Knife Making Kits

[Quan Toi]

Recently bought 2 Sheat Knife kits, 1 from Jantz and another from Knife Kits. I'm not impressed with the instructions received. I checked all the posts in this forum and am looking for some more info and guidence. Don't want to screw up my 1st attempt and throw the knife into a river. Not many rivers in my part of the Arizona desert anyway! Any ideas?

[HL]

Which kit did you get from Jantz?

 I am familiar with several of their knives, but have never bought a complete kit. I normally put together my own blades that I grind, but I'm willing along with the others here to give my 2 cents worth, to make sure you are happy with what you end up with.

[Joel]

Sheath knife kits are usually pretty straightforward,unless you moved into the advanced class of kits. You might describe the kits you bought and what confuses you.  You also probably noticed that video/DvD's/books are available from those suppliers to help newcomers.  I'm assuming you don't want to spend the money on those.  A number of places on the web offer kit building forums and tips.  Here's a few:

http://www.knifenetwork.com.  Has a knife kit forum, but you have to register(free) to get to it.
http://www.knifeforums.com.  Has a knife kit forum you can access, but can't post to unless you register(free).
http://www.britishblades.com.  Has a lot of info in their Projects  and Tips and Tricks forums.
http://www.northcoastknives.com.  Has a kit building section.
 

[Quan Toi]

Thanks guys for the info. HL, I got the Chocktaw kit from Jantz. Joel, Thanks for the website info. I'll check them out.

[Quan Toi]

P.S. Forgot to mention, I got the Eastern Skinner kit from Knife Kits.

[HL]

LIke I said, I don't buy the complete kits, but I would imagine there is no soldering involved for the bolster or guard.

All of the blades I make, have soft soldered guards/bolsters along with the pins I install with them.

If it is just pinning, it should be pretty straight forward, and I believe Jantz also sends instructions for assembly.

Good Luck,

If you are like me, it will become addicting.

I cut out the steel and grind all my blades, mainly as a form of stress relief from work. Of course, this has led to an excess of blades around the house. LOL

HL

[Quan Toi]

HL,  The guard isn't soldered, just pinned. But I think it would be neater/stronger if I solder it. Would regular electronic solder and flux work. I got a small 1 lb. propane torch but I'm worried about taking the temper out of the blade. The Knife Kit doesn't have a guard so I think I'll start on that one first. I'm holding off till saturday coming since I be bacheloring it that day, phone off the hook, etc. Also, could I use a small bench size band saw to cut off the excess grip material instead of getting a jewlers saw like the instructions call for? TIA

[Joel]

A regular bandsaw is what I use. Soldering the guard if the steel is stainless can be downright discouraging to try to do.  Normally an expensive type of solder is involved since regular silver solder has a hard time adhering to stainless.  I started using the "Utah" school of fitting guards to stainless steel using JB Weld.  Bit difficult to explain here.  IF the blades are carbon steel than your blowtorch and regular silver solder and flux are fine. Again, it's difficult for me, anyway, to describe how I do it without pics.  In order to keep from overheating my blades I coat them in Heat Bloc paste, available at welding supply/ plumbing supply stores.  The guard is soldered from the back using an old brake spring to hold the guard in place while the tang and guard are heated to soldering temp. And so on. Pinning is actually stronger than soldering, so unless you want to learn a new technique, then the pinning will do just fine.  Check the websites I gave you for instructions on how to solder a guard.

[HL]

As Joel said, if you decide to solder, be sure and cover the blade with a heat block paste. Jantz carries it as well as Sheffield.

Joel, I have yet to try soldering high carbon. Is it easier than soldering ATS-34 and 440C. Those two are the only steels I have soldered brass guards and bolsters with. I use a silver solder with melting temp of 425 to 430 degrees.

I don't know how to post pics, but the last knife I put together, IMO, turned out very nice with brass guard and a 3/8" brass spacer splitting the handle material. 4-1/2" blade with Zericote Handle.

[Joel]

Carbon steel is a LOT easier than stainless.  I soldered probably around 15-20 blades with brass/ATS-34 and more than half of them broke loose as I was fitting the handle. Didn't matter how clean I had the steel. Never had a carbon come loose; it and solder are very compatible.  I finally started doing what a lot of knifemakers do with stainless and started fililng the guard at an angle, so there was space on the portion facing the handle.  That would get packed with JB Weld and allowed to cure for a couple of days before I fit the handles. Never had one break loose. Buster Warenski and a bunch of the Utah knifesmiths came up with the idea.  If you want to know how to solder carbon, or any guard, now that I think about it Google on Bob Engnath and go to his last catalog which is online. It's as much as a how to as a catalog.  I've the paper version that I got before he died. Bob was one of the GREAT knife grinders out there.

P.S.  here's the link:  http://www.engnath.com/public/manframe.htm

[Quan Toi]

HL and Joel,
       Thanks for the info and websites. All the info was way more helpful than the supplied instruction sheets. I'm gonna try my 1st attempt tomorrow. Will let you guys know what went on. Thanks again.
Quan Toi