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Knifemaking

Knifemaking is the building of a knife, which includes the blade, handle and other accouterments. Blades are made by either removing metal from a steel blank via a grinder – known as stock removal – and the forging to shape of hot steel into a blade in the process known as bladesmithing. Other parts, including bolsters, guards, pommels, etc., are needed to complete the finished knife.

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How to Make the Price Guard

BLADE Staff
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How to Make the Price Guard

BY JORDAN LAMOTHE

The author fashions it in the style of the classic 19th-century maker

In 2017 I received a commission for a piece in the style of Michael Price, a mid-19th-century knifemaker whose knives are stamped “M. Price San Francisco.” The customer sent me an image of the knife I should use as my template: a spear-point bowie with elk antler scales and Price’s iconic “peanut”-shaped handle. However, he also asked me to add some filework and make it my own. This was not intended to be a replica of the historic piece.

BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame® member Phil Lobred was a big collector of original 19th-century Michael Price knives, including this one with an abalone handle. (Eric Eggly image)

The Price knife whose shape I was to imitate was symmetrical and quite simple, but I found myself a bit baffled by the guard, struggling to answer the question, “How did he attach it?” From the single-side-view photograph I had, several explanations would have been possible: It might have been a frame handle, or the guard might have been slid on from the blade end and soldered in place; or perhaps the image was just an optical illusion, and the swell in the handle was narrow enough so that the guard could slide on from the tang.

Lacking access to the knife or to photos showing the guard/handle juncture, I voiced my confusion on the American Bladesmith Society internet forum. ABS master smith Lin Rhea responded promptly with the expertise of one who has extensively studied and taught 19th-century blacksmithing and knifemaking techniques.

Lin wrote that the knife had a full tapered tang and that Price likely “slid the guard on from the back and forged the tang wider.” Lin added that the shape of the handle would allow the guard to slide back far enough so I could still finish the blade, and the blade would have been hardened after forging the tang to shape.

The practice of passing one piece through another and subsequent forging to form a captive part is common in the traditional joinery found in ornamental and architectural blacksmithing. However, it seems to have been largely forgotten in the knifemaking realm. Meanwhile, I have always fitted the guard after heat treatment and final grinding. It struck me as a new way of thinking about the knifemaking process, one I was eager to try. With Lin’s excellent instructions, all I had to do was execute the design, carefully thinking through the order of operations.

 

FORGE, GRIND and SAND

Forging the Price-style knife was barely different from forging a hidden-tang blade—I just left the tang really beefy. I forged the blade shape and bevels and shouldered the tang ever so slightly. I left the tang as close to the stock thickness as I could for its entire length so I would have plenty of material to forge it wider and taper it later.

After forging I ground the blade to its final dimensions, knowing that any grinding would be more difficult after the guard was attached, and tapered the tang slightly on all four sides. Though I left the bevels of the blade with a 600-grit belt finish, I knew any part of the blade that contacted the guard must be finished as close to the final polish as possible. Any material removed in final polishing would affect the guard fit, so I hand-sanded the ricasso. I also sanded the edges of the tang from the shoulders back about 1 inch—any sanding beyond that would have been lost when forging the tang. In anticipation of the particular fit I wanted between the handle liners and the tang, I slightly rounded the tang’s edges. At that point, every surface contacting the guard was exactly the way I wanted it in the finished knife, and I was ready to fit the guard itself.

FITTING the GUARD

Fitting a guard for a full tang is only slightly more difficult than fitting one for a hidden tang. As always there must be no gaps between the face of the guard and the ricasso, or beneath the blade shoulders. The added challenge is that there must also be no gaps between the back side of the guard and the edges of the tang (the flats of the tang can be drafted slightly, because the handle scales will cover the transition). I used mild steel for the guard, which would be selectively blued to highlight my filework and would withstand the high heat of forging the tang. I also shaped the guard and added filework. Though these processes wouldn’t affect any of the fitting tolerances, they would have been much slower with the guard in place. I then sanded both guard faces to their final grit finish (Figure 1).

The author sanded both guard faces to their final grit finish.

BACK to the FORGE

After spending hours grinding, filing and sanding, I was ready for the nerve-wracking challenge of putting my hard work back in the forge. At the time I made the knife, I used a coal forge almost exclusively—it was the perfect heat source for this kind of forging.

In order to protect the carefully finished guard and blade, it was important to have a very isolated heat on the tang, which also allowed me to hold the blade in a gloved hand while forging to avoid galling the soft metal with tongs. A torch could also have provided such control, but a gas forge would have made it difficult. I kept my coal fire very contained so that I had a small area of intense heat to use.

To forge the peanut shape into the handle I first drew the taper in profile, keeping the thickness consistent, and then used the cross-pien on my hammer to forge the swell. Once the profile was adequate, I refined the tapers in the thickness of the tang with the face of my hammer, making sure to keep them flat or a little convex. Any “sway” in the flats of the tang would result in gaps underneath the handle scales that could not be removed by grinding (Figure 2). I then ground the forged tang to its final dimensions and drilled the pinholes. The blade was ready for hardening (Figure 3).

Figure 2

I hardened the knife using my heat-treating oven as I do on most of my knives. Nonetheless, in retrospect, heating it in the forge might have resulted in less scale to clean off the blade due to the more-neutral atmosphere. After hardening and tempering I used a torch to soften the tang, which would enable me to add the desired filework.

Figure 3

FINISHING

To finish the hardened and tempered blade, all surfaces on the knife and guard had to be re-sanded to remove oxidation. The setup sanding that I did prior to forging the tang enabled me to sand only small amounts of material off critical places—such as the ricasso and guard face—to minimize the changes to the guard fit. Though not flawless, the final guard transitions were very clean on both the front and back faces (Figures 4 and 5).

From this point forward, finishing the Michael Price-style knife was a fairly typical progression of fitting the handle materials and shaping them to meet the tang, making sure to properly mask the carefully sanded faces. After shaping the handle, I added the filework to the tang, bluing and polishing as my design required. After every piece had received its final finish, I glued them all together with epoxy and added three piened nickel-silver pins to complete the knife (Figure 6).

