The Sam Cade Thread of Knifey Goodness

Sure. Let me collate some things.

Sweet this should be Great.

If you do it I will also,

You guys want process and equipment pictures too?


My quench plates are steel 45lb weights.

Yes please, if it not too much trouble, We have much too learn from you. Talk about sharpening also please.

This is going to be sweeeeeeeet!!!!!!!!!!

A quick lap around the kitchen and desk turns these up, arranged in roughly chronological order:



It isn't everything I've made, I'm pretty ruthless with my testing and have broken lots of test pieces.
There are also multiples of most of the later knives since I've sold some.
The sheepsfoot on the far right I've sold the most of.
A grand total of four.

There are also quite a few knives that I don't have pictures of that have since departed the shop.


I've made more of the little three finger -'merican "tantos" (dead center in the picture) than anything else (because they are so fast to make) but I've given most of them away. The one pictured was the first one I made and got volunteered for my first electro-etching experiment.

Speaking of testing:

Very impressive, Sam.

You, Sir, are very skilled.

9mmforMe said:

You, Sir, are very skilled.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I'd consider myself an advanced learner. By the 10,000 hour rule I should be getting good sometime around 2025.

My initial training was in industrial quality control, so I've got a good handle on production processes and have been wrenching and pounding on farm machinery my whole life so hand tools don't have much mystery. That isn't a terrible foundation to learn to build knives with. Not as good as being a trained machinist or such, but not bad.

Nice work Sam.

Finishing this up tonight.
.13" 15n20.

OAL of just under 6" with 2.5" of cutting edge.





Ground nice and thin.




Feels good.

I am in awe of your skills.

You Da knife man....speechless. Outstanding work!

Russellc

Ok folks, this is how I do it.


First thing I do is trace out my pattern onto my blade stock and cut the length from the bar.



I'm mostly interested in the shape of the tang, the blade shape is just a suggestion.

I notch and rough cut the profile with an angle grinder and a fiberglass cutting wheel.


Since I don't want to breath fiberglass, light myself on fire or maim myself, this entails a full safety panoply.


After the rough profile I clean it up closer with the grinder.

I clean up the north end of the tang with a sanding drum chucked into a drill.

A more upscale knife maker would use a small contact wheel on a belt grinder for this.



Cleaned up and with the tang final shaped.

Next we drill all of our holes.

3/16" for our 2 pins and the hole that will become our choil.

Chamfered 1/4" holes to lighten the tang.

After notching out out the choil it is time to head to the grinder.



The ice bucket keeps me from burning my fingers.


I'm grinding on a 2x42 craftsman mounted on a table.

It is small enough to carry outside on nice days.



The little Craftsman only has a 1/3 HP motor (older ones were 1/2 HP) and runs redorkulus fast so it isn't perfect for knife grinding but does get the job done.
The stock platen is pretty miserable. It isn't true and is made of thin mild steel.

I stuck a 2" ceramic tile onto mine and it works beautifully...boy is it ugly though.

I grind edge down and judge the height of my grind by the space between the belt and the spine.



Note the index mark on the spine.




Duckface selfie.

Ground to 36 grit.


Bit of wobble in the grind line there. *sigh* That is what I get for rushing.

Finished up and ready for heat treat.



I rather enjoy this part.



Yeee-haaa!

It would probably cut butter at this point.


Heat treatment is:

1.Normalize.
2.Normalize.
3.Normalize.

4. Heat to a bit past critical

5.Quench in warm canola oil.



6. And temper twice at 410 F.


...and we will pick this back up at around 8 PM tonight once the final cycle ends.