Self-Critique
As an amateur who’s just setting out to learn a new skill, you need a motto. “Measure twice, cut once” is always reliable, and I’ve been trying to live by it since I picked it up from my dad about 50 years ago. But that’s a fundamental tool in anyone’s toolbox, like a hammer or screwdriver. For a complicated, multi-stage process like starting from a piece of steel and working through to a finished, sheathed knife, I’ve decided to go with, “Try not to make the same mistake twice”. Having just finished my 30th knife, or thereabouts, since I started on this journey 9 months ago, I’ve made more than a few, but I’ve managed not to repeat too many of them. So, for the benefit of anyone reading these posts, here are a few of my fundamental take-aways:
If you’re working indoors with any kind of grinder, you definitely need (a) dust containment, and (b) dust extraction. Grinding dust, whether wood, metal, or leather, gets EVERYWHERE. Build yourself a makeshift grinding corner or booth if you can, and come up with some sort of filtration system, even if it’s just a hose and a shop-vac.
Fire extinguishers. You’re working with blazing propane, red-hot metal, blow torches, hot oil, and the like. Stuff is going to catch fire. Have extinguishers everywhere.
When the epoxy says “five minutes’ working time”, it doesn’t mean six. Make sure you have everything lined up and ready to go before you mix your adhesives.
Gloves. Work gloves for handling sharp metal, welding gloves for welding and forge work, latex/nitrile gloves for dealing with epoxy, for hand-sanding blades, and for working with leather dyes.
Acetone is outstanding for cleaning and degreasing, but it really, REALLY stings in cuts. That took me by surprise.
You do not have enough clamps. Seriously. Especially all-metal C-clamps. You think you do, but you don’t. Buy some more.
Nothing is as easy as the guys doing it on the internet make it look. Accept that fact from square one. I’ve been woodworking and doing home handy-man stuff for five decades, and have finished three basements including doing all the plumbing and electrical wiring to code. I have driven tens if not hundreds of thousands of nails. And I still can’t hit a piece of hot metal squarely on an anvil. It takes an incredible amount of practice. I’m thinking about making some nails to try to get better at it. And lord, don’t get me started on welding!
You will go through a TONNE of sandpaper. All grades and grits, though I find I tend to go through the lowest grits the fastest, especially 36-grit belts and 80-grit sandpaper.
“Mystery metal” - salvaged tools, car and truck springs, etc. - is always a risk if you’re not absolutely sure how to heat-treat it properly. I’ve found that working with a predictable, forgiving material like 1084C that is tolerant of relatively wide ranges for normalization and quenching, and that has a predictable hardening cycle that you can easily manage with a kitchen stove if you don’t have anything more advanced, is preferable to forging and grinding a blade only for it to not harden when you quench it, or for it to warp and even snap, because you didn’t know you were working with some oddball modern high-performance alloy that has very specific hardening and tempering requirements. It’s a real tick-off. I’ve had my best results with known alloys.
Okay, that’s enough for a Wednesday night. A demain.