Figure 6

LEARNING & RE-LEARNING

The process of making a knife such as this requires more forethought and planning than most techniques that involve fitting a guard after all the forging is complete. It is also considerably more difficult to meet the high standards of fit and finish that are to be expected on today’s handmade knives. Working from a drawing helped to keep all aspects of the knife consistent with my desired result. Even so, reasoning out the order of polishing was still crucial, because each step limited access to certain places on the knife.

Such an inflexible order of operations begs the question, “Why use this process at all in our modern day and age?” If form, fit and finish are the primary goals, then using frame-handle construction would, indeed, give more reliable results for a knife of this shape. Additionally, it would be impossible to use this guard technique on any asymmetrical handles that flare directly after the guard.

From a practical standpoint, one answer is that forging the tang after slotting the guard is an expedient way to make a symmetrical handle without the meticulous and time-intensive machining that frame-handle construction requires.

Perhaps more importantly, however, practicing historical techniques shows attention to the history of knifemaking and adds a depth of craftsmanship to any given piece. It is a process of learning and re-learning that can yield different perspectives on what is possible in knifemaking, enriching the craftsperson and adding to the vitality of the craft.

 

For more information contact Jordan LaMothe, Dept. BL12, 1317 Count Rte. 31, Granville, NY 12832 518-368-5147 [email protected], jordanlamothe.com.

The 5 Most Dangerous Knifemaking Machines

BLADE Staff
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The 5 Most Dangerous Knifemaking Machines

Inattentive operators are more dangerous than the machines themselves

BY JOE SZILASKI BLADE® FIELD EDITOR

“I am a newbie to knifemaking with a limited budget for machines and tools. My main concern is the horror stories I have heard concerning the accidents some makers have experienced working with their machinery. I would like to know what you think are the most dangerous machines in the shop.” -John, Pennsylvania

This is one of the most frequently asked questions I have from students attending my knifemaking classes. If I were to categorize all the tools in my shop, I am not sure which tool would be the winner of “most dangerous.” Whether a power tool or not, they are all dangerous, some more than others. Therefore, I have a lot of respect for even the simplest of knifemaking tools.

I have a sign in my shop styled like a big bandage that reads “Stupid Hurts,” and that is about the size of it. Stupidity is the cause of many accidents. Accidents happen but are often preventable. 

1: GRINDER

I would like to mention a few tools found in most every maker’s shop. Let’s start with the grinder. My grinders are equipped with 2×72-inch belts and are very safe until you exert extra pressure to remove excess material faster. In a good scenario you will burn your finger from friction heat; worse, you slip and grind your knuckles, what you would call really bare knuckles, or give yourself a manicure by grinding right into your nails. Of course, the belt can snap and hit you in the forehead, reminding you to not apply too much pressure when grinding. 

I teach my students to grind their knives freehand, no gloves and without the use of a tool rest. The blade can get caught between the rest and the contact wheel. This could get your fingers where they do not belong, snap your belt, or throw the blade out of your hand. I am glad I learned to grind this way and so have all of my students. 

2: DRILL PRESS

The drill press looks quite innocent but most drill bits are very brittle. If you put more pressure on your drill bit than it can take, it could break or explode into small pieces and make you look like you had a fight with a porcupine. Or, the bit can snag the material you are drilling and snatch it out of your hand. Before you are able to move your hand away, the snagged material will smack you at least 10 times.

3: BAND SAW

The band saw can be an intimidating creature. I put it into the meat-eater category along with T-Rex and a pool of piranhas. To avoid all those teeth, use push sticks. Again, use just enough pressure to cut the material—nothing more, nothing less.

4: BUFFER

As most makers will tell you, the buffer is certainly one of the most dangerous tools in the shop. It may sound funny but my ex-partner wore a homemade plywood apron for when he was buffing.

Avoid putting your buffer on a workbench against a wall. I made this mistake in my old shop. I had a 1-horsepower buffer. One day the soft buffing wheel caught a guard I was working on and grabbed the knife out of my hand. The knife hit the table, ricocheted into the cinder block wall, and went right through the thin section of cinder block. I would hate to think what would happen if the blade had hit me with that much force.


Many years ago, Gil Hibben was buffing a blade when the buffer grabbed the knife and hurled it blade first into one of his main arteries. Miraculously, a friend was nearby and got Gil to the hospital before he bled to death. (Carter photo)

I replaced the buffer with a small quarter-horsepower model I could practically stop with my hand. I compensated for the lack of horsepower by sanding my knives with a higher-grit paper to make it easier for the small buffer to get the polish I wanted.

Now that I have a big dream of a shop with plenty of room for all the tools, I have that big buffer on a pedestal and away from anything that a blade can ricochet off. The buffer may still throw the blade toward my leg or foot causing a very nasty injury, but it is less likely to come toward my body. 

5: POWER HAMMER

Since I forge most of my blades, about 20 years ago I bought a 50-pound Little Giant power hammer to make my life easier. This piece of equipment can be one hell of a potato masher, and then some. 

Early on I developed one good habit. Whenever I stepped away from any power tool, I shut it down. That habit paid off one day. I had just shut my power hammer off when I lost my footing. My reflexes kicked in and I grabbed something to regain my balance. That is when I realized my left hand had grabbed the anvil of the power hammer, and my foot was on the pedal that would have activated the hammer. If the hammer had been turned on, my hand would now make a good stop sign at a school crossing. After that I installed an on/off switch directly on the machine and close by so I do not have to step away from the machine to shut it off. I also got the surgery on my foot I had been avoiding so now I do not lose my footing so easily.

Whenever the author steps away from any power tool—including his power hammer—he shuts it down to help avoid potential accidents. (Lori Szilaski photo)

Recently a friend of mine had a similar situation—tripping and accidentally grabbing the anvil of his air hammer. Unfortunately, his hammer was turned on. Fortunately, the doctors were able to save his three fingers that were crushed.

Tools are made to help us, not hurt us. It is true tools do not have feelings and do not care what they cut, smash or maim. You do not have to be afraid of your tools but, like I mentioned earlier, you certainly have to respect them. 

