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Building an INGO knife (a WIP thread)
- Thread starter Lagrange
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- ingo knife
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I made my first knife with an angle grinder and hand files.
I guarentee you will find out if knife making is for you doing it that way!
Well my youngest kid has been sick and I had to take him to the doctor...strep throat..not good.
But that has kept me from getting much done.
After I get the scale removed from the blade I then turn my attention to smoothing the profile.
I put the knife in my high tech knife holding device.
that probably looks like an ordinary bench vise, but the truth is, it's really just an ordinary vise.
Earlier I showed you that I profiled the blade with my belt grinder down to 400 grit. But this closer picture will show you that there are still some grind marks left.
In order to get all of the grind marks out I will hand sand the back strap using a sanding bar.
I use normal wet/dry sand paper sheets.
Cut a strip approximately 1 1/2" wide.
I use an old file for a sanding block. You can use just about anything, but you want something that is rigid because you dont want to round the edges of the knife. You are trying to keep everything as square a crisp as possible.
Wrap the sandpaper around the file.
I use two hands when hand sanding this way, but because I dont have a third hand, the picture is showing me holding it with one hand. In normal use I would hold it with my index fingers of each hand on the corner of the sand paper to hold it in place.
Starting with 220 grit (wait a minute Eric, you said you profiled it to 400 grit)...yes 220 grit because there are some deep marks in the profile and 220 will get them out a lot faster than a lesser grit, and stainless is really hard material to sand smooth.
At any rate I progressively use finer grits of sandpaper until I get it down to 600 grit. Normally I go to 400 on carbon steel because it is easier to sand, but stainless is hard to sand before hardening and almost impossible afterwards.
So anyway, this is what it looks like after 600 grit.
Back later with more...
But that has kept me from getting much done.
After I get the scale removed from the blade I then turn my attention to smoothing the profile.
I put the knife in my high tech knife holding device.
that probably looks like an ordinary bench vise, but the truth is, it's really just an ordinary vise.
Earlier I showed you that I profiled the blade with my belt grinder down to 400 grit. But this closer picture will show you that there are still some grind marks left.
In order to get all of the grind marks out I will hand sand the back strap using a sanding bar.
I use normal wet/dry sand paper sheets.
Cut a strip approximately 1 1/2" wide.
I use an old file for a sanding block. You can use just about anything, but you want something that is rigid because you dont want to round the edges of the knife. You are trying to keep everything as square a crisp as possible.
Wrap the sandpaper around the file.
I use two hands when hand sanding this way, but because I dont have a third hand, the picture is showing me holding it with one hand. In normal use I would hold it with my index fingers of each hand on the corner of the sand paper to hold it in place.
Starting with 220 grit (wait a minute Eric, you said you profiled it to 400 grit)...yes 220 grit because there are some deep marks in the profile and 220 will get them out a lot faster than a lesser grit, and stainless is really hard material to sand smooth.
At any rate I progressively use finer grits of sandpaper until I get it down to 600 grit. Normally I go to 400 on carbon steel because it is easier to sand, but stainless is hard to sand before hardening and almost impossible afterwards.
So anyway, this is what it looks like after 600 grit.
Back later with more...
Moving right along...
I flip the blade over to do the finger grooves. I dont worry about refining the finish on the edge, or belly, of the blade because it will eventually be gone, so it would be a waste of time, effort, and sandpaper.
I use my dremmel with a drum sanding attachment to rough it out. Those grooves are difficult to get to with the belt sander, so the dremmel cleans it up real nice.
After cleaning up the finger grooves the surface is still pretty rough. You could wrap some sandpaper around something round such as a dowl rod and hand sand it, or you could use a drum sander if you have one. I dont, but I made something that works pretty good.
I found a piece of tubing that I think came from a brake rebuilding kit, cut a slot in the side, added a 3" 1/4-20 countersunk machine screw, and a nut.
Using a countersink bit, I countersink one end of the tube.
Assemble the whole works and then chuck it up in my electric variable speed drill.
Insert a strip of the affore mentioned sand paper and....
Here it is in action.
Starting with 220 grit and progressing down to 600 grit, and here is what you have.
That's it for tonight. Tomorrow I hope to get the blade ground. We'll see.
