THIS HAS TO BE ONE OF THE BEST TUTORIAL VIDEOS I'VE SEEN ON RUclips. I BUILD CUSTOM GUITARS BUT I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO MAKE CUSTOM BLADES TOO. I HAD A SMALL METAL FAB SHOP THAT I BUILT CHOPPERS AND TATTOO MACHINES IN BUT I HAD TO SELL IT ALL TO OPEN A TATTOO SHOP AND FUND MY GUITAR SHOP. THIS VIDEO HAS LIT THE FIRE MAN I'M PUMPED TO START LEARNING ABOUT BLADES. I'M GOING TO WATCH EVERY VIDEO YOU HAVE AND EVERY OTHER VIDEO. THANK YOU SIR FOR INSPIRING ME WITH YOUR AMAZING SKILLS.
Huge fan Walter, I want to leave this comment not for you but for those who may be considering making a marking knife as i have made and used many and would like to point out one thing. It may not be super critical but in using a marking knife as long as i have one thing you may want to do is make the blade long. When marking dovetails by transfer you want to make sure that the entire flat side of the blade will register againts the pins/tails without the handle getting in the way. Hope that makes sense.
I WAS ABOUT TO SAY THE SAME THING. I'M A GUITAR BUILDER AND I USE A PENCIL TO MARK ALL OF MY LINES BUT MY NECK MORTIS, THAT HAS TO BE NAT'S ASS AND A LONGER BLADE IS EASIER TO SEE WHEN MAKIMG THE MARKS. THAT BEING SAID, THIS IS AN AMAZING VIDEO THIS GUY REALLY KNOWS HIS STUFF AND I'DE BE HONORED TO OWN THE KNIFE PRODUCED IN THIS VIDEO.
That part at 10:19 where you say you filed the pins flush. That had me in stitches. Ever since I stumbled upon your channel, I've been enjoying all your videos. Keep up the great work.
Thank you for your videos. I love knives and now I think I can actually make one. These videos will help my learning curve. Hopefully I won't have to make too many stinkers before I make a decent one. Thank You, Jim
Thank you for this Walter! I found your channel through a mention from Jimmy DiResta. I'm a long way from making something like this but I really appreciated the options you gave for the apprentice. Cheers!
Hi Walter, I've been enjoying your videos a lot lately, I think you might have saved me about 10 months of learning. I was wondering, how do you go about sharpening a straight razor?
Great video! I want to make a similar making knife. So, I purchased some high speed steel off the internet. You mentioned that all steel must be heat treated. However, I bought this specifically as high speed steel stock. My question to you is, does the fact that tis stock was sold as high speed steel mean that no heat treating is needed? That is considering I file this down and do not introduce heat from a grinder. Or, as you said, it does not matter, and even stock sold as high speed steel must be heat treated? You are a wealth of knowledge and I have enjoyed every video you took time to produce. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Oh, and by the way, I think you got the raw end of the pick to be used during on Forged in Fire.
Thanks for educating us on this..always wanted to know if a mower blade could be useful...and approximately what steel it might be.... good testing for all of us to try for mystery steels we have laying around.
Very nice little tool! You're getting quite a collection of wood working tools, i presume you are getting into carpentry? Would like to see some of those projects published here too :)
great video. one day, you'll be as good as trollsky. j/k. just wanted to say: loved the "tastefully named..." comment. made me LOL. and thanks for all the vids, and continued success and good luck in the new year. (just don't forget to aspire to be as good as trollsky, one day. :-)
The more expensive the wood, the finer the grit... I love it. Have you ever used hardness files to test the hardness of steels? I would love to see you test that. R
Excellent video. I like the method of testing the ability to heat treat with mystery steel. One question: how did you get the rivits snug? Did you mushroom them over?
can i skip heat treatment if I'm taking a flip-knife and grinding it into a marking knife? I'm assuming the blade (Stainless steel Tanto blade by Klein) has been heat treated but maybe grinding will ruin that? thanks
Great little project. Quick question, I'm having a hard time putting the final shaping on the scales after I've pinned them on the blade without ending up sanding the edges of the knife handle, which screws up whatever finish I took the knife to. If I ran the blade up to 1000 grit, then use 400 to shape my scales on the sander, I end up with 1000/400... sanding over the 400 up to 1000 again always seems to end up removing too much wood.