In my opinion, people who do not know how to operate the tools properly are much more dangerous to themselves and others than the tools themselves. Knowing how to use your power equipment is most important in order to avoid the horror stories we have all heard about. All power tools come with lengthy warning labels. There is a good reason for these besides the manufacturer covering their you-know-whats from lawsuits. Such accidents have happened before and it is up to you to avoid having the same ones in the future.

Long ago I worked in an art foundry that made bronze sculptures. One young lady was using a hydraulic roller she was not qualified to use. Her gloves were way too big for her and the roller caught the tip of her glove and pulled in her whole hand. She has had quite a few surgeries to reattach and rebuild what the doctors could. She was lucky the maintenance guy was passing by and hit the reverse switch. He may have saved her life, as the machine was big enough to pull her in completely.

CREATE A SAFE ENVIRONMENT

Create a safe environment for your shop. Be sure to not overcrowd it. Keep things off the floor you can trip on, especially in the area around your power tools. And always maintain your tools—it is a pleasure to work on well-maintained equipment. Finally, wear proper fitting clothes and safety gear when appropriate.

Remember the basics. Do not rush or use power tools when you are too tired. Never be overconfident around power tools no matter how many years you have worked with them. I have seen people crippled and killed because of this. Sorry to add to your horror story, but the bottom line is you are the one with the brain and common sense—use both.

 

Send your questions for Wayne Goddard or Joe Szilaski to BLADE®, POB 789, Ooltewah, TN 37363-0789 [email protected]. Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope with your name and address for a personal response from Wayne, or e-mail him at [email protected]. E-mail Joe at [email protected]. If you wish, BLADE will not print your name with your question.

 

Why The X-Rhea Knife?

Lin Rhea
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Why The X-Rhea Knife?

The X-Rhea Is The Result Of Having A Curious Mind And The Ability To Explore Possibilities.

Why did I come up with the X-Rhea knife design? I’ve asked myself this several times and only recently have I been able to supply a reasonable answer. Th e X-Rhea started as a personal challenge. I wanted to make a knife, handle and all, from one piece of steel. Th at’s it: no scales, no added glues, pins, extra space fillers, inlays—nothing. Moreover, I wanted it to look good and be comfortable and as structurally sound as any good knife should be, without being overly heavy.

This challenge nagged at me. If I limited myself to steel and fire as my basic resources, could I forge a knife from one piece of steel, a knife that left no doubt about its viability? Could it look good, feel good and perform well? I also wanted a handle design versatile enough to fit different sizes and types of knives.

“A full tang knife is stronger than a hidden tang knife” is something I’ve heard many times. That statement oversimplifies the matter; which is better? I’ve heard some say, “At least with a full tang, if the scales fall off you still have a knife.” While I don’t agree with either statement, it indicates in some people’s minds a full tang blade alone qualifies as “a knife,” even without scales. And what qualifies as a knife, as well as what part strength plays, might differ from person to person.

In my visits with renowned historic blacksmith Peter Ross, my eyes were opened to the multi-dimensional vision the historic blacksmith needed in order to execute the complex forgings of everyday objects of the colonial era. The ability to understand how something is shaped, combined with the hand skills to actually shape it, are two separate things. The combination of those two qualities in one individual is rare. Peter showed me how to change the way I think about shaping steel. My mind raced with possibilities every time I worked with him. He taught me how to take a project from concept to reality.

Just as steel is shaped by the blows of a hammer, my thoughts were shaped to the challenge at hand. I felt I was in a unique set of circumstances that directed me to mix my forging with the mostly forgot ten techniques of historic blacksmithing. My years of training helped provide some ability to execute my ideas and theories. Theories? OK, it’s my “theory” that about 90 percent of tactile, meaningful contact between the hand and a knife handle is concentrated on the top and the bottom. Think pliers, wrenches, etc. The mind seems to understand the vacancy of the remaining areas between the top and bottom. Also, the hand “soaks up” and “fills in” to meet these vacancies to a degree. If I could add contouring and sculpting to the essential top and bottom, could the hand and mind fill in the rest? Can a knife with no scales be an option?

The Answer To X-Rhea

Finding the answer took significant effort and a lot of time. I worked out a forging sequence for my X-Rhea hunting knives that satisfied me, but I kept thinking it would be great to forge a bowie with top and bottom lugs. It took years to work out the stages of the process. While the accompanying photographs attest to my relative success, it leaves a lot unsaid about the adjustments I had to make in my thinking. I used the blacksmithing principle of eliminating things that hinder the process, and re-emphasizing and adjusting things that assist it. I also considered efficiency in timing, appropriate temperature, or other techniques** that are most practical.

The author up close and personal with an X-Rhea Knife forged red hot.
The author up close and personal with an X-Rhea Knife forged red hot.

While modern tooling could speed up some of the steps in my process, modern thinking and modern expectations would not. Aft er all, this process was being developed around the early 19th-century blacksmith tools: a coal forge, blacksmith leg vise, and the use of handheld hammers. This uncluttered my thinking and required me to face the same challenges as the early blacksmith. Elevating one’s skills with basic tools, improving understanding of the materials, and bearing full responsibility for the outcome was my expectation. While this might seem restrictive and limiting, the improved skill level and the readjusting of my views had a freeing effect. I am not as dependent on modern tools, which enables me to be more creative. The willingness to adjust one’s thinking was, and remains, an invaluable aid to the blacksmith.

Material Limits

When forging a complex shape, a smith must consider the limitations of the material, sometimes working near its limits but never exceeding them. Wisdom calls for choosing material suited for the extreme changes of geometry in the knife. Steels that are prone to air hardening must have special consideration or be avoided. Like some historic objects, the X-Rhea Knife is forged from one piece of steel, in this case, entirely high carbon steel. Those qualities and characteristics must be allowed for and considered.

Making an X-Rhea is a multi-step process. It must be pre-formed, with all needed parts and adjustments made before final shaping and peening the handle. Recognizing and maintaining a high standard of precision in the pre-form details is absolutely necessary to a satisfactory final result.

