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Absolute Cheapskate Way To Start Making Knives Let me start by saying I am a newbie and I don't have all the answers but I can tell you how to have a little fun doing this. If you absolutely have the fever to make a knife yourself and you are without machines. here is a small list to maybe help. I realize this is not the best materials but it will put a grin on your face if you make just one knife. And it will be serviceable too. A piece of 5160 steel from a Spring and axle shop. about 1.80 a pound or so. The also have a metal muncher to make it the length you want 7",8", or what ever. sometimes they will give you a drop for zip. get a new flat piece not an old car spring. Now off to the hardware store(home depot,lowes) and find the strips of oak. 4.00 for a 1/4"x2"x3'. now find the welding dept and buy a 1/8" brass brazing rod for 1.50. 2 ea 1/8" drill bits 2.00 two files one flat and one half round 7.50 wet dry sand paper 120 grit 2 sheets 1.00 2 sheets 240 another 1.00. were up to 19.00 bucks. and if anyone is interested I will finish it including heat treat. oh yea I forgot your own handmade knife PRICELESS!!! bet you can't make just one. A few more ideas are rattling around in my head so here we go. When you get that piece of steel from the spring shop see if you can get the thinnest piece they have, My spring shop has material as thin as .212 and 1 1/2 wide. This is pretty thick for a small blade but it will work. Also for the first blade keep the design simple. 3-3 1/2" long for the blade as you will be using a file to make the flats for the blade. Also a wharncliffe blade profile is about the easiest to start with because the cutting edge is straight and easier to file in a straight line, keep the handle design smooth and not a lot of fancy finger grooves and guards, its just a thought. A couple of things I forgot to add to the shopping list, a cheap hack saw and a couple of fine tooth blades for it. Also need a C-clamp large enough to use to clamp your blade to a table or bench, if you dont have a c lamp or bench we can get around that to, no problem . this is going to add 10.00 to the total but I bet most of you have some of these things. You will need an electric hand drill. borrow it if you don't have one, your not going to do any damage to it anyway just drilling a bunch of holes. for the next step I will be taking some picture to explain the next steps. Also much of this information I acquired over the years through magazines and books and just adapted them for that first inexpensive blade. Here we go, let me make some edits here and get organized First pic is the shape of blade drawn with a marker. I used a 1/4 drill bit and drilled around the profile. It takes a lot of the hacksaw work out of it.
pic #2 Screw the blade to a bench or stump or whatever you have and cut out the handle portion only. Remove the material so you can file the handle to shape. Do this first because you won't have any way to screw the blade to the bench if you cut out the entire blade. do the handle work first! Once the handle is to a pretty good shape remove and screw to the bench through the handle and cut out blade.
Ok I forgot to add the 1/4 inch drill bit to the list so add it. I drilled all around the profile of the blade. This really makes it easy to use the haksaw to cut out the profile. I just unscrewed from the bench and repositioned as need to cut off the excess for the handle. I drilled the 1/8" holes for the pins in the handle and the 1/4" holes in the handle to allow me to screw to the bench to work on the blade portion. I have the handle filed and added a couple of finger grooves for the heck of it. I am ready to saw the business end now and file the rest of the profile. Next I will file the bevels. Be patient it takes time with the files.
Ok , now I have the knife blank cut out and the edges filed. It is starting to take s