I flip the blade over to do the finger grooves. I dont worry about refining the finish on the edge, or belly, of the blade because it will eventually be gone, so it would be a waste of time, effort, and sandpaper.
I use my dremmel with a drum sanding attachment to rough it out. Those grooves are difficult to get to with the belt sander, so the dremmel cleans it up real nice.
After cleaning up the finger grooves the surface is still pretty rough. You could wrap some sandpaper around something round such as a dowl rod and hand sand it, or you could use a drum sander if you have one. I dont, but I made something that works pretty good.
I found a piece of tubing that I think came from a brake rebuilding kit, cut a slot in the side, added a 3" 1/4-20 countersunk machine screw, and a nut.
Using a countersink bit, I countersink one end of the tube.
Assemble the whole works and then chuck it up in my electric variable speed drill.
Insert a strip of the affore mentioned sand paper and....
Here it is in action.
Starting with 220 grit and progressing down to 600 grit, and here is what you have.
That's it for tonight. Tomorrow I hope to get the blade ground. We'll see.
Looks great! I have always wanted to try to make my own knife and you've given me some great ideas to use, so thank you for that. If you don't mind me asking, about how much money will you have in just materials to make this particular knife?
Materials....um, I had'nt thought of cost because this is stuff I had already.
If you were to go out and buy this stuff it would probably run you about $40 to $60 bucks plus shipping just for the knife materials. (not including shipping) and then probably another $20-30 in processing supplies...not including tools and equipment.
Most guys who make knives buy materials (building and processing) in larger quantities than needed for more than one knife. The price is cheaper this way.
The cost would be less for carbon steel and say...micarta scales.
Using stainless like I am and a stabilized block of burl wood runs the cost up.
You may be able to find materials cheaper than the ones I use but you get what you pay for so to speak.
Of course you wont recoup the hours you spend working on it.
Good question though.
If you were to go out and buy this stuff it would probably run you about $40 to $60 bucks plus shipping just for the knife materials. (not including shipping) and then probably another $20-30 in processing supplies...not including tools and equipment.
Most guys who make knives buy materials (building and processing) in larger quantities than needed for more than one knife. The price is cheaper this way.
The cost would be less for carbon steel and say...micarta scales.
Using stainless like I am and a stabilized block of burl wood runs the cost up.
You may be able to find materials cheaper than the ones I use but you get what you pay for so to speak.
Of course you wont recoup the hours you spend working on it.
Good question though.
Geeze Alice....would you hurry up and get this done. I'm ready to see the finished product! And yes I saw your real name written on your scissors!
Seriously though...nice work. It's cool to see that it can be done without $1000's worth of tools. Thanks for posting
Seriously though...nice work. It's cool to see that it can be done without $1000's worth of tools. Thanks for posting
So it's been a few days since I posted any progress.
I work out of my garage which is uninsulated. That means I get the full benefit of the temperature when I am working...and it has been downright cold out.
Making a knife can literally take hours and hours of work depending on the complexity of the design. Making one in the bitter cold takes me longer because I can only stand the cold so long before I have to take a warm up break.
At any rate I did manage to get a few things done.
After I cleaned the scale from the surface of the knife, I turned to prepping the blank for the bolsters.
Here is a small shot of the blank after a quick smoothing sanding job prior to prepping the bolster area of the handle.
I sanded down to 400 grit. I didn't put too much work on the blade area because it is going to be ground out anyway. I wanted to clean up the ricasso (the area between the plunge line and the bolster) because I don't want any scratches to show up and it is more difficult to do after the blade is ground.
Now I take the ricasso down to 1500 grit to make it baby butt smooth.
Now we are ready to grind the blade.
Normally I would turn the blade upside down and clamp it into my high tech knife holding device, paint the surface of the edge with a sharpie (black) and then using a scribe I would scribe two parallel lines down the center of the blade.
This would give me a mark to grind to and help me keep my grinds even.
I use a home made scribe to mark the blade.
This is a few pieces of tool steel that I used and inserted a replacement scribe tip into the holder.
This is what the blade looks like after it has been scribed.
You can also mark the side of the blank where you want the grind to stop. That will help you to adjust your grind angle.