Even after I successfully made one of these knives, I found that part of the challenge was yet to come—acceptance. I showed up at a cutting competition with one of my X-Rhea bowies and sure got some stares. The safety judges looked it over as if it were a new species of animal. “Is it strong? Will it hurt your hand?” they asked. As I recall I placed well in the competition using it, but the initial reaction was still mixed.

Will it hurt your hand? I previously mentioned the handle contouring and sculpting. This is a standard part of the forging and filing process, as it is with any knife handle. Depending on the maker’s forging skill, it may require some filing in-between forging steps. Each step has some amount of adjustability to allow for correction, while leading to a beautiful profile and comfortable grip. It can be surprising to those who handle the knife just how good it feels, considering the remarkable difference in construction and the “open” appearance.

X-Rhea Strength

Is it strong? This is where the application of common blacksmith tool-making skills and logic are applied. Sufficiency was the guide for an early blacksmith. Making a piece overly strong for its intended use might sound impressive, but in use it becomes clear that this strength adds unneeded and undesirable weight for the intended use, and does not account for other desirable characteristics such as flex and toughness. I view heavy,
unwieldy blades generally as a mark of a novice. Unless the intended purpose calls for excessive strength, sufficiency should also, be the guide not only for blades but for knives overall.

For those inclined to overthink a matter, look at the “T” cross section of the blade-to-handle transition. It eff ectively converts the stress loads in the needed directions.
For those inclined to overthink a matter, look at the “T” cross section of the blade-to-handle transition. It eff ectively converts the stress loads in the needed directions.

Today when I see a thickly built knife, instead of looking at it and saying to myself “This thing sure is strong!” I ask, “Why does it need to be so heavy?” For the X-Rhea handle, I try to use sufficiency as my guide. Where it can structurally be lightened, I do that by forging and filing, leaving it sufficiently strong but not overly heavy. This distribution of strength serves to provide literal balance to the knife exactly as any conventional knife, regardless of construction. Either should have balance when properly built to a purpose and have sufficient strength to perform its purpose. That fact, while amazing to me at first, is testimony to the principle of sufficiency. In other words, the X-Rhea should compare well in balance and weight as well as function to any well-made conventional knife for the same application.

For those inclined to overthink a matter, look at the “T” cross-section of the blade-to-handle transition. It effectively converts the stress loads in the needed directions. Viewed from the profile, the slight rotation of the ricasso as an “X” instead of a vertical “cross” assists in adding strength with less material (weight) to the connection. The upper leg of the ricasso’s “X” tapers back to brace the upper part of the handle, which bears the majority of the workload. The handle then tapers in thickness slightly as it goes back to the forged integral pommel and proceeds to the handle tenon where it is peened. To further lighten the knife, the handle band is sculpted gently to taste. Taste? I try not to get so engrossed in the math and mechanics that I lose the necessity of making the knife look good. Like a scroll forged by a blacksmith, the application of math and mechanics are the basis for all aspects of proportion and form. To keep it simple, I want to make it graceful, not blocky, getting the absolute most out of a minimum of material volume.

The X-Rhea Process

In my situation, I set a challenge for myself and it led to the X-Rhea. For me, the process is as important as the knife itself. I made a lot of individual knives, some better than others, but what I was actually concentrating on was developing a forging process, so the one-piece forged knives could be repeated via a repeatable process with predetermined features, checkpoints and adjustability built-in along the way. To emphasize adjustability, whether by forging, grinding or filing, is key. It enables the smith to reach predetermined checkpoints before proceeding with the rest of the process. When following a well-designed process, the outcome will be consistent and meet a standard as would the product of a well-designed and adjusted machine.

While we are far from machines that guarantee specific outcomes, diligent attention to the execution of each heated and hammered step and making needed adjustments, when appropriate, will carry the project along. As aptly pointed out in David Pye’s book, The Nature and Art of Workmanship, “The quality of the result is continually at risk during the process.” Overcoming the risk by careful determination, as well as time spent in practice, is its own challenge and entirely rests upon the craftsperson.

Like some historic objects, the X-Rhea Knife is forged from one piece of steel, in this case, entirely high carbon steel.
Like some historic objects, the X-Rhea Knife is forged from one piece of steel, in this case, entirely high carbon steel.

I believe it is noble to preserve cultural objects, and it’s also my belief that preserving the processes used to make those objects is equally important. The hand of the individual craftspeople, following already established processes, can be seen in the objects of the past. A society or culture can lose appreciation for the craftsman’s touch. Pye stated, “The danger is not that the workmanship of risk will die out altogether but rather that, from want of theory, and thence lack of standards, its possibilities will be neglected and inferior forms of it will be taken for granted and accepted.” It would be a shame to neglect the possibilities or take for granted why we craft things the way we do.

I also believe there is room remaining to explore new designs and theories in today’s knifemaking. We can find new ideas and inspiration from places we don’t expect. With the ever-changing laws and shortages of materials such as stag and ivory, we may be wise to consider creating a market based on a process we develop using otherwise unexpected, but available, materials and techniques. This requires time and risk. Are we willing to apply time and effort to follow through with a concept without certainty that there will be a payoff? Is the payoff worth it in monetary or cultural dividends? One can really never know the answers to such questions, and those possibilities were not a serious factor in my efforts.

The X-Rhea is the result of having a curious mind and the ability to explore possibilities. It was an idea, turned into a challenge, turned into reality. The simple sequence is available to everyone. Its cultural value is a matter of opinion, but the process of the X-Rhea Knife shows that new and interesting ideas can be pursued in knifemaking.

Also Read:

8 Tips for Successful Home-Based Knife Shops

Joe Calton
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8 Tips for Successful Home-Based Knife Shops

How to keep your shop in operating order and maintain a safe and happy family life in the process

By Joe Calton

There have been tons of stories on how to be a knifemaker. Most are great and deal with subjects like taxes, suppliers, marketing, sales, bookkeeping and safety. Other great articles cover the technical side of how to make the knives you wish to sell, including stories on forging, grinding, heat treating, handles, sheaths and more.

