Here is a basic list:

Hammer

Anvil

Tongs

Forge

Safety Gear (fire extinguisher, leather gloves, hearing protection, safety glasses, etc.)

Files

Sandpaper

Drill Press

Vise

Grinder (Some manage without, but most use this a ton.)

Belts for the grinder

And check out this thread: http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/index.php?/topic/471-knifemaking-supplies-topic-for-january-2012/page__gopid__5535&#entry5535

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Hello Everyone,

I am brand new to this and am very interested in learning as much as possible, but I have absolutely no experience at all in this line of work. Can anyone give me some sort of idea of what sort of tools I should be starting with, and then others I should be working towards. An idea of where to get these tools would be great aswell, kepp in mind I live in Western Canada? Thanks Everyone.

Andrew Telfer

Hello Andrew, and welcome to a habit that will become more addictive than most illicit drugs, and can easily be as damaging to your wallet if one doesn’t thoughtfully answer the question you have posed. In my years of helping new makers I the two top hurdles that keep new makers advancing more slowly than necessary is in spending dollars in attempts to save a dime, and relying too much on one source of less than reliable information. The second is another discussion, and you have already helped yourself immensely with it by asking your questions here.

I often have said that if I had it all to do over again, in hindsight, I would leverage my limited funds in areas that gave me the most results in improving my knives with the least amount of cash output. Sometimes the cash output looks large but in comparison it is very cheap over the long haul, vs. the $5 expense that costs years of aggravation. Always remember that your most valuable commodity, bar none, is time; the more of it you can save, the more of it you can spend on improving.

First and foremost is raw material. The steel stock you can buy to make your knife from is by far the cheapest supply in the whole equation, but you can make it very costly by treating it otherwise. When you add up all the hours trying to figure out what free mystery steel is and then all the time and resources wasted in attempting to figure out how to work it, I would have to say that at the very top of the list of poor choices that have seen impede the advancement of new makers is avoiding the meager $10 to $20 dollars on a good new bar of steel. If you want to make knives from old scrap items as a craft style that is fine but don’t take the route thinking you are saving money, it is one of the worst cost vs. benefits approaches, and yet the most common mistake made by new guys.

Next you will need to shape the knives, I will assume since you are here that you have some forging in mind. Here is where one can really save some money when just testing the waters on the whole bladesmithing thing. Gas forges are very nice, but coal forges are pretty cool too and if you can get your hands on some coal, or even pure lump charcoal, you can make a forge out of just about any dish shaped metal with a hole in the bottom and an air source. I must also admit that I am a proponent of new guys learning with a coal forge for at least a while before moving on to gas. This keeps parts of our craft alive and allows you to see the advantages and disadvantages of both. One could probably get an old rivet forge at the flea market or auction pretty cheap compared to even the more inexpensive commercial gas forges.

Also, no matter how much, or how well you forge, you are going to have to remove some stock. Files worked fine for a thousand years and many makers still pride themselves in using them today. But I would get the best ones I could afford, a pile of $2.00 Chinese files in the corner is a lot more pricey than and $8.00 Nickelson you are still using. Unless you want to stick with the rustic approach you will eventually want to go for a grinder. By far the most versatile for knifemaking are the 2” X 72” models. If you get wider than 2” you are limited in the shapes you can handle and if you get shorter the 72” the belt economics don’t work out as well. From there the bells and whistles are endless, but I don’t know of any tope end grinder that got there by being bad, so the more money you can throw at it the better. You can talk to other makers about different brands, but I would highly recommend finding somebody that will let you work on one and see how it suits you. How tight one tracks and holds that tracking is HUGE in my book.

There are really two main areas of knifemaking- shaping the blade and then making so it will work as such with heat treating. The difference between the two is that you can easily see if the shaping is working out for you simply by looking at the knife, but the heat treatment is a very complex process that is often perplexing and mysterious because knowing if it is successful is not always so cut and dried. I think more questions are raised out of worrying about the results of heat treatment than anything else. So to me it just seems logical that a place to leverage your money for peace of mind is in this one highly complex and worrisome area. And yet, it is one of the places that many knifemakers feel doesn’t need that much, for the same problem of not easily seeing the results, of the grind is bad you can easily see it needs fixing, but you can easily say that a heat treatment is just fine in the absence of such a obvious sign.

