Home Forums Gear Knives and Blades source for knife making instructions

I just aquired some mammoth tusk, was thinking it might be neat to use some to make a knife. I have absolutely no experience making knives, but would love to give it a try.
I would like to know of some on line sources for making knives, and also some good places to by knife making material.
THanks

Try TEXAS KNIFEMAKER'S SUPPLY....www.texasknife.com

Suggestion: Start with one of their kits: Ring Tail Special would be a good one. Kit comes with all materials needed, plus instructions. Building a kit knife will quickly familiarize you with the knifemaking process, and you will be able to build knives from individually selected parts (blades, handle scales, pins, guards, etc.) thereafter.

Good Luck

GPA has it right about TKS, I've spent a lot of money with them. Jantz Supply in Southern Oklahoma is another source used for knife making supplies. Both have anything a guy could ever want for a knife, as well as books and videos.

I do a lot of reading over at www.bladeforums.com and www.knifeforums.com

They've both got forums for newbies to read up, post your questions and read the responses. One of them will have a sticky post on the newby forum linking to the Jonesy Tutorial, or you could google it I am sure.

I can't, as being at work, knives are dangerous.......

Also, no matter how much you read or videos you watch, nothing beats working with a knifemaker already, if you can find one in your area they can teach you a lot.

Thans for the great info, and great advice. I definately like the idea of making one from a kit first-didnt even think of doing that, but it really would help to familiarize myself with the process.

I appreciate the advise too as I am tempted to try to learn too.

Great tutorials on this site. Not the giant collection like at Jantz or TKS but it makes it easier to make selections and avoid over thinking for a first knife. Knivekits also makes it easy with completed kits.

http://www.northcoastknives.com/

http://www.knifekits.com/vcom/index.php

Thanks again

One of the best books on making knives is "How To Make Knives" by Bob Loveless. IIRR, this book is still available, and I think available from some of the suppliers listed above.

This book goes into detail about grinding, polishing, fitting guards and handle material.

For someone just starting out, or someone wanting to learn how to do it, this book is a necessity.

+1 on the Loveless book. I still see it at gun shows all the time.

It's probably easiest to get started using flat ground O-1, which is fairly easy to fnd, easy to grind or file and is very forgiving when it comes to heat treat. With smaller blades you can easily heat treat with a hot torch, magnet and oil.

If you aren't ready to try grinding the blade, there are plenty of sources. Too bad Bob Engnath passed. He had the best hand ground and heat treated blades out there out there.

There's a few knife makers on this board. Perhaps you can get one of them to grind an heat treat a blade for you. The you can d the finish work without having to have a grinder or doing any heat treat.