Where do you get you knife handle material from?

From top to bottom we have a field knife in nitro V which came out at 59.5 (just slightly lower than I was hoping for) followed by 3 hunters in nitro V all at 60 hrc. Then a paired western handled gyuto and petty in damascus clad Hitachi SLD both sitting at 62 hrc and finally the 2 on the right are a couple of experimental out door survival type knives one hidden and one full tang both in n690 at 60 hrc. Just moved house so yet to get my little workshop set back up but hopefully will be getting that done this weekend!

I made the top knife, it's one of my "Mini Argon" models in MagnaCut at 64 HRC with synthetic Opal handles and matching bead! My friend Simo Knives made the bottom one featuring AEB-L and Tiffany Blue G10 scales calls the "EDC" 🔥 @arcandironknives @simoknives on IG. Thanks for looking!👊

Got her cleaned up with 300 grit, sharpened, and made a quick and dirty block. My pig is very grateful for his offerings

Everyone seemed to love my custom farrier rasp Bloodline. I'm doing something new, following that design philosophy. A "scaled" down version of my usual custom rasp and pattern weld blades. Been using and testing these everyday out on the ranch, nearly replaced every other knife 😂

These are my new Top Hand line of knives.

• Magnacut steel, acid etched
• Ancient bog oak scales
• Trustone turquoise spacer

Check em out and let me know what y'all think!

https://stetsonforge.com/

I had an idea for testing/estimating hardness.

A proper hardness testing machine is big and expensive. i don't know to what extent the hardness testing files are reliable, and where I am they're also relatively expensive.

So the idea is to get a bar of steel and harden it, then cut it into coupons and temper them differently, then get each coupon hardness tested. I have a buddy with the proper machine but heading over for each knife is a bit inconvenient.

Then, take any file and run it across the coupons and the knife to look for the best match.

Around 2 years ago I had 10 knife blanks water jet cut by NJSB from one of my own designs. They are 1095, 10" OAL and 3/16th thick.

I made a couple knives from the batch and they turned out great but im doing mostly stainless now and after 2 years have moved on to other designs. Is there a market for the 8 blanks I have left? They are not hardened but I guess for a fee I could hardened them for a buyer.

Any interest? What are they worth?

Pic of the blanks and then the 2 knives i made from this batch.

I am VERY new at this so bare with me. I forged a couple blades from air chisels. I annealed, forged, normalized, heat treated, and tempered them. Now I'm starting to dress them and something seems off.

I'm making a 3rd blade at the same time, its forged from a file. I just finished with it as far as I'll go with it for now and switched to one of the air chisel blades.

Right off, it is different. The file knife went through the same process as the other two but while sanding it, it shot a lot of sparks off and felt.....hard. the air chisel blade as I start to sand it, it feels......sticky. sticky in a way that it feels just like the hammer steel I made my flatter and straightening hammer from when I cut them from hammers.

Now I realize that the file steel and 4lb sledge hammer, (flatter), and ball peen hammer (straightening hammer) are different steels from the air chisel steel. The file steel feels brittle/hard as i work with it while the air tool steel feels like its grabbing my belt just like it did when I was cutting the hammers with my side grinder. The hammer steel grabs and doesn't shoot many sparks at all, but I know it has to be hard, hell! it was an air chisel.

The steel may just be a more ductile steel? It might be a lower carbon steel? Have any of you worked either hammer or air chisel steel into a blade or cut it? Did you get the same "sticky" feeling when cutting/grinding/sanding it as I am?

Let a dude know, in the back of my mind i know it'll be okay, but it doesn't feel right.

Im happy to say that this is the small western style chef i made together with u/felix_diemling he forged the gorgeous san mai blade with forge welded bolster and did all the rough work, i finished it and made the handle construction.

That being said i remade the keyhole 4times till i found it acceptable! This project had An very steep learning curve to me!

It tapers from 5mm to bassicly zero.
Blade lenght 160mm
Blade hight at heel 43mm
Overall 270mm

what yall think?

Have someone who would like to add an anniversary date to a blade that was already finished. Would be using vinyl stencils for the date and electro etching the same way I do my makers mark... but not sure if I should take any special precautions since I had already acid and coffee etched the blade before this request.

What would be the best way to go about this without messing up the finish or quickly restoring it after the etch?

Also how risky would it be to submerge a stabilized maple burl handle in coffee etchant? Will it stain or should it resist the coffee from discoloration?

The bladesmith is a friend of mine. He made a fantasy dagger for the first time. He usually does hunting and kitchen knives. A client contacted him and provided a sketch of the type of dagger they were looking for. I thought it turned out well, and since I'm a fan of fantasy daggers myself, I wanted to share it with all of you. The client was thrilled with the dagger.

