Forging a Knife - EVERY SINGLE STEP (Old Process)

welcome to crash'd shop Brad here's today I'll be showing you guys how to forge a knife from start to finish out of a piece of 1095 high carbon steel this is going to be a quick run-through I'm going to lightly touch on every single step that I take to forge a knife I'm not going to go completely in depth about everything that I do or the tools I'm using so please leave comments down below if you have any questions about the process I took or the tools I was using I know when I was first getting into this I had a ton of questions and I am happy to answer them for you so stick around until the end of the video and drop your comments down below I start by warming up the Forge I'm using a cope Forge cold charcoal and propane all work great propane usually provides the most even heat but coke gets much hotter once I've got a hot steel I start by making the tip of the blade working one of the corners inward to create a belly shape I then start dropping in the handle I'm pushing the steel inward until I have a width that will be comfortable to hold [Music] once my rough shape is done I use a flattening tool to take out any warps or pitting from the hammer I make sure the blade is straight and then I take it back to the forge until the steel is yellow I then stick it into a bucket of vermiculite and I leave it there to cool off this insulates the steel forcing it to cool down slowly which in turn makes the steel very soft after about six hours or so the knife is cooled and is soft enough for grinding now that I've got the rough shaped Forge I start tracing the final profile taking the steel to the bench grinder I start working up to my lines now I start finishing my tip with the angle grinder [Music] moving on to the belt sander I start smoothing the edges to finish the profile it's important to create a smooth curve on the belly this will give you a good platform to start your bevel i smooth out hard-to-reach places on my spindle sander thin contact wheels or a dremel tool also work great for this [Music] okay this is our filing jig this is a great way to make perfect settles by hand josh is using it so I'll be taking this blade to the belt sander you can make jigs to keep your bevels consistent but after some practice free-handing works pretty well I'm just using a push stick because the steel heats up pretty fast dipping the steel in water every few passes helps to keep it cool [Music] [Music] now that I have my bevels all finished I'm ready to drill holes and a handle for pins I'm using my drill press and setting the belt to its lowest speed it's important to take your time and use a lot of oil so you don't ruin the heat-treat of your drill bit the annealing process is what really makes the steel easy to drill through I'm using a quarter inch bit for these holes alright the holes are drilled back to the Forge we go I'm double-checking that my knife is flat and straight by using my flattening tool again I'm just eyeballing the shape against the flat anvil to verify it's straight now I'm ready to normalize the blade I bring the knife up to a yellow heat and then I let it air cool until the blade no longer glows this equalizes the grain size of the steel and can help prevent future cracking or snapping of the blade once the blade is cool I'm ready to quench it I take it back to the Forge and heat it up until the blade no longer sticks to a magnet once I'm at a good heat I give it a few more seconds in the fire and quickly quench the blade in canola oil I keep the blade moving in the oil into the smoke stops and I keep it in there until it's cool quenching hardens the steel right now the blade is very brittle be careful not to drop it because they can shatter [Music] I'm just cleaning off the blade real quick with the wire brush now it's ready for tempering everyone has different heat treat methods and it takes some experimenting to dial down to a good recipe but for a standard use outdoor knife this is what works for me tempering your blade reduces the hardness and brittleness from the quench now the blade is hard enough to hold an edge but also soft enough to resharpen when needed I carefully clean off the blade at the wire brush at this point it's important not to overheat your blade or you run the risk of ruining your temper I'm choosing curly maple for my handle material I'll also be using a vulcanized fiber spacers a spacer isn't necessary but it will contrast well with the maple so I'm going to go with this I start by cutting all my pieces to size [Music] my handle will also require pens I'm using quarter-inch brass pins two of the pins will be solid and one of them will be hollow for a lanyard hole I'm just cutting these two sides real quick all right now I've got all of my handle material ready I'm going to start off by gluing my spacers to the maple scales I'm just using equal halves of a two step resin hardener it's not a bad idea to rough up your material this gives the epoxy a little bit of tooth to grip to once the epoxy has been applied I can add some clamps and leave the handles to dry I'm using a five-minute epoxy but in order for this to fully cure a good six to eight hours is sufficient I'd recommend leaving larger glue ups to cure for about a day [Music] while that dries I begin to clean up the bevel it's a bit rough from the quench and temper so I'm just doing a few passes on the belt to sharpen it up it's very important not to over heat the blade so I'm keeping it cool by dipping it in water very routinely this is looking pretty good now back to the handles I've given the epoxy some time to dry so I'm taking the clamps off and quickly sanding the bottom to remove the epoxy squeeze out [Music] now I'm flushing up the sides by cutting off any overlapping spacer material my next step is drill holes for the pins the same way I did for the blade I start by marking my first hole and I'm drilling with the same size bit as before a way to save time is to drill your scales together I'm doing this by taping them together making sure the pieces are flushed up on the side I'm just following through my first hole into the second scale before I continue drilling I'm going to taper the ends of my pins on the belt sander now that the sharp edges are removed I'll be temporarily pushing a pin into the first set of holes an arbor press makes this easy this pin will help guarantee the scales will not shift at all during drilling with the pin in place I'll now slide the knife overtop and use it as a drilling template for the next hole following through the hole in the steel I drill down through the scales this is a great way to keep your holes book-matched [Music] I now put in the next pin and I really recommend using a clamp or a press to push it in hammering the pins can be rough on the handle material okay so I'm sliding my knife over the top again and I'm ready to drill my last set of holes again just guiding through the hole in the steel all right so now my pinholes are all drilled I'm going to trace the outline of the knife onto the wood [Music] [Music] now I'm taking this to the bandsaw to remove any material outside of the line [Music] once the majority is