The Easiest Way to Start Making Knives - KIT Knife Making Project

alrighty guys welcome back to the shop in today's video we are going to be doing something a little different than normal today we are going to be making a knife from a blade blank now normally on this channel we make handmade custom knives from scratch from start to finish every component is generally custom made but in this case we're going to be making a blade that's already been ground and heat treated now the reason we're doing this is because a lot of people are looking to get into the knife making game but it can be kind of intimidating when you're starting out thinking about what kind of steel to use or how to profile it how to heat treat the blade how to grind the blade some people think they need a ton of tools so all these things can pile up and they'll never start making knives but a blade blank like this is a really easy thing to start doing in your own garage so i was scrolling through chance buying some two by seven two inch belts from my belt grinder and i came across this blade blank now there are a ton of options on there so just pick out something that looks good to you i'll have some close-up shots of this one in a moment now i want to note here that i'll probably be doing some things to this blade that aren't 100 necessary like putting a nicer finish on the flats and the bevels and i'll probably also try to dial in the plunge lines a little more uh square then they come from jans so you don't have to do that you can skip straight to the handling portion of the of the build but uh you know it's what i do so i'm going to go ahead and try to clean this one up as well as i can and i'm going to also try to do it with tools that are commonly available like sandpaper files hand drills things like that so let's get going once again these initial steps here really aren't necessary but i decided it would be worth showing how to clean up the blade a little i use a file wrapped with 320 grit sandpaper on the plunges in an attempt to make them more symmetrical while i didn't quite achieve perfect symmetry i was able to move them closer to matching with this method before my patience ran out after truing up the plunges i moved on to hand sanding a knife a hallmark of many custom knives is a hand sanded finish along the length of the blade to accomplish this i once again used some 320 grit sandpaper wrapped around my file as a sanding bar i stopped at a 320 grit finish however you can take this finish all the way up to a mirror polish if you so choose before making my last passes on the blade i brought the knife over to my granite surface plate to verify the tang was flat and ready to accept my handle scales i found that the tang was already pretty darn flat but it's still worth checking you can achieve a similar level of flatness with a granite countertop sink cutout or a piece of temporary glass i then made my finishing strokes along the blade to make sure all the scratches are heading in the right direction once i was done with one side i put some tape on it to protect the finish while doing the other side all right as a recap what we've done so far is we've trued up the plunge lines with a file wrapped in sandpaper and then we've sanded the entire blade up to a 320 grit finish we then went over to the granite surface block to make sure that the tang is nice and flat to accept their handle scales when it comes to handle scales you have a ton of options you can use more natural materials like woods or more synthetic materials like g10 i would highly recommend for your first knife to use a naturally stable wood like iron wood or a material like canvas micarta which comes to you in a nice flat sheet and is easy to work with you can also use materials like g10 or kiranite but i would probably not suggest either of those on your first build i will be using kernite for this build because i have some pieces lying around my shop but i don't necessarily recommend this material for your first knife or actually in reality any knife that you plan on ever dropping since this material can be a little bit brittle but it does polish up nice and shiny which is why we're going to use it in this build so with that let's get started on the handle now it's time to start working on the handle i'd like to add a caveat here and mention that there are multiple ways to handle a knife and this is just one of those methods i have a handful of video tutorials that i'll put in the cards on how to make your first knife and they actually use slightly different handle attaching methodologies if you're looking for some other techniques while this method worked out just fine i think i like the stacked scale technique a little better even if you're using a hand drill with all that being said the basics here are to get the holes drilled in your handle scales using your knife blank as a drill guide once you have a hole drilled make sure to put a pin in it so that your scale doesn't move around and become misaligned while drilling the other hole for this project we're going to be using some cheap 3 16 of an inch brass that i found on amazon the pins od was slightly larger than the holes i drilled so i used a hand drill like a lathe and took down the diameter slightly you can see here that i'm using one inch and two inch cant twist clamps to hold the pieces down and