My story will outline some things I have learned over the years as a full-time knifemaker in a home-shop setting that I think will benefit you, your knives and, most importantly, your family.

The author’s home-based shop is a two-car garage attached to the house by a single door. Sure it’s cluttered—but how much do you want to bet he knows where every tool, piece of equipment, grinding belt, spec book, etc., is?

The GREAT 8

1) Buy a toaster! Your wife’s kitchen oven is not the place to be tempering knives, warming up knife sheaths for waxing them, heating Kydex® for the molding, or burning out axe heads. A $5 toaster at the flea market will do all that in your shop and is a bargain at twice the price.


Buy a toaster! Your wife’s kitchen oven is not the place to be tempering knives, warming up knife sheaths for waxing them, heating Kydex® for the molding or burning out axe heads.

2) Along with the toaster, while at the thrift shop get a selection of pots and pans, cutting boards and a small scale. Trust me, the lure of using one of your wife’s pots or pans for “just this one little project” will be too great—and that is not a road you want to travel! Forget this one and dinner may taste a little “off”—even if you were able to sneak the pan out of the kitchen and into the shop and back again.

3) Install a sink in the shop. At the very least, put a five-gallon bucket of water on a stand for washing your hands before you head into the house. You may not mind grease, oil and dust prints on your clothes, but one time of leaving a smear of quenching oil on your wife’s nice clothes and your knifemaking will take a big hit. Spilling acid on a concrete floor also has far fewer ramifications than spilling it on the countertop in the kitchen. Oh—and don’t forget to wipe your feet on the way into the house.

Installing a sink will help keep things clean.

4) If who like your coffee as much as I do, get a big thermos, fill it in the morning, and take it to the shop with you. This cuts down on the trips away from the shop, as a trip inside the house to grab another cup can turn into an hour away by the time you get the cup, peek in the fridge, check for phone messages, etc.

 

5) Know when to quit for the day. This is one lesson I’m still learning. You get wrapped up in your work and the next thing you know it’s 2 in the morning. Not only will you spend that night on the couch, but you may spend the next one there too if, as a result, you also forgot the plans you made, dinner, one or more of the kids’ school activities, etc. It’s tough to make good knives after a rough night on the couch.

When working in the shop, don’t lose track of time and work too late or else you could forget to do important family jobs—and wind up being relegated to sleeping one or more nights on the couch with Fido as a result.

6) Use some of your knife money to buy your wife flowers. Buy them on a regular basis. Put it on the calendar if you must so you will remember. Think of the flowers as supplies, like grinding belts. This is very important! Not if but when you forget one of the preceding tips, hopefully you will have gotten her flowers recently—and it just may save your bacon. For the home-based knifemaker, buying flowers for the wife is at least as important as safety glasses. You can continue to make knives with only one eye but you cannot make knives if you have been dispatched with a heavy frying pan.

In order to have the wherewithal to make such knives as his drop-point hunter, the author keeps peace with his wife by buying bunches of roses on a regular basis.

7) Know that what happens in your shop does not stay in your shop, and act accordingly. Dust from exotic woods will make it into your home. You may not be allergic to them but your wife, kids or family pets may be. Keep an eye peeled for anything out of the ordinary when introducing new woods or materials into your shop. This also goes for smoke from quenching. Use “green” quenchants when you can, including vegetable-based oils and water. And keep the door to the rest of the house closed until you clear the air.

8) If you’re considering moving your shop away from your house, think long and hard about it. Yes, a home-based shop offers some challenges. However, it offers quite a few benefits, too. Among them: the morning commute is a thing of the past so you save fuel and time, you have a good place to fix toys and household appliances, and everyone always knows where to find you. If you are a workaholic like me, the home-based shop keeps you at home instead of at the office. Move the shop as some friends of mine have done and you may end up moving it right back.

A benefit of a home-based knife shop is that you can also repair appliances, junior’s toys, etc. And don’t forget to buy a big thermos for plenty of coffee so you don’t have to make return trips to the house for that extra cup.

Also, when you take a break, throw a load of clothes in the washer and they will be ready for the dryer by your next break. Or, you can start a crock-pot meal for that evening’s dinner. By the way, there is no better test of the kitchen knives you make than to use them in making dinner a couple nights a week. This is a twofer in that not only do you get the immediate feedback from hands-on testing, but also the household benefits of cooking a couple meals a week will go far toward keeping your knifemaking in the good graces of “The Boss.”

2 BIGGEST CHALLENGES

My list of tips is not complete. It is based on my experiences in working from a home-based shop, which is a two-car garage attached to the house by a single door. You may be in a detached shop or a basement. Whatever your setup, I hope I have helped with two of the biggest challenges faced by a knifemaker in a home-based shop: keeping the shop in operating order and maintaining a happy home life in the process.

For more information e-mail Joe Calton at [email protected].

Install a sink in the shop. You may not mind grease, oil and dust prints on your clothes, but one time of leaving a smear of quenching oil on your wife’s nice clothes and your knifemaking will take a big hit. The sheath knife with blade hamon and wood handle and brass rivets is by the author.

How to Make a Sushi Knife

Wally Hayes
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How to Make a Sushi Knife

By Wally Hayes

Sushi knives are light, thin, very sharp and a blast to make. Here’s how I make them from start to finish.

The sushi knife started out as a 90-thousandths-inch thick bar of 15N20 carbon steel and maple and ebony slabs.

For blade material I use 90-thousandths-inch thick 15N20 carbon steel from New Jersey Steel Baron. First, I cut the blade to shape, around 7 inches long. The tang is about 4 inches. I take one of my old hammers and cut a cross hatch into the face using a side grinder with a cut-off wheel.

Then I heat up the blade in my forge and hammer a textured finish into the steel. This takes about five heats and is lots of fun! I put dents into both sides of the blade and then make sure it is straight. The reason for the texturing on the surface of the steel is to create air pockets so food does not stick to the blade.

 

If you want to push the forging experience, forge in the bevel on one side for your edge. Use a regular hammer. It will be a chisel-ground blade, so don’t hit the edge with your texturing hammer. Hammer an eighth of an inch back from the edge.

