I’ve been interested in trying my hand at knifemaking for a while. This was my first crack at it.

Many knifemakers use a large suite of tools - bench grinders, bandsaws, table-top belt sanders. I wasn’t about to invest in all that stuff, so I decided to do it with just an angle grinder. I did make a mount so I can bolt my angle grinder to a flat surface.

Grabbed some parts from the hardware store parts

The holes on the angle brackets weren’t quite big enough, so I enlarged them with my dremel. enlarging

The finished mount angle grinder mount

I got a bar of 1095 steel on the internet, and hacked away at it with the angle grinder until I got this. shaped blade

I made a makeshift forge by lining a soup can with refractory cement - stuck a propane torch in there and heat-treated the blade. forge

All black after being heat-treated treated

I don’t have any pictures of this process, but for the handle I took a scrap of walnut, drilled a couple holes in the end to stick the blade, then shaped it like this with a chisel and some sandpaper.

The blade is epoxied in the handle, which I finished with boiled linseed oil. I then sharpened and polished the blade with progressive sanding.

finished