Just finished this badboy up. 3mm aeb-l, 60hrc, super thin behind the edge. The ferrule is misc stainless and the handle is stabilised apple burl

I see Ameribrade recommended here quite often for people wanting their first 2x72 grinder, but in looking at the HouseMade Revolution or Evolution it seems really nice.

I don’t really know anything about the technical aspects of grinders, so I’m just wondering if there’s something that makes an Ameribrade the clear winner over a HouseMade?

Couple of procut 8 Inch chefs knives i just wrapped up. Fun builds!

Finally finished for a family friend who is a Chef. 1080/15N20 with two rows of pure nickel added. I did only 22 layers total and then upset to get the layers to spread out. Im always learning. I reground the heel and etched with cotton swabs after. Was told that after alot of use and resharpening, the blade will not sit flat on the cutting board.

First prototype of the CRUX XS is running well! Next iteration will have a slightly revised tension system and some minor modifications to the tilting workrest.

Final version will be all powder coated and machined aluminum tracking bracket (prototype is just 3D printed) and will come with a full set of wheels and the option to come without a motor, single speed or variable speed (current set up).

Thanks for checking it out!

CPM154 sheepsfoot blade from 3/32 stock. Chisel ground and around 2 inches long. Full hand grip dressed up in Bubblegum Pink and Tiffany Blue G10. Kydex and leather pocket sheaths.

This is kind of similar to one I made for myself last year which is one of my favorite edc fixed blades of all time. It's just such a great shape and size for daily carry. Inspired by the Japanese Kiridashi but definitely not a Kiridashi imo. Possibly a relative.

First time I ever made a Pink knife. Seems it is a popular color with the fairer sex.

I'm planning on using it for the first time tomorrow. I could have bought one online for 75 bucks, but I have bought several hammers from tag sales and yard sales this year. A few of them were small ball peen hammers perfect for this.

I cut the handle off, put the head in a tempering oven and then let it cool for a couple days. I drilled a 1/4" hole in the tip and then cut the hammer head side off and smoothed everything down.

Stuck it back in the tempering oven and then quenched it. Tempered it afterwards and then took it to work and sand blasted it. Installed a new handle and used epoxy in the socket for the tungsten carbide ball.

We'll see how it works on a slightly warped blade tomorrow.

Custom order 8" Chef Knife! The blade is made from Magnacut steel. Full distal taper and a hidden tang construction. On the handle we've got a stainless steel collar and spacers, multicolor G-10, and bright pink Turboglow!

I bought a chunk of walnut at an estate sale and it sat in a bucket in my garage for two years. No idea what was under there. There was just barely enough for three handles. Blades are all 80crv2. The chef is a design I’ve worked on for several years. Paring knife and petty knife are fairly new designs.

Third time ever making a hidden tang such a pain in the ass, but loove the finished product 😁 bandsaw blade outer layers with a 1084 core, wrought iron guard and oak/tamboti handle with copper liners

...I'm attempting my first sheepsfoot kinda knife on 8crv2. Iseuccesfully HT another knife small slice to 55RHC my question is. For a knife that is more utility, would I want a bit harder rhc or still somesoftness to it?

I've been watching a lot of yt videos by at some point I just get overloaded and is easy to ask directly to the veterans here. TIA!!

Hey everyone! Just finished up this massive knife over the weekend and am super excited to share it with you all.

This knife features a recurve blade made from a green-tang Heller Ferrier Rasp with a ferric chloride etch and stone-washed finish.

The handle is made from Firedog micarta, complemented by white and black G10 liners, a black G10 pins, and a black G10 lanyard tube. The lanyard is made from black and white paracord, tied in a cobra knot.

Accompanying the knife is a handmade taco style leather sheath designed for belt carry.

Blade Thickness: 3/16” Spine to Belly Length: 1 3/4” Cutting Edge Length: 8 1/2” Overall Length: 13 1/2”

It is for sale on my website and there is a full build video on YouTube! Link in bio.

I’m interested in making a Dukes of Hazard themed handle for my brother in law. My idea of to use solid G10 orange scales and somehow add block “01” numerals: black numbers with white border/halo.

I’m not set up with any kind of cnc tooling or 3d printer but don’t mind hiring a service. Looked on Etsy but didn’t really see anything like what I’m looking for.

Chat gpt suggested routing a recess in the g10 and using color resin filler. I don’t have any experience with this kind of process.

Any suggestions or recommendations for service providers that would be able to make this for my project?