 

NORMALIZING

The next step is to normalize the blade. Heat it to critical temperature—a steel blade reaches critical temperature when a magnet does not stick to it—then let it air cool. After you heat the blade to critical temperature, quench it in warm Fensoil or Parker Oil, both of which are fast-quench oils made for heat treating steel. Vegetable oil also will work.

Clean the blade after it cools and place it in a toaster oven heated to 375°F for one hour. Look at the blade and see if it is straight. If it is bowed, secure it to a scrap piece of steel with a metal clamp and press the warp out, then return it all clamped up to the toaster oven. Temper it for another hour. This works really well.

After hardening, the blade it goes into the toaster oven to temper.

To remove all scale and the black from the blade, place it in a plastic container with vinegar for one day. Rinse with water and baking soda and wash the blade. Scrub it with a paper towel. From there I use a little wire-wheel brush on my drill press to brush off everything and make it all silver and bright. Next I sand the blade on a medium Scotch-Brite™ belt to round the top edges and smooth out the blade surface.

After tempering, the author places the unfinished knife in a container filled with vinegar for about a day to remove all the scale and the black from the blade.

This is the time to grind in your edge. Don’t get the blade too hot during grinding or you may remove the hardness. When the blade gets hot, dunk it in water to cool it. I chisel grind it on the right side so I can get paper-thin cuts with it.

 

The HANDLE

Time to make the handle. Use whatever material you like. I like cocobolo and ebony best as they are very easy to finish. I used maple and ebony for the handle of the knife for this project.

I make the handle in two parts. The front spacer is ebony about a half-inch thick. Sand the sides and ends of the blocks of wood on a disc sander. Disc sanders seem to work better than belt sanders to get a flat surface. Use a 1/16-inch drill bit to drill the front spacer and then use a small saw to open it up to fit the tang. The longer handle section can be drilled out and fitted easily. I grind down a drywall saw to fit into the hole to make a slot—this works great. Use epoxy to glue the parts together.

Glue the parts together with epoxy and let dry. The author said he uses many coats of glue for the finish.

When the glue dries, I sand the handle into an octagon shape and then hand sand it to 600 grit.

After the glue has dried, the author will sand and buff the handle. Cocobolo can be finished on a fine Scotch-Brite™ belt and then buffed and oiled.

For the maple handle I used many coats of Krazy® Glue for the finish. I paint the coats on then sand and buff. Cocobolo can be finished on a fine Scotch-Brite belt and then buffed and oiled. I use a food-friendly oil like walnut oil. To sharpen the blade use a 7,000-grit Japanese water stone.

Try this project—you’ll like it. It is really a fun knife to make.

Fit and Finish 101: How to know it when you see it on a knife

Pat Covert
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Fit and Finish 101: How to know it when you see it on a knife

By Pat Covert

Fit and finish is bandied about so often in cutlery circles it’s almost become one word, pronounced something like fittenfinnish. A newbie collector who hangs around seasoned custom knifemakers, purveyors and collectors soon learns the “fit-and-finish thing” is a mighty nice trait for the knives in his or her stable to have.

All that being said, is fit and finish the key to a knife being all it can be, or does a knife exhibiting it simply look nicer and cost more? Or does the answer lie somewhere in between? We recruited a panel of authorities to help sort through it all, including purveyors Neil Ostroff of True North Knives, Dave Ellis of Exquisite Knives, Dan Delavan of Plaza Cutlery, and seasoned custom maker Tim Britton.

We started by asking our authorities how they define fit and finish. Britton, who makes highly finished customs, said, “There should be no adhesive or solder showing anywhere. No gaps in inappropriate places. Metal-to-metal joints should be indiscernible. And no visible scratches or grind marks, period. One thing custom knifemakers should be able to do well,” he observes “is finish metal.”

Having the grinds match on each side of the blade as on Marcus Lin’s Andalusian bowie is an indication of fine fit and finish.

In addition to being a purveyor, Ellis also is a retired ABS master smith and knows fit and finish from the maker’s point of view as well. “I define fit and finish of a custom knife to mean is it overall appealing to the eye,” he begins, “are there any obvious gaps in guard or handle fitting, is it a design that will truly work?” Ellis stressed that good, sound design is a factor. “The first thing I look for is the overall appearance. Is the design clean? Is there an organic flow? How does it feel in the hand in different grips? Then I look at the finer details such as guard fit, blade finish, handle design and comfort,” he explains. “As an ABS master smith I also look at things like edge geometry, tapered tangs and plunge cuts. All of these should be [executed properly] in a piece with excellent fit and finish.”

Equality of all aspects on both sides of the knife is one sign of top fit and finish. Greg Cimms achieves it on his kitchen knives.

“Fit and finish is a standard required for all knives,” Ostroff says. “It used to be almost exclusively for custom knives—which are at a higher price level—but more and more the buyers are demanding the same standard for a factory or mid-tech knife which will sell for a remarkably lower price. Fit and finish is generally a well-centered blade—in the case of a folder—no blade play in either direction, flush-fitting bolsters, and a blade finish as the maker intended. By this I mean one cannot expect a stonewashed blade, or handle, not to have scratches. Recently the matter of the strength of the detent has become an issue—again, another subjective item.”

The late Bruce Bingenheimer centered the blade of his folder in the closed position (right), splitting the gold anodized standoffs right down the middle. Note the symmetry between each side of the knife (left) and the slick fit between bolster and handle material (center).

“The criteria for fit and finish depend on the expectations of the buyer,” Delavan qualifies. “Plaza Cutlery also believes design as well as craftsmanship is important. Most important is the design. It has to make sense to me. Any guards should be clean with no gaps, bevels should be the same and no 2-inch glitches. Also, handles have to be clean to the tang or guard with no gaps.”

According to Tim Britton, metal-to-metal joints should be indiscernible. Note the partial knife image second from left. The seam between the blade and backspring of BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame® member Ron Lake’s tail-lock interframe is invisible.