I am not saying one needs to spend $1500 on a heat treating oven before they buy a file, but my first point about a good, known, steel dovetails into this quite well. Each steel has its own heat treatment consideration and having a stock of identified steel will give you a constant with which to learn a reliable heat treating method. With a thoughtful steel choice, you can do some very nice heat treating with the forge you used to shape the blades. I have encountered many who disagree with me, but I have spent a good deal of my lifetime studying just the aspects of heat treating blade steels and along with a known steel another very effective leverage point for your money is a good and reliable quenching oil. This is a tough one for most folks- $75-$100 for a quenching oil vs. $10--$20 at the auto supply or super market. A vast majority of people will agree that perhaps the single most critical thing in knife performance is proper heat treatment, and yet a good number of those people will tell you that you are wasting your time with anything less than a Bridgeport mill ($$$$) and will scoff at paying that much for a quenchant when you can get used motor oil for free. Nailing your heat treatment every time will give you invaluable peace of mind in devoting your attention in other areas, a proper quenching oil is designed for consistent and repeatable results, so it is number two, after new known steel, on my list of things I would go for first if I had it all to do over again, and needed the most bang for my buck.

Now you asked about tools and equipment, but the most powerful and valuable tool you can possess is knowledge. So, above all else, get as much quality knowledge as you can. The internet is fine, but there are no filters regarding good vs. bad information, due to the need for sales concerns the same is true for much of the information in print in our business. I can give one credit to the ABS in that respect, we are a non-profit educational organization, so we have no ulterior marketing/advertising/ sales motives in trying to give you the best information we can. Time spent with a knowledgeable smith, be it in a class or one on one in his shop, so far outweighs every other thing that I could have mentioned here in value, that all the others become insignificant in comparison.

Andrew,

The best suggestion that I can give you is to spend some time either with an established knifemaker or at a

hammer-in before you get too carried away in purchasing tools & equipment. Books and online knowledge are good but there is nothing like a little first hand experience. Find out what makers are near you and ask if you can visit their shop. You will find that most are more than willing to help. If there aren't any knifemakers close then find out if there is a blacksmithing association with members within a reasonable distance.

Another very good option is to spend the money to attend a quality knife making school. Most will have you complete a knife and you will learn quickly what tools you will need.

Gary

|quoted:

Hello Andrew, and welcome to a habit that will become more addictive than most illicit drugs, and can easily be as damaging to your wallet if one doesn’t thoughtfully answer the question you have posed. In my years of helping new makers I the two top hurdles that keep new makers advancing more slowly than necessary is in spending dollars in attempts to save a dime, and relying too much on one source of less than reliable information. The second is another discussion, and you have already helped yourself immensely with it by asking your questions here.

I often have said that if I had it all to do over again, in hindsight, I would leverage my limited funds in areas that gave me the most results in improving my knives with the least amount of cash output. Sometimes the cash output looks large but in comparison it is very cheap over the long haul, vs. the $5 expense that costs years of aggravation. Always remember that your most valuable commodity, bar none, is time; the more of it you can save, the more of it you can spend on improving.

First and foremost is raw material. The steel stock you can buy to make your knife from is by far the cheapest supply in the whole equation, but you can make it very costly by treating it otherwise. When you add up all the hours trying to figure out what free mystery steel is and then all the time and resources wasted in attempting to figure out how to work it, I would have to say that at the very top of the list of poor choices that have seen impede the advancement of new makers is avoiding the meager $10 to $20 dollars on a good new bar of steel. If you want to make knives from old scrap items as a craft style that is fine but don’t take the route thinking you are saving money, it is one of the worst cost vs. benefits approaches, and yet the most common mistake made by new guys.

Next you will need to shape the knives, I will assume since you are here that you have some forging in mind. Here is where one can really save some money when just testing the waters on the whole bladesmithing thing. Gas forges are very nice, but coal forges are pretty cool too and if you can get your hands on some coal, or even pure lump charcoal, you can make a forge out of just about any dish shaped metal with a hole in the bottom and an air source. I must also admit that I am a proponent of new guys learning with a coal forge for at least a while before moving on to gas. This keeps parts of our craft alive and allows you to see the advantages and disadvantages of both. One could probably get an old rivet forge at the flea market or auction pretty cheap compared to even the more inexpensive commercial gas forges.

Also, no matter how much, or how well you forge, you are going to have to remove some stock. Files worked fine for a thousand years and many makers still pride themselves in using them today. But I would get the best ones I could afford, a pile of $2.00 Chinese files in the corner is a lot more pricey than and $8.00 Nickelson you are still using. Unless you want to stick with the rustic approach you will eventually want to go for a grinder. By far the most versatile for knifemaking are the 2” X 72” models. If you get wider than 2” you are limited in the shapes you can handle and if you get shorter the 72” the belt economics don’t work out as well. From there the bells and whistles are endless, but I don’t know of any tope end grinder that got there by being bad, so the more money you can throw at it the better. You can talk to other makers about different brands, but I would highly recommend finding somebody that will let you work on one and see how it suits you. How tight one tracks and holds that tracking is HUGE in my book.

