This is where I'm at with knifemaking. I started out when I took one of
Tom McGinnis', owner of
Ozark Forge, knifemaking classes. I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to keep going with it. I went over to his shop quite a bit and learned as much as I could about making handles and doing filework. I soon started making knives on my own, the first of which I gave to my Dad. I also started making sheaths for the hunting knives I was making. I kept working on improving my filework. Soon I started buying boxes of blades from
Jantz Supply and found that a lot of people would buy a handmade knife even if I wasn't forging the blades. I started making paring, steak, and fillet knives, also. I began thinking about learning to forge but then we left! We've wanted to travel full time for years, Mom and Dad just finally decided it was time. Well, that put a cork in my knifemaking for a while. I had to leave all my tools and stock behind in our storage trailer. Whenever I got the chance I made a few knives, though. I used my uncle's tools to make a fillet knife while in Florida. When we went back to Missouri I used a friend's tools to make a couple hunting knives. Then, while in Arizona this winter, I decided I really wanted to start making knives full-time again. For Christmas I got a band saw and a drill press. I bought some sanding drums and used the drill press for a sander, also. I made about ten kitchen knives. We were able to cram the tools under our desk in the back room of the camper. Well, that's where I'm at. I want to go ahead and start forging while we're still on the road. I'm gonna take it slow and learn all I can in the process. I'm going to write about everything I do and purchase on here so you can learn from me and I can learn from you. Feel free to comment on any of my posts. Let me know your ideas or how you've done it!
These are two hunting knives I made in my grandpa's stone carving shop while we were at my grandparent's house in southwest Missouri a couple months ago. Both knives are hollow-ground and made from 440-C surgical stainless steel. The wood on the knife to the left is pressure-treated cocobolo, and the one on the bottom right is pressure-treated oak. I used 1/4" mosaic pins and did vine pattern file-work on both knives. I also put 1/4" stainless steel tubing in the back of each knife. The sheaths are made from treated leather that I purchased at a leather shop in Custer, South Dakota. I hand-stitched both of them and formed them to each knife after soaking the sheaths in water for 20-30 minutes. All the supplies for these knives including the blade blanks, wood, and pins, I purchased from Jantz Supply in Oklahoma. My knifemaking teacher, Tom McGinnis softened and hardened the blades for me at his shop in Ozark, MO. 