Excellent video! I think I will make one for myself, then a few to sell to some carpenters I know. I heard you mention wrought iron at the end. I am looking to buy some wrought iron to use for some of my Blacksmithing projects but don't know where to get it besides old gates or fences. Any suggestions? Where do you get yours? I live in NJ if that helps. Thanks
Very cool. I was wondering how you connect the wood to blades for knife making. I've wanted to make some kitchen knives for my wife as a gift. This video helped tremendously. Question: What does the peanut oil do? Does it just help determine what type of metal you have.
A little yes, as some metal types like medium carbon content steel only harden with rapid cooling that water enables and others can harden in slower cooling oils. Not a professional, just what i read from comment section.
You can do it with a belt sander, you can do it with an angle grinder, you can do it with a file, but it may take you a while. Gander, don't pander, I hope this gives you a mile wide smile.
Mr. Sorrells, I'm not sure if I want to get into this craft, as interesting ad it is. However I wonder if I could use a toaster oven at about 200 degrees for a longer time as a last step, instead of the 400 you show ?
+jim renderer It's 400 degrees F, which is about 205 degrees Celsius. Any oven should be able to get to over 200C. And as far as I know a longer temper at a lower temperature won't get the desired result.
I have had one of those knives for years, I got it in a job lot of machining tools I bought from a retired engineer. I always wondered what the hell it was for, and now I know....
Thanks for your videos. I have seen every one of them. I had a quick question that I possibly missed in the hours of watching your instruction. Is it possible to work with steel that has already been hardened by annealing it? If so, what are the best methods of accomplishing this?
+maskdtux Sure. Every steel has it's own annealing regimen. But with carbon steels, you're basically heating it up to around 1500 degrees and then cooling it as slowly as you can. There are more technical ways of doing it in an industrial context, but that will get the steel soft enough to work with a file.
Great video, i´ll try do make my own knife. walter each video i see, i learn new stuffs, thank you :D ¿the wood is Ciricote? i´m from México and i have some wood of ciricote from and old tree.
hey walt quick question what was the wood type used? I couldn't figure out how to spell it via the way you were saying it. it's very nice wood and I'd like to make a few things from it.
Great project. I noticed you didn't use the actual piece of metal to cut out the slot in the handle. Next time, to get it precise in an easy way with minimal cutting make a mark on the center of the handle,put the metal next to it between the handle and the saw fence. Tape the metal to the fence with scotch tape and make the first cut into the handle. Remove the metal piece from the fence and make the second cut this gives you a perfect sized slot with minimal to no measuring...
Walter any tips on getting my crappy HF 1x30 to actually be able to take off steel with out taking "ALL" day. I swear it would be faster to do it with a file. I am using crap Home Depot welding steel to practice on and using a 40 grit Aluminium Oxide belt. Also isn't it nice to actually have some non raining weather down here in the ATL area now. So glad the rain stopped. I was getting tired of it.
I got a 4 inch belt sander from harbor freight (think it was $80) and it's been working pretty good! Just using 80grit belts then 180 then 240. The 4 inch belts will take 4 times longer in theory to wear out than the 1 inch ones as long as they are the same length. May be something to look into!
+Walter Sorrells these are brand new fresh belts like from the get go, they just don't seem to be removing much. could it be because the platten is maybe about an eighth of an inch or so from the belt when it is running. .
+Joseph Rector Mine cut a lot slower with the platten back like that. I adjusted it to just barely touch and it seems to cut faster and with less rounding of the edges.