There are really two main areas of knifemaking- shaping the blade and then making so it will work as such with heat treating. The difference between the two is that you can easily see if the shaping is working out for you simply by looking at the knife, but the heat treatment is a very complex process that is often perplexing and mysterious because knowing if it is successful is not always so cut and dried. I think more questions are raised out of worrying about the results of heat treatment than anything else. So to me it just seems logical that a place to leverage your money for peace of mind is in this one highly complex and worrisome area. And yet, it is one of the places that many knifemakers feel doesn’t need that much, for the same problem of not easily seeing the results, of the grind is bad you can easily see it needs fixing, but you can easily say that a heat treatment is just fine in the absence of such a obvious sign.

I am not saying one needs to spend $1500 on a heat treating oven before they buy a file, but my first point about a good, known, steel dovetails into this quite well. Each steel has its own heat treatment consideration and having a stock of identified steel will give you a constant with which to learn a reliable heat treating method. With a thoughtful steel choice, you can do some very nice heat treating with the forge you used to shape the blades. I have encountered many who disagree with me, but I have spent a good deal of my lifetime studying just the aspects of heat treating blade steels and along with a known steel another very effective leverage point for your money is a good and reliable quenching oil. This is a tough one for most folks- $75-$100 for a quenching oil vs. $10--$20 at the auto supply or super market. A vast majority of people will agree that perhaps the single most critical thing in knife performance is proper heat treatment, and yet a good number of those people will tell you that you are wasting your time with anything less than a Bridgeport mill ($$$$) and will scoff at paying that much for a quenchant when you can get used motor oil for free. Nailing your heat treatment every time will give you invaluable peace of mind in devoting your attention in other areas, a proper quenching oil is designed for consistent and repeatable results, so it is number two, after new known steel, on my list of things I would go for first if I had it all to do over again, and needed the most bang for my buck.

Now you asked about tools and equipment, but the most powerful and valuable tool you can possess is knowledge. So, above all else, get as much quality knowledge as you can. The internet is fine, but there are no filters regarding good vs. bad information, due to the need for sales concerns the same is true for much of the information in print in our business. I can give one credit to the ABS in that respect, we are a non-profit educational organization, so we have no ulterior marketing/advertising/ sales motives in trying to give you the best information we can. Time spent with a knowledgeable smith, be it in a class or one on one in his shop, so far outweighs every other thing that I could have mentioned here in value, that all the others become insignificant in comparison.

Thank you so much, what a load of information. This is exactly why I joined because if there is anything I hate more when I start something is to find out I could have done much easier and cheaper. Again thank you.

|quoted:

Andrew,

The best suggestion that I can give you is to spend some time either with an established knifemaker or at a

hammer-in before you get too carried away in purchasing tools & equipment. Books and online knowledge are good but there is nothing like a little first hand experience. Find out what makers are near you and ask if you can visit their shop. You will find that most are more than willing to help. If there aren't any knifemakers close then find out if there is a blacksmithing association with members within a reasonable distance.

Another very good option is to spend the money to attend a quality knife making school. Most will have you complete a knife and you will learn quickly what tools you will need.

Gary

Thank you, I will definitely look into the black smithing associations around me, if there are any. I absolutely intend on going to one of the abs's knife making schools.

|quoted:

I absolutely intend on going to one of the abs's knife making schools.

Money & time well spent. The experience & expertice of the instructors there will shorten the learning curve greatly.

Gary

+1 for getting to someone's shop and/or taking a class. I was able to go to a few maker's shops and watch how they do things and pick their brains, which was invaluable. I chose to build a gas forge and was really lucky and found a decent anvil locally for a good price. The first knives I made were forged poorly (gotta love the learning curve <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//wink.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' />) and then profiled with an angle or bench grinder. With no 2x72 grinder, I used files to finish them from there. Over about a year, I gathered the motor and parts and now have a good, variable speed grinder to use. As you'll see several of the good people on here and elsewhere say, if you're going to get it, it's more than worth it to wait a little longer and save up for exactly what you want. If you end up throwing money at something that won't be as good, you'll likely just end up finding it's not what you want and be out more $ in the long run.

This last summer I was lucky enough to take Ed Caffrey's basic bladesmithing class. I can't begin to tell you how valuable it was for me to have that 1 on 1 time with such a great maker and teacher. Getting to see someone's process from beginning to end made a huge difference, at least for me. Frankly, I think once you know this is something you want to pursue, getting to a class would be towards the top of the list. As Mr. Cashen said, "Always remember that your most valuable commodity, bar none, is time; the more of it you can save, the more of it you can spend on improving." While going to a class can be quite expensive, I can tell you from experience that my knowledge of the process and thus the TIME SAVED on my end after the class is huge. There is no shortcut or magic way to get around the learning curve, but wow can it get flattened out a good bit by going to a good class. I have no idea where in Alberta you are, but there have been some hammer-in's in Tilley, Alberta the last few years-I think it's during the summer.