together but this task could be completed with a normal c-clamp i've also seen some other makers use small dabs of super glue to achieve this hold but just make sure you don't use too much and then you can get the scales back off the knife after drilling once i have one side drilled i label it so as not to get mixed up and then drill the other side at this point you're going to need to clean up and finish the front section of your handle scales once the scales are epoxied onto your knife this section would be extremely difficult to shape without scratching the blade i started off by cutting away the bulk of the material from one scale and then filed the front of it to match my desired arc i then used the first scale as a reference and drew a guideline on the second scale to repeat the process now that both scales were roughed in i can pin them together and use a hand file to bring them flush with each other after getting both scales flush with each other i used a pencil resting on the blade blank to mark out a rough target line on the front of the scales to file in a chamfer while this isn't necessary it really helps to have a reference i'm using a mildly aggressive half round file here to bring the chamfers to around a 45 degree angle these nicholson files were part of a kit i bought back in 2018 and have been performing fairly well once the filing is done i use some sandpaper to bring the front of the scales up to a 1000 grit finish this step isn't strictly necessary but i like to rough up the tang a little bit before epoxying on the scales to aid in adhesion this can be done with any low grit paper the first step to any glue up is to make sure all your pieces are nice and clean to do this use some alcohol or acetone my favorite epoxy is g flex from west systems however in this build i'll be using some rogue epoxy from combat abrasives which is also a good choice if this is your first knife you can really use any two-part epoxy that you have lying around the rest of the process is pretty straightforward put a coat of epoxy on each of the handle scales the pins and the tang of the knife once i got everything put together i lightly tapped in the pins but note you should not have to use excess force here and a pre-glue fit test is good practice once everything is together use some spring clamps to apply light pressure while the epoxy cures i'd caution against using c-clamps here since too much clamping pressure can force the epoxy out of the joint also this is the best time to use a q-tip to clean up the squeeze-out epoxy on the front of the handle scales after you've given your epoxy enough time to cure you can move on to shaping the handle step one is to protect your blade by wrapping it with a paper towel next you use a hacksaw to cut off the excess of the pins with the bulk of the material cut off you can use hand files to bring the pins down flush with the sides of the handle during this project i was looking at how much material i had to file off this handle and decided it was time for me to pull the trigger on a cabinet maker's rasp i've had this in my cart for months based on watching some old videos from journeyman smith carl anderson i'm happy i did because these are really a pleasure to use and they allow you to move a large amount of material quickly if you are getting something out of this tutorial and maybe you want to help out the channel i'll be putting affiliate links to the tools and materials for this build in the video's description below and i'll also have a link to my patreon step one with the rasp is to get the bulk of the material removed down to the metal tank i use the rasp to get close and then finish the last 30 seconds of an inch or so with my nicholson files then i'll use some 120 grit sandpaper wrapped around the sanding bar to get out all of the large scratches to get into the finger choil area i used a piece of sandpaper wrapped around a metal dowel which i chucked up in my hand drill this method works really well at getting everything square and speeding up the process i find myself using this technique which many may consider a beginner's hack even on more technically difficult knife bills everything we've done to this point on the post epoxy handle shaping has been to get the handle scales flush with the tank once they're nice and flush we can knock off the corners so the handle feels a little better in the hand i started off by filing in a 45 degree chamfer around the profile of the scales with my rasp while this isn't rocking science i'd advise taking some deep breaths and slowing down during this part of the project so that you can focus on getting both sides even and symmetrical after i get them roughed in with the rasp i move on to my files to dial it in and then round over the corners to get the finger troil area you're going to need a half round file and like i just mentioned some patience the knife you turn out at the end of this process is really a reflection of the amount of patience you have to get everything clean and symmetrical with the files after we have the filing done i moved on to the sandpaper to bring the handle up to a 1 000 grit finish starting at a 320 grit paper then stepping up the 600 before finally landing at a thousand the world is your oyster here and if you want you can continue to a higher grit and even buff the handle for a shine lastly we're