removed I take it to the disk sander to finish the job [Music] that looks pretty good to me now I'll be cleaning up the front of the handle material right now it sticks out too far and I want to back it up from the blade a little bit [Music] so I sketch a line for the front and I stand up to it at the disc sander [Music] now for this knife I want to taper the Front's of the scales I'm going to remove the pins so they aren't in the way I do this by centering the pins over an open vise and punching them out through the bottom scale I throw some more tape on just to keep the scales in place and now I'm just carefully tapering down the front of the scales this isn't necessary but I like the way it looks and if you plan to fancy up in front of your scales like this I recommend doing it before the blade is attached otherwise it will get in the way when you're trying to shape it and that's the look I was going for because this knife is hand forged it's not uncommon to have a couple small pits or pockets along the spine I want my spine to sit absolutely flush with the handles so I'm going to lightly surface grind the Tang and don't forget this knife needs to stay cool [Music] once I have grind lines surrounding the perimeter I know that any low spots are gone all right I'm using the same epoxies earlier Loctite heavy-duty 5-minute resin and hardener I like to warm up my epoxy before use so I'm setting the bottles in front of my space heater for a few minutes this loosens it up a bit and makes it easier to get out of the bottle while that sits I'm going to tape off the blade portion of my knife the epoxy is going to be messy and this will save me a lot of cleanup I've also taped up the front of the scales because it's difficult to clean glue off of this area without scratching the face of the blade I now start to drive fit to handle I'm using the arbor press to push the pins into one of the scales I'm using dowels underneath the scales so that I can push my pins through the back of the holes [Music] all right now I'm sliding my blade onto the pins and I'm ready to attach the other scale so now that my handle is loosely assembled I'm ready for glue up I always like to drive fit because it saves me from wasting any working time with my five-minute epoxy put on some calming music because glue ups can be stressful sometimes okay so I'm using equal parts hardener and resin and I'm making sure to mix it up very well [Music] now I just start applying the epoxy to the insides of the scales I'm making sure to go very heavy with the epoxy and to cover the full surfaces [Music] all right time to get this all clamped up I like to use as many clamps as I can fit after leaving it to cure for about 24 hours I'm ready to take off the clamps and start shaping the handle I cut off the exposed pins flush with the wood and then flatten the wood on the belt sander I now start going around the edges until I expose the spine [Music] I've got a little bit of work left on the bottom but the top has been flushed up at the spine [Music] all right it's looking good now and I'm moving the spindle sander to hit the tight spots [Music] okay now I'm going to taper the edges a little bit this will just save me some hand sanding work [Music] you [Music] all right so I'm writing up my knife with some leather to protect it and I'm using a one by thirty belt to start hand sanding this method of sanding usually results in very even scales I'm finished up with the rough shaping now I'm going to use the razor to clean up some epoxy squeezed out at the front of the handle [Music] once the scales are clean I'm ready for the oil soak I'm using boiled linseed oil so I'm just going to stick the handle in and if you're anxious you can pull it out right away to get a preview of the wood grain I love the way curly maple pops after adding oil okay back in and I'll be leaving this in the oil for about four to six hours this isn't completely necessary but it helps to stabilize the wood and protect it from future contacts with moisture after a good soak it's time to take the knife out just a heads up boiled linseed rags are known to spontaneously combust so remember to be careful with them and I'll continue by hand spinning the handle moving up and grits from 150 to 800 [Music] and now I'm going to take the tape off [Music] I've got a smooth spine over the handle but moving up to the blade it's still pretty rough so I'm going to hit it really quickly on the belt sander remembering to keep it cool and then some quick sanding to finish it off I then move on to finishing the bevel I want a polished finish so I start working in circular motions to remove any grind lines I'm using 400 grit sandpaper I move on to 600 800 1000 1500 and finish it off at 2,000 grit this results in a mirror finish and a polished bevel is less prone to rust I now move on to a strap I'm using scrap leather and applying some buffing compound to the rough side with some light pressure I pull the bevel across the strop I do this to both sides strapping is a great way to hone an edge I've now achieved a mirror finish on the bevel I want to do the same thing to the spine so I take it to the same sheets of high grit sandpaper now the spine in the bevel are both looking great I now take some Woodsman wax and apply it to the handle I'm just using a small coat this is a product available at Kimberly tool and trade is a great option for protecting wood and steel I also use it on leather sheets as well [Music] now that it's applied I buff it in with a polishing wheel this finishes the handle and leaves a natural shine to the wood I then polish this deal as well which will leave a light oil coat that will protect the carbon steel from moisture [Music] now the knife is complete the handle sits flush against the tang the bevels are polished the scales are equally sized the knife is tough shaving sharp and ready to be put to work thank you all so much for watching this is a very fun project I love being able to make knives and tools blacksmithing has really become a huge passion of mine over the last few years and projects like this really helps to grow that passion I hope you were able to learn something from this video I hope you were able to pick up a couple tricks and tips there are countless different methods used to make knives and no tool in particular is the correct tool for the job it really comes down to preference and how much money you want to put into this hobby or career if you have any questions at all please leave them down below I'm going to do my best to answer every question that I can and check the description box down below I'm going to throw down some of the links to some of the knife makers who have inspired me over the years and hopefully you'll be able to pull some inspiration from some of their designs some of their work and if you'd like to see this knife in use please check out my other channel American wilderness I run it with a buddy of mine and my brother and we do a lot of camping videos and we use a lot of tools like this stay tuned as I plan to do a leather sheath video for this knife very soon don't forget to Like and subscribe and I will see you guys in the next video [Music]

