How I make custom @freedompoint knives step 2 : Profiling

The next step in my knife making process is profiling. This is the part that you use various tools to make the steel look like what you are thinking. The process is pretty technical, but I am trying to give a step by step with a bit of humor. I think profiling may be my favorite part of knife making. It is the idea of taking nothing and it becoming something new. I call my work Reawakened Creations, because I love repurposing old material, and giving it new life as something else. In this case a beautiful, functional, artistic tool.

Step One

Once the pieces of steel have cooled from being annealed they need cleaned up. For this I use a large C clamp to attach the steel to my work bench. I use my 4' angle grinder to clear off all of the scale and make it a uniformed surface. This can be a bit of effort. Whenever you mess with steel and fire, you are also messing with the internal grains and the carbon in the steel. Through different heating steps this can change the surface of the metal and require a little more work to get it back to useable. I believe that each job requires the right P.P.E. This is Personal Protective Equipment. In this case I use safety glasses and ear protection. I am sure you could use more. 🙃I work the area that I am going to make into a knife :

Step Two

Once the steel is all resurfaced and ready to go I need to cut it. For this project I am making two neck knives. I am able to get both knives from one piece of steel, but I have to cut it in half long ways. I use a tape measure and soap stone to draw a line on the metal. I switch my grinding wheel out for a cutting wheel. I also change the shield on my grinder. It is very...very important to to make sure you use the correct guard for the cutting wheel. If the cutting wheel decides to shatter while it is cutting it cannot discern friend from foe. Bad news. I slowly make the cuts making sure I keep the cutting wheel at the correct angle:

Step Three

Once the two pieces are cut it is time to grind. Unfortunately, I don't have any action shots of this part. I shape out the type of blade I want, and what handle shape. For these two I chose a drop point style blade and some comfortable handle shapes. For all of this I use and 8" bench grinder. I make sure to have a container of water to dip the knife in. This will help to control temperature and not over heat the blade.

Step Four

Shaping the bevels is a tricky part and requires practice and an artful eye. You need to start with an idea, and then see if the steel likes your idea. For this I use a piece of cinder block, piece of leather and a C clamp. It is high tech for sure haha. I lay the leather on the block, and the knife on the leather and then clamp it. Once it is very secure I use the angle grinder and a 120 grit flap disk to shape the bevels. This will get it pretty close to where I want it, but not sharp. The block allows me to flip it and turn it without undoing the blade.

Along with the grinder, I use a 1x30 belt sander to finish shaping the bevels and put an edge on the blade.

Step Five

After this profiling is done it is most important to inspect and celebrate. A piece of steel that now looks like a knife is a great reason to celebrate.

Feel free to Yeti holler anytime you feel.

Here they are after all of these steps.

I hope you all enjoyed this Step of the creating process. Feel free to check out my previous post about knife making.

Knife making introduction

Step One: Annealing