Just my 2 cents and good luck-it's a lot of fun <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//biggrin.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':D' />.

Jeremy

On the subject of mystery steel, I'm starting to think this extends beyond blade steel, since I just stripped the teeth off a $50 bandsaw blade, trying to cut 1/8th scrapyard plate, for a billet can. Cut fine until half way, hit a hard spot and bad news ensued. Ended up finishing the billet wet.

I've always deferred to scrap for shop projects where I didn't need anything specific, but maybe not anymore. ;(

|quoted:

+1 for getting to someone's shop and/or taking a class. I was able to go to a few maker's shops and watch how they do things and pick their brains, which was invaluable. I chose to build a gas forge and was really lucky and found a decent anvil locally for a good price. The first knives I made were forged poorly (gotta love the learning curve <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//wink.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' />) and then profiled with an angle or bench grinder. With no 2x72 grinder, I used files to finish them from there. Over about a year, I gathered the motor and parts and now have a good, variable speed grinder to use. As you'll see several of the good people on here and elsewhere say, if you're going to get it, it's more than worth it to wait a little longer and save up for exactly what you want. If you end up throwing money at something that won't be as good, you'll likely just end up finding it's not what you want and be out more $ in the long run.

This last summer I was lucky enough to take Ed Caffrey's basic bladesmithing class. I can't begin to tell you how valuable it was for me to have that 1 on 1 time with such a great maker and teacher. Getting to see someone's process from beginning to end made a huge difference, at least for me. Frankly, I think once you know this is something you want to pursue, getting to a class would be towards the top of the list. As Mr. Cashen said, "Always remember that your most valuable commodity, bar none, is time; the more of it you can save, the more of it you can spend on improving." While going to a class can be quite expensive, I can tell you from experience that my knowledge of the process and thus the TIME SAVED on my end after the class is huge. There is no shortcut or magic way to get around the learning curve, but wow can it get flattened out a good bit by going to a good class. I have no idea where in Alberta you are, but there have been some hammer-in's in Tilley, Alberta the last few years-I think it's during the summer.

Just my 2 cents and good luck-it's a lot of fun <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//biggrin.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':D' />.

Jeremy

Thanks for your comments. I live about 10 minutes from Tilley, AB is there a bladesmith there I don't know about, because I have looked into who is around me both in bladesmithing and blacksmithing, and there is not much, so if there is someone that close that would be great.

You might be in luck... I'll have to get in touch with the guy there and see if I can get him in touch with you. He hosts a hammer-in there in the summer at his place and Ed Caffrey, MS and Steve Kelley, JS have demonstrated. Sounds like M.S. Bruce Bump may go this next year, too. I'll do some checking and get back to you.

Jeremy

|quoted:

On the subject of mystery steel, I'm starting to think this extends beyond blade steel, since I just stripped the teeth off a $50 bandsaw blade, trying to cut 1/8th scrapyard plate, for a billet can. Cut fine until half way, hit a hard spot and bad news ensued. Ended up finishing the billet wet.

I've always deferred to scrap for shop projects where I didn't need anything specific, but maybe not anymore. ;(

I had a very similar rude awakening, not that many years back. Obviously I am very particular about my blade steel, but mild steel fittings only need to be that- right? I put a lot of work into a "mild steel" dagger guard and then thought the quillons needed some adjusting so I heated it and did so. When I proceeded with work on the cooled guard I noticed the multiple cracks emanating from the slot. Since time is literally money, this turned out to be a VERY expensive piece of "cheap" mild steel. Mild steel these days is A36 which have a very wide spread of chemistries and tolerances so long as it meets the tensile requirements, very much like rebar, so there was no way of knowing the alloying that caused my problems. Now all of my straight carbon steel guards are made from actual 1018 that I get the certified chemistry on and I know what the results will be before starting the work. Saves on mills, drills and saw blades as well.

|quoted:

Thanks for your comments. I live about 10 minutes from Tilley, AB is there a bladesmith there I don't know about, because I have looked into who is around me both in bladesmithing and blacksmithing, and there is not much, so if there is someone that close that would be great.

Andrew

I am the guy that lives just south of Tilley. If you are interested in learning knife making, we have a Thursday night knife night that I host. Anyone interested in coming out and learning how to build a knife is more than welcome. We will walk you through the steps/process that I know.

You can call me or email me if you are interested.

Jim Clow

[email protected]

403-362-1015

Glad you saw this, Jim. Andrew, glad it looks like you've got a great opportunity to learn relatively close-I hear Jim's a pretty decent guy <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />.

Jeremy