 

PERFORMANCE

Does fit and finish affect a knife’s performance? “Poor fit and finish will really show when a knife is put to hard use,” Ellis advises, pointing out potential problems such as hot spots from badly designed and finished handles, guards or buttcaps with sharp edges, bad edge geometry that might cause the blade to dull quicker and be difficult to remove from the sheath, and so on.

David Mirabile achieves a nice, tight fit between the habaki (collar) and tsuba (guard) of his Asian-style piece.

Britton’s take was interesting, to say the least.

“One of my first knives was made in 1972. It was ugly and poorly finished,” he recalls. “[BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame® member] Frank Centofante helped me sell the knife to a hunting guide from Montana. The guide later wrote to me wanting four more just like it. The knife skinned and dressed three elk before needing sharpening. Steel was Latrobe D2 and Paul Bos did the heat treat. Fit and finish had little or nothing to do with function. Quality of steel, heat treat, grind and sharpening angle were much more relevant.”

Mark Bartlett gets the bolster of case-hardened mild steel and gold-anodized titanium spacers to meld seamlessly with the curly koa handle of his fixed fighter.

“A good finished knife just has a better feel, but a lot of people will not use it,” Delavan notes. “A knife with a lot of cosmetic issues can still be a good tool, and there are makers that don’t worry about those details. Most makers say a knife is meant to be used, not to sit in a safe.” Ostroff tends to agree. “Performance is not typically an issue [with fit and finish]. For example, a knife with an off-centered blade will still function as well as one that is centered—but the customer has the right to get what he or she wants, so we do whatever it takes to make them happy.”

Top fit and finish includes the knife exhibiting no visible scratches or grind marks. Tim Britton’s lockback follows this dictate. As Tim noted, “One thing custom knifemakers should be able to do well is finish metal.”

 

F&F: OVERRATED?

Are there cases where fit and finish is overrated? In other words, are there knives that perform very well even though they may not have the polish of an expensive model but have excellent heat treat, blade geometry, comfort and a more affordable price?”

“Fit and finish is not overrated when trying to satisfy the buyer,” Ostroff opines, “but taking out the collector/safe-queen members of our community, all knives are meant to cut, and all will do so if built to industry standards.”

“I have seen a few knives that performed well with poor fit and finish,” Ellis says. “Usually if a maker takes the time to finish their piece to tight tolerances, they also have taken the time to be sure that the piece has a credible heat treat, edge geometry and an overall good feeling in the hand.” Adds Delevan, “Many of the small production companies do a good job. Fit and finish is good, not perfect, but you have an excellent tool at a more affordable price.”

Note how each grind, bolster and slab mirrors its opposite on the Fenix fixed-blade hunter by Evgeny Khokhlov.

 

WHAT do YOU WANT?

Our authorities made excellent points for and against performance being a factor in fit and finish. Though there were several substantive points about design, in this writer’s opinion it isn’t really a fit-and-finish issue. Design is, of course, very important because no matter how well a knife is made, if the design is poor so will be the performance. From an aesthetic standpoint fit and finish is everything, but, as Delavan points out, many collector-grade knives become safe queens, never seeing action in the field.

A good analogy here would be comparing a Bark River Knives fixed blade to a comparably sized one made by ESEE Knives. Both companies have a huge, extremely dedicated following. Bark River’s fare is finely finished while the ESEE knives are more roughly done, but the latter are half the price or more of the former, depending on materials. Will both knives perform well? You better believe it. Both have stellar performance records. It really depends on whether you want to pay extra for a nicely finished knife or a rough finished one. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and both do their job in spades.

Bottom line is you have some very good options available—and choices make the world of knives go around!

Note the tight fit with no gaps between the color-case-hardened bolster, stainless steel spacers and stabilized ringed gidgee handle of Steve Filicietti’s bowie.

Knifemaking: Frame Handle Construction

BLADE Staff
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Knifemaking: Frame Handle Construction

KNIFE SHOP BY JASON FRY

Are you up to the challenge of frame handle construction?

Frame handle construction for knives has been around for centuries. Historical examples of many Eastern styles like the kard, khyber and yataghan often feature ornamented frame handles. Nineteenth-century knives attributed to James Black and some of the early American bowies also had frame handle construction. Though it’s been around a long time, the frame handle remains a viable modern construction method for today’s custom knifemakers.

There are many ways to crack the nut/skin the cat on frame handle construction. This article will walk through the frame handle process and point out particular problems and potential solutions for those who wish to pursue building a frame handled knife.

3 REASONS WHY

Frame handle construction is best defined as using a wrap-around “frame” to conceal the tang of a hidden tang knife. The first question many people ask regarding a frame handle construction is, “Why would you want to do it that way?”

My first thought goes back to the earlier days of the internet when forums were at their peak, and fine makers like ABS master smith Bruce Bump took the time to document “work in progress” (WIP) threads. Bruce had a fine frame handle WIP on the KnifeDogs.com forum in 2013, and the consensus at the time was that you build a frame handle for quite a few reasons, though the first one is “because you can!”

The author used frame handle construction for his hunter in a blade of 33-layer damascus, a wrought iron guard and scales taken from a fence post made in 1912 from bois d’arc wood, aka osage orange. The spacers are World War II practice bomb material. (Cory Martin knife image)

A frame handle is a much more complex build process than your standard full- or stick-tang knife. However, in addition to the show of skill by the maker, frame handle construction has a few distinct advantages that make the complexity worth the effort:

  • A frame handle allows for the look of a full tang, but with the guard-fitting techniques of a stick tang. For a forged stick-tang-knife design that needs a guard, a frame handle allows the use of full-tang-style handle construction;
  • A frame handle is a good way to use scales or slabs on a stick-tang knife. If you have a good set of stag or mammoth slabs, or if you have stabilized wood slabs that might be too fragile for through-tang construction, the frame handle allows you to use the materials on a stick-tang knife; and;
  • The use of a frame handle gives the maker another area to embellish the knife. Some frames are great for engraving, while others may highlight a damascus pattern. Either way, the frame makes the embellishment stand out in ways that are harder to accomplish on a full-tang knife.

