a guard, you may be unable to keep the intended angle. A sore neck might distract you while grinding.
 
Have the first aid kit and phone handy.
If you have never walked away or not started because you were too tired to work safe, you have worked too tired to be safe. Happens to us all.
Get a hepa filter for the shop vac.
Coarse belts work fast, cause errors fast. Stop before you think they are done for fewer mistakes.
 
One of my biggest lessons to new makers is to NEVER catch a case of the "Good Enoughs." Some people operate in this way generally, and it doesn't mesh well with making knives. If you think something is "good enough" it probably isn't. Don't just ship it out when you KNOW you could improve the piece.

Another symptom of the "Good Enoughs" is that you never push yourself beyond your comfort zone and learn how to make things better. This is all most important when it comes to fit and finish.
 
Knight Owl Forge said:
One of my biggest lessons to new makers is to NEVER catch a case of the "Good Enoughs." Some people operate in this way generally, and it doesn't mesh well with making knives. If you think something is "good enough" it probably isn't. Don't just ship it out when you KNOW you could improve the piece.
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I disagree, with every piece there will come a point where your option is either declare it good enough and finish it, or throw it in the garbage. If you chase perfection you will never finish anything.
There are also questions of process: i can only work to maybe 0.2mm or 0.1mm precision, if I did 3d cad models and sent them to a high end machine shop the knives could be a couple of orders of magnitude more precise. I've decided that isn't interesting, and that my hand work is good enough.

You should try to make each one better than the last though.
 
Joker66 said:
When I start having problems while grinding, almost always they vanish with a fresh belt.
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I've noticed this myself. I always use a fresh belt before doing a scotchbrite finish. If doing scotchbrite finishes, start with a fresh 220 grit belt, then use all four of the scotchbrite grits. I use to skip the coarsest and finest belt, but there is a big difference in the finish.
 
If you quote a set of identical knives using stag/antler or the like, be prepared to suffer finding all the needed matching sets... a lot.
If you do a lot of knives, it pays to spend time improving processes, even when some of them fail miserably, the ones that are keepers will save you time for the rest of your career...
Help other knifemakers and knifemakers to be, and also listen, sometimes you learn something in the process too.

Pablo
 
This thread is awesome... the tips on handling customers/payment are spot on!

Also I'd never heard of 3M worktunes! Take my money amazon...

Don't quit your day job... hah :thumbsup:


I'd add:

  • It's easy to spend too much time making jigs/tools that may be unnecessary. You're a knifemaker not a jigmaker (obviously exceptions)
  • Failing to plan is planning to fail
  • No substitute for practice and repetition (it's like learning to play a song)
  • For me -> Find non-knife related things to read before bed to unwind; otherwise I lay there thinking about making knives/sheaths/etc
  • Scalloped 1'' belts are the bomb
  • A VFD on your grinder will change your life
 
Get yourself a carbide file guide sooner than later...
Use broken carbide mills/drills to make scribes, to make yours chuck it to a drill and sharpen in against a diamond file.
Learn to grind free hand without supports or aids, then every other method you learn afterwards will be easier. The other way around is not true.
Learn when to change speeds on your drill or have multiple drills set at different speeds.
This is a personal one, do not remember heat treatment temperatures, always go check the datasheet.
Learn to do what you want on the grinder, not to correct what you did wrong (this is one of the hardest steps in knifemaking IMHO)

Pablo
 
I dont ever post, but wanted to add a few little bits of info..

a good friend of mine who has taught me alot about the old school way of knife making...he is 71 and I am in my 40's so he is a mentor, someone who took me under his wing and taught me things about making knives even hen I wasnt interested.....I just now am getting involved into making them for more than just myself and family....

he was just daignosed this past winter with lung cancer....he smoked when he was in the service for 10 years.....but said he never smoked a bit after that.....he has grinded on metal for 20 years, at least a few times a week...he doesnt just make knives but does all kinds of work metal....

3 years ago his kids bought him his first breathing protection unit, they bought him the 3M apparatus.....not sure how good its rated but even after they bought it for him, he still rarely used it.....I will say he used it more and more often as the last few years went by.....but he basically has went probably 18 years of grinding on metals without any type of respirator or any breathing protection at all.....call it old school, call it stupid, call it uneducated, call it whatever you want but this man is going to leave this earth to soon all because he was not wearing a simple piece of protection that everyone should be wearing.

he would wear it when his kids were around or when I was in his shop, he would make me wear one.....but when I popped in unannounced he would never have it on and his kids have told me the same thing...he was stubborn and he swears that his smoking while in the service, not the metal work, is what caused his tumors.....maybe he is right, maybe he is wrong....but I am not sure we will ever know....

the simple truth to it all is wear that protection....I watch alot of youtube videos, alot of you all, I see your stuff soon as you post it.....I dont think I have ever seen 1 of you not wear lung protection....everyone does a great job of it.....so keep it up...Eyes, ears and lungs, keep em covered.

sorry for the long rant.....figured if it could help a young knife maker just getting into the field like myself, why not preach it a little to help it sink in....
 
Awhile back I started helping a young man with a family how to make knives. He said he had decided not to use breathing protection. I asked him if he wanted to see his boys graduate from high school. He decided to use protection.
 
I have to plead guilty of going out to the shop to "Just touch up" a spot on a blade. I don't put on the respirator because, "I will be grinding for only a few seconds." Then, an hour later after ,"Finishing up a few projects", I go inside and blow black boogers out my nose.

I have started to set the respirator hanging on the grinder so I have to pick it up to grind anything.
 
I’m a novice but here are a few that I would like to share.
1. Always use a marker to write the steel type on your stock steel. Saves confusion down the road.
2. I cut up used belts that have life left in them into strips of different widths that I use for hand sanding.
3. Keep your bench and drill press area clean. A few minutes with a vacuum and shop towels at the end of the day make the next visit to the shop much more pleasant.
4. Listen to your metal band saw blade. When it starts to bump the blade is ready to break - wear a face shield.
5. I use cheap magnets behind my grinder to catch fine dust. Remove the metal dust from the magnetics frequently.
6. Use lettered and numbered drill bits to compliment your fraction drill bits.
 
A good hand-sanded finish is the result of efficient grinding - not a lot of hand sanding.
A good mirror polish is the result of efficient hand-sanding - not a lot of buffing.
When you're sanding out scratches - you're not sanding scratches. You're sanding everything that is not a scratch.
 
When you find something you really like you might consider buying a lifetime supply. There was a certain type of buffing compound that Sheffield used to carry. They stopped selling it and I have yet to find a replacement.
 
shqxk said:
The most difficult knife to make is the one that full paid upfront.
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Good piece of advise that I found is IF you are paid up front, stick the money in a savings account until you are done with the knife - this keeps you motivated to finish!

And on another note... Time is money, so make your decisions based upon that. I.e. If you can make a grinder vs buying one already made - do some calculations. It may be cheaper to buy one already made and work some overtime instead of spending 40+ hrs building it yourself lol.
 
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