going to be sharpening the knife using a diamond stone now i know there are a ton of different techniques out there when it comes to sharpening knives and i'm actually curious on what your favorite method is so make sure to let me know in the comment section below i'm not exactly a sharpening expert but i can put a good working hair shaving edge on a knife if you want to know more about knife sharpening i'd suggest checking out alex outdoors 55's channel since he's put a ton of time into the art i actually purchased this diamond stone off of a recommendation from fellow knife maker walter sorrells specifically for this video since i won the show a low tech method after you work the blade on the stone you'll eventually form a burr which needs to be removed by stropping you can strap by hand on a piece of leather or you can use a power straw i know i just said i wanted to use low-tech methods on this video but i also really want to try out my new leather belt so just know that you can do this by hand as well the diamond stone and strap system worked pretty darn well and i was able to cut paper and shave hair fairly easily with this knife alrighty so we have finished up with our kit knife it is sharp the handle scales have been finished and attached and we are finished up the knife is good you can use this for everyday carry type task easily i could see this being used as a skinning knife as well it fits nice in the hand the heat treat is probably spot on from chance as far as the fit and finish goes obviously it's not going to be the level of a you know handmade custom knife just because i used a hand drill on the pins and things like that you know i didn't grind in these plunge lines myself so you can see the cuts are a little off they're a little not symmetrical things like that are what you're going to achieve when you start making your own handmade custom knives but this is more than usable and it's definitely a good way to get your feet wet and get in the game of knife making without having to go through the whole process and actually if i was going to start making knives this is where i'd want to start if i had to look back and say hey you know what should your first knife making project be this is probably it just because it doesn't take much to do and you can get the feel for fit and finish and making handles and things of that nature which is really a large portion of the task and it'd be nice to section off what you have to learn you know just start off learning how to put a handle on a knife and then you can get into making a knife itself now as far as what i like and don't like about this knife you know kiranite i like the way it looks but in general it is prone to chipping so that's definitely a negative the brass pins on keronite i probably would have gone with stainless if i had to do it again but i wanted to use brass a because it's super cheap easy to find and if you're using hand files and things of that nature you can move brass away easier than say a stainless steel as far as the profile knife goes i didn't really have anything to do with that but jantz puts out a heck of a good profile here i think this feels really good in the hands and it would be a really nice daily user it's plenty sharp stainless steel so it won't rust so all those things are pluses and yeah like i said for what it is it's a it's a pretty good little knife as you all know i make a lot of knives in the channel and sometimes those knives don't leave my shop because they have flaws or imperfections but in general they're perfectly usable knives now this one does not have my maker's mark on it so what i decided to do on it is instead of just throwing it in the safe as a perfectly usable knife that no one will ever use i'm going to auction this knife off and donate the proceeds to charity so i'll be auctioning this knife the same day i put up the video i'll have a link to the auction probably it will be on ebay just because ebay is pretty easy to use and donate the proceeds to the wounded warrior foundation so that's the plan for this guy i will be donating those proceeds after the auction has closed i'll film it and i'll put it on instagram just for full transparency and yeah that's the deal we'll auction this guy off and it'll be a perfectly good usable knife for somebody with that i hope you guys really liked this video if you did hit that like button down below consider subscribing to the channel and also if you want to help the channel i have a patreon account or you can use the affiliate links in the description to order stuff off of amazon and the channel gets a kickback for that stuff too so anyway if you all like this video stick around for the next videos coming up and i'll catch y'all on the flip side [Music]

Channel: Red Beard Ops

Views: 45,920

Keywords: red beard ops, knifemaker, knifemaking, knife making, how to make a knife, how to make a knife without a forge, how to make a knife with cheap amazon tools, how to make a knife with cheap tools, how to make a knife with common tools, how to make your first knife, making your first knife, making a knife, knife making for beginners, knife making tools, knife making tutorial, knife making tips, making a knife with basic tools, diy knife making, kit knife, knife making kit, jantz

Id: TjyAAN_kjMk

Length: 14min 33sec (873 seconds)

Published: Fri May 13 2022