Hi mr. Sorrels, first of all, you have a great channel and I was wondering if you could make a straight razor video in the future because I think that is the only type of knife you haven't made a making-of video. Again great channel and thank you for your videos. Greetings from Chile Joaquín PD: Have a great 2016
I've noticed a lot of people are doing more and more with lawn mower blades. is there a trend going on or is it just that you had one at your disposal?
this may be a dumb question but once you heat the steel up and water quench it the file doesn't work on it. so what happens in the oven over that hour? does it soften the steel to alow an edfe to be ground ? sorry if this is dumb
The hour in the oven removes some of the hardness in the steel. Not completely but enough that the steel is no longer so brittle. Thus if it gets dropped, you have ding that can be ground out vice a broken blade.
Hours? This takes like barely any time to make with power tools... and end result will keep its blade much better than some china made peace of scrap metal..
Lovely job Walter, but not much use for most dovetailing jobs. It's way too thick. I used a piece of hacksaw blade and made a couple of scales from scrap maple. Works perfectly.
I've seen a couple of knife making videos from a guy named John Heisz. He used a pry bar and an old chisel. He claims he did not have to heat treat because they are already tempered and just not overheat it while grinding. Is this wise?
Also keep in mind, thinner the part is, less heat spread up you will get. Meaning that if you for instance make cut on thick peace of metal to make your blade bevel, your blades body will keep its hardness (if cooled with water time to time to prevent heat build up), but thin blade edge might over heat in mere second and ruin the hardness. Even while sharpening you can mess it up and i was shown many examples of this by professional sharpener. Beautifully hand crafted knifes.. nothing more worth than pretty wall decorations, all thanks to failed attempt of sharpening and letting blade edge to over heat.
Awesome tutorial for the beginner knife maker, thank-you Mr Sorrells
Walter, you are the MAN! thanks again. I'm already addicted and spending more time in the garage than in my house because of you.
THIS HAS TO BE ONE OF THE BEST TUTORIAL VIDEOS I'VE SEEN ON RUclips. I BUILD CUSTOM GUITARS BUT I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO MAKE CUSTOM BLADES TOO. I HAD A SMALL METAL FAB SHOP THAT I BUILT CHOPPERS AND TATTOO MACHINES IN BUT I HAD TO SELL IT ALL TO OPEN A TATTOO SHOP AND FUND MY GUITAR SHOP. THIS VIDEO HAS LIT THE FIRE MAN I'M PUMPED TO START LEARNING ABOUT BLADES. I'M GOING TO WATCH EVERY VIDEO YOU HAVE AND EVERY OTHER VIDEO. THANK YOU SIR FOR INSPIRING ME WITH YOUR AMAZING SKILLS.
I'm making one of these for a neighbor that's a woodworker. I hope it comes out as nice as yours!
Thanks for all your hard work producing these videos Mr. Sorrells.
Huge fan Walter, I want to leave this comment not for you but for those who may be considering making a marking knife as i have made and used many and would like to point out one thing.
It may not be super critical but in using a marking knife as long as i have one thing you may want to do is make the blade long. When marking dovetails by transfer you want to make sure that the entire flat side of the blade will register againts the pins/tails without the handle getting in the way.
Hope that makes sense.
This is how a master teaches his apprentice: laying the basics but leaving enough room for your own considerations... ;-)
I WAS ABOUT TO SAY THE SAME THING. I'M A GUITAR BUILDER AND I USE A PENCIL TO MARK ALL OF MY LINES BUT MY NECK MORTIS, THAT HAS TO BE NAT'S ASS AND A LONGER BLADE IS EASIER TO SEE WHEN MAKIMG THE MARKS. THAT BEING SAID, THIS IS AN AMAZING VIDEO THIS GUY REALLY KNOWS HIS STUFF AND I'DE BE HONORED TO OWN THE KNIFE PRODUCED IN THIS VIDEO.
Great! Thanks for you're time. We thankfully enjoy both the down to earth attitude, and of course, your sense of humor.
Cheers!
Mr P. Mayfly
Thank you for showing this project in both video versions. I learn something every time in your videos.
great video.
I am a beginner knife maker, starting out on RUclips.
I have watched just about every one of your videos, I learned a lot!
Nice and light hearted instructions. Thanks for sharing.
Always an excellent video. You are able to instigate the interest of the viewer each time. Super good job.
