The Sam Cade Thread of Knifey Goodness

[Shanghai McCoy]

To put it in the vernacular of my 13 year old daughter...
"That Is Awesome."
Thanks Sam.

 

[JShirley]

Thank you, Sam. I really appreciated seeing the whole process.

 

[Sam Cade]

We will slap some scales on this thing tomorrow.

Till then, I give you redneck Tsukamaki.

 

[hso]

Wait, you're blanking using an angle grinder instead of a band saw?!?!?! WOW that's a lot of work.

Look for a porta band at pawn shops for cheap. A slightly modified porta band clamped in a bench vice would make blanking much easier.

 

[Sam Cade]

A cheap band saw would be "better" and can be had at pawn shops for not that much. Heck, a slightly modified porta band can be had for even less.

Band saws I have. Including a big old GIL-BILT. Angle grinder is:
A. Faster
B. More Fun. Sparks!

 

[Sam Cade]

So...

Scales.

I roughly mark out the size of the tang on my scale material with plenty of meat all around.

I'm working from a big sheet of G10 here so I just chop it out with a cordless skillsaw and a thin blade.
Chop-Chop.

Scale.

After cutting out both my scales I head to a drill press and locate and punch my first pin hole.

 

[Sam Cade]

Pins are going to be 3/16" brass rod.

I cut the pins oversize and knock off the shoulders since we are going to have them in and out of our scales several times.

After drilling the first hole, stick a pin in it and drill the hole on the other end of the tang.

If you have more than two pins this keeps runout from messing up your hole spacing.

Once we have the holes drilled, I trace around the tang with a Sharpie and color out all of the negative space.

With a 36-40 grit belt it only takes a couple minutes to grind away everything that isn't a scale.
Even for complicated shapes grinding out scales like this is faster than cutting them with a bandsaw and gets the scale closer to the finished state.

 

[Sam Cade]

After pinning on the scales, I use a sanding drum and a 220 grit belt on the grinder to flush the scales to the tang perfectly. Finer grits is better so you won't be as likely to accidentally reshape your tang.

Pulling the scales back off and pinning them together I cut in the contour with a 36 grit belt and finish the north end of the scales since I won't be able to get to it once the scales are epoxied on.

Time to glue this thing!

I prep the scales by drilling shallow divots and scuffing the bejesus out of them.

The tang gets scrubbed, and filed. The blade is taped and everything is wiped down with acetone.

 

[Sam Cade]

Epoxy epoxy.

Huge mess.

I hate this part. :banghead:

Some hours later the epoxy is set and I can grind and sand the scales into a pleasing and ergonomic shape.

Now all we have to do is do a bit of finish work and sharpen.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

Good work Sam.

 

[9mmforMe]

Great Job, Sam! Vondabah!!!

 

[bikerdoc]

Couple craftsmanship with genius and you get Sam C!

 

[Sam Cade]

Couple craftsmanship with genius and you get Sam C!

You are too kind by half. Maybe double.



I got up about midnight last night and ground this tanto-ish thing. It might be more accurate to call it a reverse clipped Wharncliffe. I dunno, anyway I couldn't get to sleep till I had it ground:

I've been looking at it all morning and I can't tell if it is a good idea or not.

 

[JShirley]

Santoku.

 

[Sam Cade]

Santoku.

"Tactical" Santoku.

Tak-Toku.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

Tak-Toku...
I'll be looking forward to seeing the finished version of that bad boy.
BTW, what's your epoxy preferance there? I usually get by with the standard Devcon 2 ton but I'm always open to suggestions.

 

[Sam Cade]

Tak-Toku...
I'll be looking forward to seeing the finished version of that bad boy.
.

That is a tester, left at 80 grit. So it is pretty durn ugly. I've been throwing it on and off all day. So far, so good.

BTW, what's your epoxy preferance there? I usually get by with the standard Devcon 2 ton but I'm always open to suggestions.

I don't give it much thought really, other than to make sure that it is a clear waterproof epoxy. You can even get away with the white marine epoxy if you don't mind the white seam.
Epoxy is much, much cheaper when you don't purchase the little squeeze syringes. Bigger is better.
The goop in the pics is slow-cure stuff intended for RC model construction

 

[blarby]

Does have a nice Santoku to it

 

[Sam Cade]

Samtoku?

 

[Sam Cade]

Getting ready to heat treat this very sensible knife.

 

[Coyote3855]

Thank you very much for sharing this. Amazing skill, nice work.

 

[Sam Cade]

I work in total darkness to better gauge the temperature of the steel. That makes good photography difficult.

I have got to weld some longer jaws on the vise-grips I'm using as tongs.

...and then a quick clean up and into the oven for the first tempering cycle.

 

[Sam Cade]

Amazing skill, nice work.

Thanks! I appreciate the compliment.


I learn something new about making knives every day. Sometimes I learn that what I thought I knew was wrong.


Such is life.

 

[WestKentucky]

Neat setup. I was expecting a much more...advanced? Setup. I'm beyond amazed that you do this kind of work with pretty standard tools. It looks like your furnace is simply refractory brick stacked up with a heat source. What might that heat source be or am I missing something obvious.

 

[Sam Cade]

It looks like your furnace is simply refractory brick stacked up with a heat source.

Yep. There is a bit of a trick in the way they are stacked but otherwise, it is just a pile of bricks sitting on some cinderblocks.

What might that heat source be or am I missing something obvious.

It is a weedburner torch from harbor freight. Twenty bucks. http://www.harborfreight.com/propane-torch-91033.html

Hey, if it is good enough for Tai Goo it is good enough for me.