I have been wanting to do this for quite a while now. And I saw a thread on another forum that I visit where someone was doing it, so I said fuck it and started gathering materials.

I ordered some O1 tool steel, palm wood scales for the handles, and some nickel pins for the handles. That should all be in sometime this week.

I started getting the tools together I needed. I may end up getting a 1" or 2" belt sander in the future to speed up the process, but the first one will be done by hand with a file.

In all my research I found that the hardest part is doing the bevel. For those of you who don't know what that it, imagine a flat piece of steel, shaped like a knife. It's the same thickness everywhere. No sharp edges or anything. Well you've got to file the edge down so it comes to a sharp edge. That's the bevel. There are tons of different grinds you can do, but Ill be sticking with a standard flat grind on my first knife.

I decided to make a jig to do the grind, because I don't trust myself to freehand it. I saw a few different plans for jigs I could make, and decided to go with this one. Its not the simplest jig, but it IS pretty simple. And it makes a lot of sense whan you think about what its going to do.



Basically the file is attached to the steel rod, and it rides in the eye bolt, which you can move to whatever hole on the long piece of wood, and change the height of it, to get the angle you want. Then the knife is clamped where the other two bolts are. The one sticking out keeps the file from going past where you want it to go, and the one screwed all the way in helps keep the blade from moving.

You can also see the design I am using next to it. I found a site that has tons of designs you can download and use for free. Heres the link if anyone is interested.

D.Comeau Custom Knives - DIY Knifemaker's Info Center: Knife Patterns

Once I get the blade profile done, Ill have to make a small forge and heat treat the steel. Its not nearly as hard as it sounds though. But that's for later on.

If this goes well Im thinking about making a kitchen knife out of damascus steel next.