That part at 10:19 where you say you filed the pins flush. That had me in stitches. Ever since I stumbled upon your channel, I've been enjoying all your videos. Keep up the great work.
Damn. I'd give my left hand to be ambidextrous. Fine work, sir.
This is too cool! I have a mower blade and am making my dad a scoring knife out of it! But a very different design
Thank you for your videos. I love knives and now I think I can actually make one. These videos will help my learning curve. Hopefully I won't have to make too many stinkers before I make a decent one. Thank You, Jim
As always, great presentation style and brutal honesty. Educational and entertaining. Thanks.
I like this new direction you are going Walter, you earned my subscription.
Great video Walter!
Love to have that in my tool belt. Great knife and vid Walter.
Another cool project and great video, thanks much
Love the project, love the playful narration style. Thanks!
Keep up the good work Walter....
That's a good looking marking knife!
I enjoy using a tool that made myself. Thanks for posting this.
Tom
looks great.... Happy knife making in 2016...
I knew someone who had some jet engine fan blades. Very hard. Thanks, helpful.
Thanks so much! Your videos are great 👍🏻
Walter, the dead pan look just kills me!
I really appreciate your adherence to things proven by science!
WOW! Nice trick with the magnet! :)
Thank you for this Walter! I found your channel through a mention from Jimmy DiResta. I'm a long way from making something like this but I really appreciated the options you gave for the apprentice. Cheers!
Great video! The explanation on how to identify the steel was really good and easy to understand. I have just subscribed to your channel!
a real beauty, I love it.
That wood is really pretty.
wow nice work
Very Thank you to teach this!
Hi Walter, I've been enjoying your videos a lot lately, I think you might have saved me about 10 months of learning. I was wondering, how do you go about sharpening a straight razor?
Thanks!
Great video! This is very similar to a japanese Kiridashi.
Thanks for sharing
Great video! I want to make a similar making knife. So, I purchased some high speed steel off the internet. You mentioned that all steel must be heat treated. However, I bought this specifically as high speed steel stock. My question to you is, does the fact that tis stock was sold as high speed steel mean that no heat treating is needed? That is considering I file this down and do not introduce heat from a grinder. Or, as you said, it does not matter, and even stock sold as high speed steel must be heat treated?
You are a wealth of knowledge and I have enjoyed every video you took time to produce. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Oh, and by the way, I think you got the raw end of the pick to be used during on Forged in Fire.
Thank you walter. Now i know how to heat and why 👌 sub!
loved the video sir. .can't wait for the next one...2 layer knife making is a new direction i am looking at (kiridashi in ninja assassin)
sem sombra de duvida é uma bela peça. ..parabéns
Thanks for educating us on this..always wanted to know if a mower blade could be useful...and approximately what steel it might be.... good testing for all of us to try for mystery steels we have laying around.
Very nice little tool! You're getting quite a collection of wood working tools, i presume you are getting into carpentry? Would like to see some of those projects published here too :)
Hey walter, love the videos, you are a great teacher to newbies like me, do you think you can do some basic folding knife video?
great video. one day, you'll be as good as trollsky. j/k. just wanted to say: loved the "tastefully named..." comment. made me LOL. and thanks for all the vids, and continued success and good luck in the new year. (just don't forget to aspire to be as good as trollsky, one day. :-)
Very nice love ur work. Although i was wondering how mutch for a full tang sword..
I think a good question for all newers knifemaker. Why certain steel need to be quench in oil, and other in water??? Bests regards.
The more expensive the wood, the finer the grit... I love it.
Have you ever used hardness files to test the hardness of steels?
I would love to see you test that.
R
Awsome. Just like always :)
Excellent project Walter! Have you considered making a pocket knife? Just like a Friction Folder? Thanks.
Great video, gonna try this one. Thanks very much. Roll Tide by the way, since I herd you are a Clemson fan.
Just discovered your channel and love your way of explaining and teaching. What brand and type of two part epoxy do you use/recommend? Thank you
Your music segues remind me of the airline scene in The Wedding Singer :) Great project, by the way!