You can also determine the grind angle by simply using as math formula that calculates the angles of a triangle using the height and thickness. If you aren't too bright like me, there are web sites that have apps that will do the calculations for you if you enter the parameters. Here's just one example; http://easycalculation.com/trigonometry/triangle-angles.php
The trick then, is to be able to hold the blade at that angle while you grind.
There are gadgets out there that will help you accomplish that as well.
One of them is an angle guide from Fred Rowe of "Bethel Ridge Forge" He calls it the Bubble Jig.
...and there are other helpful ideas on YouTube that you can watch and possibly learn from.
There are guys out there that have experimented with a variety of gadgets to help the accomplish a flat grind and you can find many of them by searching the knife makers forums.
Personally, I grind free handed, I feel comfortable that way, and it works for me. It takes some practice to do it well, but it isn't too difficult or I wouldn't be able to do it.
I do use what I call a bevel guide to help me keep my bevel nice and even.
This is one I made myself from tool steel and some countersunk screws.
I haven't figured out a way to grind a blade and take pictures at the same time. So unfortunately I can not show you the process. But a good idea is to grind your blade on one side...make a couple passes, then turn it over and do the same on the other side and then continue alternating back and forth until the grind is completed.
...and here is the blade ground and after a little hand sanding.
I will sand this down to about 1000 grit before heat treating.
I'll try to get more done soon, and get back to you!
Thanks for your patience.
I work out of my garage which is uninsulated. That means I get the full benefit of the temperature when I am working...and it has been downright cold out.
Making a knife can literally take hours and hours of work depending on the complexity of the design. Making one in the bitter cold takes me longer because I can only stand the cold so long before I have to take a warm up break.
At any rate I did manage to get a few things done.
After I cleaned the scale from the surface of the knife, I turned to prepping the blank for the bolsters.
Here is a small shot of the blank after a quick smoothing sanding job prior to prepping the bolster area of the handle.
I sanded down to 400 grit. I didn't put too much work on the blade area because it is going to be ground out anyway. I wanted to clean up the ricasso (the area between the plunge line and the bolster) because I don't want any scratches to show up and it is more difficult to do after the blade is ground.
Now I take the ricasso down to 1500 grit to make it baby butt smooth.
Now we are ready to grind the blade.
Normally I would turn the blade upside down and clamp it into my high tech knife holding device, paint the surface of the edge with a sharpie (black) and then using a scribe I would scribe two parallel lines down the center of the blade.
This would give me a mark to grind to and help me keep my grinds even.
I use a home made scribe to mark the blade.
This is a few pieces of tool steel that I used and inserted a replacement scribe tip into the holder.
This is what the blade looks like after it has been scribed.
You can also mark the side of the blank where you want the grind to stop. That will help you to adjust your grind angle.
You can also determine the grind angle by simply using as math formula that calculates the angles of a triangle using the height and thickness. If you aren't too bright like me, there are web sites that have apps that will do the calculations for you if you enter the parameters. Here's just one example; http://easycalculation.com/trigonometry/triangle-angles.php
The trick then, is to be able to hold the blade at that angle while you grind.
There are gadgets out there that will help you accomplish that as well.
One of them is an angle guide from Fred Rowe of "Bethel Ridge Forge" He calls it the Bubble Jig.
...and there are other helpful ideas on YouTube that you can watch and possibly learn from.
There are guys out there that have experimented with a variety of gadgets to help the accomplish a flat grind and you can find many of them by searching the knife makers forums.
Personally, I grind free handed, I feel comfortable that way, and it works for me. It takes some practice to do it well, but it isn't too difficult or I wouldn't be able to do it.
I do use what I call a bevel guide to help me keep my bevel nice and even.
This is one I made myself from tool steel and some countersunk screws.
I haven't figured out a way to grind a blade and take pictures at the same time. So unfortunately I can not show you the process. But a good idea is to grind your blade on one side...make a couple passes, then turn it over and do the same on the other side and then continue alternating back and forth until the grind is completed.
...and here is the blade ground and after a little hand sanding.
I will sand this down to about 1000 grit before heat treating.
I'll try to get more done soon, and get back to you!
Thanks for your patience.
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