Channel: Brad Richardson

Views: 603,720

Rating: 4.8325319 out of 5

Keywords: woodworking, craftshop, diy, how to, making a, blacksmithing, timberlee tool and trade, bradley richardson, custom, make, woodcraft, modern, craft shop, project, making a knife, forging a knife, knife making, every step, forge a knife

Id: 2EXCxCDF6_8

Length: 24min 8sec (1448 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 06 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

Step one - buy a lot of tools and equipment.

[u/SchpittleSchpattle]

Just curious, why do you bother with the forging step if you already have a pre-made billet of high-purity steel that's flat and annealed?

It doesn't look like your blade is wider than the bar you started with and you had to do quite a bit of grinding anyway.

I'm not trying to poo-poo your methods--even if the answer is "I like forging", it's totally valid. It is your project after all.

[u/bradxrichardson]

Thanks for the comment! I don't always use flat stock but when I do I save about 1-2in or steel by pounding in and drawing out the handle. But yes I really enjoy forging in general haha. Thanks for watching!

[u/casperJV]

I'm here for the r/survival giveaway...

awesome craftsmanship & editing; thanks for sharing!

[u/[deleted]]

Great looking knife! Man that looks like a lot of work though.

[u/bradxrichardson]

Thanks! It is a great deal of work. I generally make knives in batches of 5-10 so the work seems to go by a little faster.

[u/bradxrichardson]

Thanks hahaha my cover is blown!

[u/nsgiad]

I didn't plan on watching the whole video but that was glorious. Your editing and voice over work was excellent. Your intro short and got right into the meat of the project.

Great job!

[u/eickholtz]

Interesting video. Are you the upright bass player from Pokey Lafarge? http://imgur.com/a/EqfjI