Excellent video. I like the method of testing the ability to heat treat with mystery steel. One question: how did you get the rivits snug? Did you mushroom them over?
can i skip heat treatment if I'm taking a flip-knife and grinding it into a marking knife? I'm assuming the blade (Stainless steel Tanto blade by Klein) has been heat treated but maybe grinding will ruin that? thanks
I made one of these.... turned out great but now my grass is 9' long 👍
Nice
Great little project.
Quick question, I'm having a hard time putting the final shaping on the scales after I've pinned them on the blade without ending up sanding the edges of the knife handle, which screws up whatever finish I took the knife to. If I ran the blade up to 1000 grit, then use 400 to shape my scales on the sander, I end up with 1000/400... sanding over the 400 up to 1000 again always seems to end up removing too much wood.
Excellent video! I think I will make one for myself, then a few to sell to some carpenters I know. I heard you mention wrought iron at the end. I am looking to buy some wrought iron to use for some of my Blacksmithing projects but don't know where to get it besides old gates or fences. Any suggestions? Where do you get yours? I live in NJ if that helps. Thanks
would you be able to go into detail about cryo quenching and aluminium block quenching?
Very cool. I was wondering how you connect the wood to blades for knife making. I've wanted to make some kitchen knives for my wife as a gift. This video helped tremendously. Question: What does the peanut oil do? Does it just help determine what type of metal you have.
A little yes, as some metal types like medium carbon content steel only harden with rapid cooling that water enables and others can harden in slower cooling oils. Not a professional, just what i read from comment section.
You can do it with a belt sander, you can do it with an angle grinder, you can do it with a file, but it may take you a while. Gander, don't pander, I hope this gives you a mile wide smile.
I wouldn't even consider doing it with my belt grinder 😂😂 10:24
Why do the pins both have a center detail? I thought they were solid rod.
Thanks for all the great vids. Cheers
Mr. Sorrells,
I'm not sure if I want to get into this craft, as interesting ad it is. However I wonder if I could use a toaster oven at about 200 degrees for a longer time as a last step, instead of the 400 you show ?
+jim renderer It's 400 degrees F, which is about 205 degrees Celsius. Any oven should be able to get to over 200C.
And as far as I know a longer temper at a lower temperature won't get the desired result.
What is better, charcoal furnace or use two propane torch?
What angle did you make the edge of the blade....
Thanks... nice video.... inspiring me to get back out in the shop... today...
+LuckyBambooGuy I could lie and tell you it was exactly 23.7 degrees. But, honestly, I just eyeballed it! Probably about 20 degrees, though.
Also, a chisel or saw will "ride" that cut as well. It makes fine cuts easier
I have had one of those knives for years, I got it in a job lot of machining tools I bought from a retired engineer. I always wondered what the hell it was for, and now I know....
Hey Walter, first off your videos are always great and informative, secondly have you ever had an apprentice for knife/sword making?
Love the videos my man. Quick question: Have any shirts NOT made of denim?
I'll have to make one of these for myself. I can't find any good marking knifes for sale where I live.
Thanks for your videos. I have seen every one of them. I had a quick question that I possibly missed in the hours of watching your instruction. Is it possible to work with steel that has already been hardened by annealing it? If so, what are the best methods of accomplishing this?
+maskdtux Sure. Every steel has it's own annealing regimen. But with carbon steels, you're basically heating it up to around 1500 degrees and then cooling it as slowly as you can. There are more technical ways of doing it in an industrial context, but that will get the steel soft enough to work with a file.
10:20 LOL! That part was funny :)
Great video, i´ll try do make my own knife.
walter each video i see, i learn new stuffs, thank you :D
¿the wood is Ciricote? i´m from México and i have some wood of ciricote from and old tree.
hey walt quick question what was the wood type used? I couldn't figure out how to spell it via the way you were saying it. it's very nice wood and I'd like to make a few things from it.
+Travis Rake It's called ziricote.
Thx!
