bigfellascott wrote:Lovely job on them G, they came up beautifully mate, one day I'd like to have a crack at making a few, looks like great fun to me. What sort of $$ does it cost to get the equipment needed to make them?
Cheers, BigFella.
Re: cost, i made the first couple with just files and wet/drypaper; although i had made my own little forge and had an anvil that the old man bought me years ago.
Here's where i got the info to make the forge, it cost me around $500 to put mine together with all the odds and ends included:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR4jAT ... No5qv8IewQAn anvil is hard to come by (a good one anyway). A basic one like mine will set you back $250 or so and a good old one will cost many times more. Plus hammers, etc.
The grinder and linnisher combo set cost me $900+, plus belts.....
I also bought a wet stone grinder for grinding edges, which was another $250 odd.....
I figure, if i can make myself a good set of reliable and quality knives, the gear has paid for itself; especially if you consider that my 10" cooks knife is $300 to replace alone, a good quality small kitchen knife is about $150 to start and decent specialist cutlery all starts around the $200 mark.
Yes, i know you can buy decent, functional knives for a lot less, like the ones i use to bone and butcher stock but cheap and effective is not the point of this excercise; learning to make custom crafted durable cutlery is. My boning knife has buckled... you wont get any of the knives i have made to buckle.
I temper (that is after hardening) depending on the intended use. Most of the knifes have a spring tempered spine but retain a lot more hardness out to the edge. My hardening and tempering still need a lot of work but it seems to be working ok. The edges don't chip, roll or round off but do benefit from a regular visit from the steel; something i am in the habit of doing for all my knives anyway. Once i am more confident and consistent with my grinds and finishing techniques, i will start ordering specific steels for different knives for different tasks and refine the heat treatment. For now i am happy enough but would love some honest feed back from people who use a knife regularly for real work, like field dressing game, etc..