Knifemaking
In mid-August 2019, we were excited to head back to ShopSpace for another class, Knifemaking (our first class was Intro to Forging back in May). The newest class ShopSpace offered, it promised to show us techniques for making a knife from start to finish using the stock removal method (so sadly no forging involved).
Our small class of four started at 10am sharp with a 2"x8"x.25" piece of soft steel and a few sample knives and book of designs for us to choose a pattern from. We etched out the basic shape we wanted before going over it with sharpie to make sure we could see it. Then, we removed the big pieces and corners with a bandsaw before each taking over a giant industrial sander. We used a 120 belt (mediumish grind) to roughly cut out the shape of our knives, then went up to a 220 belt (finer grind) to smooth out the details.
Up next was the hard part: the bevel, or the flat bottom-half of the knife that tapers to a point to make the blade. I took some skin off my knuckles trying to apply enough pressure to the steel, and we all repeatedly quenched the steel to make sure it wasn't getting too hot. Ideally, the bevel appears as one smooth facet, but neither Brendan nor I were able to accomplish this (though Brendan was able to create a really cool vertical line that our teacher said wasn't easy to do).
Before lunch, we picked out the wood for our handles (I chose pecan and Brendan grabbed oak) and drilled holes for the pins, practicing lining up the pins with the metal so we'd be ready when it was time for the 5-minute epoxy. Then, we heat-treated our blades to harden them by sticking them in a large oven for about fifteen minutes - enough time for lunch - until they reached 900 degrees. Carefully, we pulled the knives out one by one with tongs, then waited some more until they cooled down to a touchable temperature.
We sanded the blades down to get the scale off before using blowtorches to heat the handle and back of the blade to soften it back up. The instructor warned us that now was when we needed to start paying attention to the temperature of the blade and make sure not to burn it or it'd be weaker. Guess what I did?
Returning to the sanders, we put the finishing touches on our blades, cleaning the lines up and re-finishing our bevels before using the epoxy to glue down our wooden handles onto the steel. Last but not least, we finished by sanding down the wood until our handles were the same shape as our blades, and added facets and a touch of oil. Not bad for our first shot!
