Top Ten Knifemaking Tools for the Beginner

hey Walter Sorel's back with more tips for the knife maker today top 10 tools for the beginning knife maker so I get a lot of mail from guys who say you know I'm interested in becoming a knife maker the hobby seems appealing to me but you know I just don't have a lot of money I can't spend money on all these tools or I don't have these tools I don't know what tools I need so this video is for you guys the fact is to get started in knife making you don't need tons and tons of expensive tools that look professionals like me of course I've got $10,000 worth of tools or whatever the number is sitting around my shop but that's because I'm trying to save time get a little more precision ring just a little bit more out of my time but if you're just starting out you can start with very simple tools so let's get on it and I'll show you what we're talking about tool number one this is a file the foundational tool of all precision metalwork a century and a half ago a skilled metalworker could pretty much make an entire steam engine with a file a 10-inch double cut bastard file can be used to do almost anything you'll ever need to do with a piece of metal other than drilling a hole now other things can go faster other tools may be a little more precise but hey this cost 10 bucks also useful round files mill files hobby files chainsaw files needle files there are a million different kinds of files and they're all useful you can make a knife almost entirely from a file if you're willing to sweat long enough buy a good quality file like this Nicholson and don't be afraid to modify them to do specialized tasks tool number two a good quality hacksaw with a bi-metal blade will quickly cut through a needle tool steel even if you have power tools sometimes it's quicker to just grab a hacksaw than it is to set something up in an abrasive chop saw or a metal cutting bandsaw you'll also find that they're much better than power tools for cutting handcuffs off the arms of your teenage sons friends don't even add cost somewhere around 20 bucks tool number 3 every metalworking shop needs a bench vise or 2 or 3 or anyway you want to be able to swivel the vise head so that you can change the orientation of your work some of them will articulate on two axes also but for most of the things that you need to do swiveling on one axis is enough anyway you also want some kind of soft jaw insert to keep from marring your work I generally use pieces of leather but there are aluminum soft jaws plastic ones whatever cheap vices will start around 50 bucks but you'll never be sorry if you spend a good bit more a 4 inch jaw model is a good size for knife making I have a bigger more expensive one but I actually don't use it as much as my cheap little fours and if you're supporting the handcuff on your teenage sons buddy so that you don't cut his arm off while cutting off the hand cuff with a hacksaw yeah bench vise all day long and tool number 4 knives have holes grills make holes if you're really strapped for cash the old hand drill or even a bracing bit will work but look if it all humanly possible by a drill press a drill press will really improve the precision and quality of your drilling and they're not that expensive if you can't afford to buy a new one buy used but a good solid drill press can be found at places like Home Depot for well under 200 when you buy the drill press buy a drill vise - I have an $800 curt vise on my mill but this little el cheapo works just fine on my drill press you don't need something super fancy I recommend using cobalt drill bits which lasts longer than high-speed steel and unlike titanium nitride coated bits can be resharpen without degrading the quality of the bits professional machinists like to call a drill bit and drill and they get all hot under the collar if you call them bits but you know what everybody on the planet calls them a bit so that's what I call them to do a little number 5 sandpaper not really a tool but super important dirty little knife making secret you'll spend more money as a knife maker on abrasives than you will on steel buy it buy the sheet and tear it up for specialized work use sanding blocks you can buy them or you can make your own from scrap wood suiting them to the exact demands of whatever work you're working on at the time the go-to is wet or dry sandpaper which you can wet down with water or soapy water or oil all kinds of different things to keep them from loading up but lately all kinds of interesting coatings and backings have been introduced with all kinds of useful properties by packets of 60 and 120 sandpaper intended for woodworking and then move up to 220 320 or 400 600 and maybe even a thousand of wet or dry that's a good starter kit cost Oh forty or fifty bucks tool number six you can buy digital calipers pretty cheap which will be perfectly adequate for most knife making needs now of course they make old-fashioned calipers that have little dials but the digital's are easier to use and they work just fine measuring to the thousandths of an inch they may not be as accurate as more expensive calipers or micrometers but for beginners these cheap