Great project. I noticed you didn't use the actual piece of metal to cut out the slot in the handle. Next time, to get it precise in an easy way with minimal cutting make a mark on the center of the handle,put the metal next to it between the handle and the saw fence. Tape the metal to the fence with scotch tape and make the first cut into the handle. Remove the metal piece from the fence and make the second cut this gives you a perfect sized slot with minimal to no measuring...
What would you have done if the water quench did not make it hard?
Walter any tips on getting my crappy HF 1x30 to actually be able to take off steel with out taking "ALL" day. I swear it would be faster to do it with a file. I am using crap Home Depot welding steel to practice on and using a 40 grit Aluminium Oxide belt. Also isn't it nice to actually have some non raining weather down here in the ATL area now. So glad the rain stopped. I was getting tired of it.
+Joseph Rector Changing belts reasonably frequently helps. Of course that costs more money!
I got a 4 inch belt sander from harbor freight (think it was $80) and it's been working pretty good! Just using 80grit belts then 180 then 240. The 4 inch belts will take 4 times longer in theory to wear out than the 1 inch ones as long as they are the same length. May be something to look into!
+Walter Sorrells these are brand new fresh belts like from the get go, they just don't seem to be removing much. could it be because the platten is maybe about an eighth of an inch or so from the belt when it is running. .
+Joseph Rector Try out orange ceramic belts, I think they would work better for you
+Joseph Rector Mine cut a lot slower with the platten back like that. I adjusted it to just barely touch and it seems to cut faster and with less rounding of the edges.
what camera did you used?
Hi mr. Sorrels, first of all, you have a great channel and I was wondering if you could make a straight razor video in the future because I think that is the only type of knife you haven't made a making-of video.
Again great channel and thank you for your videos.
Greetings from Chile
Joaquín
PD: Have a great 2016
hey Walter have you tried forging an Ulu before?
boa Mr. walter
I've noticed a lot of people are doing more and more with lawn mower blades.
is there a trend going on or is it just that you had one at your disposal?
this may be a dumb question but once you heat the steel up and water quench it the file doesn't work on it. so what happens in the oven over that hour? does it soften the steel to alow an edfe to be ground ? sorry if this is dumb
The hour in the oven removes some of the hardness in the steel. Not completely but enough that the steel is no longer so brittle. Thus if it gets dropped, you have ding that can be ground out vice a broken blade.
Thanks for the video excellent. I'm wondering though did you put a secondary bevel on it, or is that primary bevel the cutting edge?
+theelfman No secondary bevel on this. But there's no reason not to.
Great video, super informative and detailed, well explained but.....................just buy one already made and save hours.
Hours? This takes like barely any time to make with power tools... and end result will keep its blade much better than some china made peace of scrap metal..
Do you do knives on order?
Lovely job Walter, but not much use for most dovetailing jobs. It's way too thick. I used a piece of hacksaw blade and made a couple of scales from scrap maple. Works perfectly.
It's surely a joy to use this one. But WAY too thick for dovetails and narrow pins.
The "right" solvent for epoxy is pure ethylene alcohol (in other words regular alcohol).
I want to start making knieves but I don't know what tool is most important and I have very little budget.
hahaha I fuckin love this guy
10:25 ...... Classic, loved it. had a good laugh. Is HSS steel any good for holding edges or making any knife?
This guy's voice sounds just like Brad Pitt's character in "Inglorious Bastards"
I was just thinking of using one of my wife's good knifes.
I've seen a couple of knife making videos from a guy named John Heisz. He used a pry bar and an old chisel. He claims he did not have to heat treat because they are already tempered and just not overheat it while grinding. Is this wise?
+revolcane No reason not to do it that way, providing you cool the blade as you go.
Also keep in mind, thinner the part is, less heat spread up you will get. Meaning that if you for instance make cut on thick peace of metal to make your blade bevel, your blades body will keep its hardness (if cooled with water time to time to prevent heat build up), but thin blade edge might over heat in mere second and ruin the hardness. Even while sharpening you can mess it up and i was shown many examples of this by professional sharpener.
Beautifully hand crafted knifes.. nothing more worth than pretty wall decorations, all thanks to failed attempt of sharpening and letting blade edge to over heat.