HOW to DO IT

At a basic level, the frame of a frame handle is a piece of material, usually metal, that wraps around a stick tang and mimics the look of a full-tang knife. This presents some challenges that have resulted in a few different creative solutions. 

An exploded view shows an ABS journeyman smith Karl Andersen frame handle construction knife before assembly. (Karl Andersen image)
  • Challenge 1: The tang must fit inside the frame. Some makers insist on precision so there are no gaps and the fit is tight. Others concede that the handle will be held together with mechanical fasteners and sealed with epoxy, so a precise fit between the frame and the tang is not necessary.
  • Challenge 2: All parts of the handle must be securely fastened together. I sat through a class with ABS master smith Mike Williams in which he admonished the students, “Don’t trust in the magic of chemistry” by putting your faith only in the strength of glue. Likewise, veteran bladesmith Jerry Fisk challenges makers to think ahead to what their knives might be like in 100 or 1,000 years, and recommends a mechanical connection that won’t fail over time.

One way to address this challenge is to use pins. If you pin the scales to the frame, pin the completed handle assembly to the tang and follow up with glue, there’s no opportunity for failure. Some choose to make all the pins visible as an artistic element, while others take advantage of hidden pins for all but the one through the tang. Another way is to use a threaded fastener. Bladesmith Salem Straub recently illustrated the technique on a frame handle WIP on his Instagram feed. Salem used a threaded fastener in an internal slot in the frame to mechanically lock all the parts together tightly (Image 1). The handle material is relieved on the inside to accommodate the fastener.

Another way to use a threaded connection is to thread the end of the tang and use a fastener on the handle butt. An advantage of this approach is that the fastener itself can become part of the embellishment.

  • Challenge 3 is the complex fit-up between all of the knife’s elements. Frame handle construction naturally doesn’t excuse a poor guard fit, but it also provides other places for gaps and misalignment. Once again, there are several potential solutions to alignment problems.

One is the use of alignment pins to make sure everything is secure. Pins on the end of the frame go through any spacers and into holes in the back of the guard so that each part indexes the same during assembly. Some makers, including Bruce Bump in the aforementioned epic WIP, advocate for leaving metal tabs on the end of the frame and fitting the tabs into similar holes on the back of the guard (Images 2 and 3). In both cases, there’s a mechanical connection that prevents the guard, spacers and frame from rotating out of alignment around the center axis of the handle. Either way, when you build a frame handle, the construction will require you to assemble and disassemble the knife repeatedly, so you’ll need some mechanical way to keep things lined up.

Above: Some makers advocate for leaving metal tabs on the end of the frame and fitting the tabs into similar holes on the back of the guard. In both cases, there’s a mechanical connection that prevents the guard, spacers and frame from rotating out of alignment around the center axis of the handle. (Karl Andersen images)

Another fit-up challenge is the overall requirement for clean-fitting joints with no gaps. It sounds simpler than it is, but two surfaces that are dead flat will join together without a gap. The challenge of a multi-piece frame handle with a guard and a few spacers is that you are creating a multitude of surface joints, and every single surface must be dead flat. At a minimum, you’ll have a joint between the guard and frame, and also between the frame sides and the handle material. Any bump or wiggle on any surface and you’ll have a gap in the final product. Flatness comes in degrees. You can get a fairly flat surface on a platen, flatter on a disk, and still flatter on a surface plate or surface grinder. You have to make the joints as flat as you can with the tools you have available if you want a gap-free fit.  

I tend to prefer the look of a tapered tang on a full-tang knife, so I’ve started tapering the frame of my frame handles as well. Others stick with a full thickness frame, where the thickness closely matches that of the blade at the ricasso. Some add spacers between the tang and handle material, while others choose to go with the frame and handle slabs only. 

Another fit challenge is presented by the frame itself. In order to adequately finish the visible surface of the frame, whether by simple polishing, bluing or etching, or by engraving, the frame must be 100 percent at final-grit finish prior to final glue up. Many makers learned to make a full-tang knife by finishing the front edge of the scales, gluing the knife together, shaping the scales down to the exposed tang, and then polishing the handle and the tang at the same time. That method will not work for a frame handle that needs to be blued or etched. Personally, I tend to use dummy pins to fit the entire handle assembly together, then grind the scales down to the frame. In his recent Instagram example, Salem Straub used small screws to hold the handle material to the frame. 

With regard to the relationship between the handle material and the frame itself, whichever method you choose, it is important that the fit be maintained consistently all the way around the frame. (Jason Fry image)

With regard to the relationship between the handle material and the frame itself, some choose to leave the material slightly proud of the frame for a “museum” or “heirloom” fit. Others prefer the material to fit flush to the tang. Less commonly, some makers round the frame and leave it slightly proud of the material. Whichever you choose, it is important that the fit be maintained consistently all the way around the frame, from the joint at the guard on the top all the way down to the joint at the guard on the bottom.

Once the profile is set, I polish the handle and the frame together down to final grit, and then apply any surface finish to the frame itself. Once all parts are 100 percent complete, they can be glued together as a final step.

ABS master smith Mike Quesenberry used frame-handle construction on his dog-bone bowie. (Eric Eggly/PointSeven image)

WHEN to DO it

So when should you try making a frame handle? In my mind, if you can make clean full- and stick-tang knives, you could be up to the challenge. If you have slabs of exceptional handle material that deserve more than a simple full-tang knife, a frame handle is a way to step up and put the materials on full display. If you have a knife in mind where the frame and guard need to be blued, damascus or engraved, a frame handle is the way to go.

A frame handle knife has its advantages, but the complexity of the construction presents plenty of challenges. As a skilled maker, you may choose to rise to the challenge of a frame handle just to show that you can.

For more information on frame handle construction contact the author at [email protected].

The Author

A voting member of The Knifemakers’ Guild and president of the Texas Knifemakers’ Guild, Jason Fry also is the author of the most entertaining new book, Knifemaking Hacks: 384 Tips To Make Knives Like The Pros.  For information on how to buy your copy visit https://www.gundigeststore.com/product/knifemaking-hacks-384-tips-to-make-knives-like-the-pros/.

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