models are perfect a million and one uses in the knife making shop cost thirty bucks or so from places like grizzly and encode when they break dump them buy another one tool number seven you can buy little sets of precision machinist squares rulers and sometimes maybe even a carbide marker or centering square some other little machinist gizmos for pretty cheap from places like grizzly and encode plan on spending twenty thirty maybe forty bucks rule number eight nobody in the history of the world has ever quite had enough clamps welders clamps are a good place to start they're reasonably cheap and they work but over time you'll end up using bar clamps parallels pipe clamps trigger clamps angle clamps strap clamp see clamps if I could swim in clamps I would every time you go to the hardware store just grab one or two after you've accumulated a few welders clamps the next thing I'd go to is bar clamps those trigger clamps are kind of fun too it won't seem like it's breaking your budget and over time you'll have enough to do what needs doing little number 9 to make knives you got to make them sharp I recommend the EZ lap diamond stone 2 inch by 6 inch with heavy grit on one side and fine on the other they also make some that have just a single kind of grit on them there are other brands of diamond stones that some people like I just happen to like easy labs personal preference of course you can also use Arkansas stones Japanese water stones ceramics homes there are all kinds of different sharpening devices 20 bucks - 75 bucks hey you can spend a lot more if you want but somewhere in there you can find something that will work for you okay so now we're getting the tool number 10 the good news is that so far we've probably spent I don't know less than $500 if you buy everything new if you go use you could even go a lot cheaper than that but tool number 10 I hate to tell you we're going to go ahead and break the bank the two by 72 inch belt grinder is the king of the knife making shot hey it is what it is now listen do you need a big high-quality belt grinder to start out making knives absolutely not the great sword makers of Japan and Seville and Damascus those guys did not have belt grinders but we live in the 21st century so you can make knives with files and dinky little belt grinders and angle grinder and quarterhorse bench grinders and just all kinds of improvised or or labor-intensive devices or approaches it all works it's all possible but when you think you're serious about knife making you're going to get a serious grinder you just are and they don't give them away sorry AB a derby three or AK AMG or any of the other professional quality grinders will probably run you oh close to two grand all-in if you're just starting out though you don't need one immediately but at a certain point well kids it's a disease what can I say now don't panic if you get serious about making knives there's a market out there for knives and you can sell enough of them to pay for the grinder now another important point there are cheaper to buy 72 inch belt grinders from manufacturers like coot and grizzly and others for light duty work or for starters Hey they're probably great so dip your toe into the water if you want but me I wouldn't trade my bader for seven Grizzlies I'm just saying now when you first get started you don't have to heat treat your own knives you can send them out to somebody else and have them do it but at a certain point if you're interested in foraging obviously you're going to have to have a forge or if you just want to do stock removal stainless steel type knives eventually you're probably going to want to have your own heat treating oven whatever the case you're going to need some kind of source of heat might be a propane torch oxy acetylene torch Duchin heater heat treating oven affords charcoal coal gas I mean it could be a lot of different things but somewhere along the line you're going to need that tool but you don't need it quite yet all right I hope that's enough to dispel the myth that you know you're gonna have to fill up your shop with really expensive tools just to make your first knife you absolutely don't I've done a bunch of videos where I show how you can make knives pretty easily I won't say easily but you can make knives with fairly limited pallets of tools so if you want to check out some of those videos right here we can show you how it's done thanks for watching hope you enjoyed this video if you liked it hear a couple of other videos that you might be interested in also like me on facebook at walter Sorrels blades and check out my website walter Sorrells blades comm where you'll find examples of my work along with instructional videos showing all aspects of Japanese sword making including forging and polishing how to make owns and how to make fittings scabbards and handles for Japanese swords

Channel: Walter Sorrells

Views: 1,197,096

Keywords: tools, knife, knife making, how to make knives, making knives, knife maker, blade smith, smith, sword, swordsmith, How-to (Website Category), Walter Sorrells

Id: s5bdWsVSZbA

Length: 12min 12sec (732 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 31 2015