I want to learn how to make knifes.

How do we know you're not planning to use those knives for the evil that men do?

go to rec.knives
search google groups
go to a knifemakers show
contact texas knifemakers supply

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child - miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

If you have any specific questions, Id be happy to help you out.
I cannot teach you 10,000 yrs of the art over this newsgroup but I can maybe steer you in the right direction
Gunner
"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child - miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

Yeah. :/ It's like... get back on here (switch to rec.knives) and at least give us a clue as the where to start. :)
My newest one...
Nobody has to like it... I like it enough for all of us! :)
It's not like I like all my knives, 6 months ago I made the ugliest knife I ever saw. :/ It's just that I -really- like the looks of this one is all. :) I'm going to make myself one like it someday except I'm going to use better steel.
It's got a problem with the handles, I ground them off too short...
You see... the handle pin holes are drilled and lined up with temporary pins so the "front end" of the handle slabs can be finished up and length perfectly matching... :)
Problem was it was my first time using my little hand grinder with sanding disks, I was having a real good time wackin that wood down faster and easier than I'd ever done it before and no splintering either! :) It was great, just didn't realize how much wood was being removed.
-.050" thick re-heat-treated bandsaw blade steel - hickory from the woodworker's supply store (going to switch back to my own mesquite) - handle pins are 16d finishing nails (11 gauge = ~.122" diameter) - urethane glue to seal the wood/steel junction
No reason for it not to out live me. :)
It kinda reminds me of Renee Z's knife in Cold Mountain.
Alvin in AZ (hobby knifemaker)

Chuckle..you were one of the resources I was going to misdirect the poor bastard to.
Hey..need a nice gas fired furnace? I picked one up the other day. About 12"x12" x 20" deep. Nice counterweighted door with peep hole.
The entire thing is about 300lbs, probably 2x2x3 feet.
Its located in Newport Beach California at the moment. I was gonna offer it to Big John Delevan, but he may already have one.
Id make someone a hell of a deal on it. And the ceramic is in minty shape, so its good to go. Might want to redo the burner and air mixer for propane though..shrug. its easy.
Gunner
"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child - miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

Grab a piece of hardenable steel, heat to yellow and pound the hell out of it repeatedly for a forged blade or just get right to the belt sander and grindstone if you want to simply hog it out. Nothing hard about it as you can adjust for your mistakes as you go. If you're setting out to make swords and ending up with paring knives, well, you need a bit more practice yet. ;)
Tim
-- "I've got more trophies than Wayne Gretsky and the Pope combined!" - Homer Simpson Website @

I like that line, mind if I use it from time to time? Bear The first rays of dawn make the mushrooms scream. I think with careful cultivation I can make them do "Ode to Joy".

Nice, it looks a lot like two I have in my kitchen , the two that get the most use of all my kitchen knives. I like the generous handle, with size XXL hands it's hard to find off-the-shelf knives that are comfortable to work with.
Bear
The first rays of dawn make the mushrooms scream. I think with careful cultivation I can make them do "Ode to Joy".

these are only a few...people on the forums can help immensley
Byron Witty Metroplex Wood Care Quality Fence Sealing & Restoration (469)438-3076 snipped-for-privacy@metroplexwoodcare.com

< go to rec.knives
This group is mostly for collectors, there are a few makers that frequent it, but mostly collectors buying and selling knives.

I really should take you up on that. :) Just a few days ago at an auction pre-veiw there was a whole barn's full of stuff that had got burned.
Cool old stuff! :) But now they are annealed as anything... some of it could be re-heat treated and put back to work. First thing that comes to mind is the really nice old brush-hook head. Do some grinding/thinning and re-heat treat it ...better than new. :)
There was also a 2+1/2 to 3 foot diameter sawmill blade. My friend was supposed to bid on that for me... couldn't get ahold of him last night so don't know if I got it or not.
If I get that sawmill blade I guess I'll have to make some "tough knives". ;)
Alvin in AZ ps- I don't make "tough knives" figuring there's more than enough of them out there already, I want to make "edge-holding knives" pps- high speed steel, power hacksaw blade knives are my best ones

Sorry, the dimensions of the real knife would dissapoint you. :/ The handle is just barily 4" long. :/
The proportions are cool to me, a guy could make a bigger one from wider steel. Also the steel is pretty thin at .050".
That was a hunk of a 110 foot bandsaw blade my buddies picked up for me along the railroad on the dry lake between Cochise and Willcox.
Turns out it's not carbon steel but instead boron steel. (no carbon, instead .002% boron and the rest kinda like L6)
That knife was a test to see if the dangged stuff would hold an edge or not... guessing it does, about like, maybe a little better than, a factory Old Hickory or Case Old Forge. Not good enough for me. :/ (need to make another for better testing tho)
But it looks cool. ;)
Alvin in AZ ps- its promised to my new daughter in law pps- she can get another, better edge holder, later ;)

Get to LA very often? Know anyone coming this way with the capacity to haul it back?
Damned near all of it can be rebuilt. Fire is steels friend. ooooooo!! Indeed. Might even do some trading with you. Got a nice furnace with no place to put it
Ayup. Lots of touch knives that are crowbar sharp.
Gunner
"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child - miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosphy of sniveling brats." -- P.J. O'Rourke

You might want to get Wayne Goddard's $50 knife shop book. It shows you how to start making knives for little of nothing. Shows you how to harden, temper them as well. I found mine through Amazon from a sub dealer for $7 plus shipping brand new.

Has it occured to anybody here that this "Charles Bronson" is troll? Cross posted and all.
Nice knife Al! Let me guess harder than a scorned woman?
GA

You must be a Large Lad. I made a 'two-handed' dagger for another Large Lad, six and a half inches in the grip, fifteen inches in the blade. He loved it, said it just fit his hand. For the mushrooms, try strobe lights at variable intensity mounted directly overhead in a grid, then drive it from a MIDI interface and use a Casio electronic piano for input. Not quite the Mouse Organ, but close.
Charly

Could be, but don't think so yet. :) "knifes" might be a clue tho huh? ;)
Cool thanks. :) Good guess on the hardness, 99% of the time you'd be spot-on. But this one's not all that hard, not the right kind of steel for that... or I just don't know how to heat treat the dangged stuff... Usually boron steel has carbon in it too, the boron "enhances" carbon's work... this is weird stuff and I just don't know nuthin about it. :( Made it as hard as I could tho! :)
It started out butt-ugly. No sweat it's just a test knife for the boron bandsaw steel... later after a little use I took the dremel to it and whacked off a bunch of the blade and re-shaped what was left... and I liked the new shape about as much as any I've ever made. :)
Just never know. :)
Alvin in AZ