Starting your own shop, how I started mine.

We have many individuals come through our shop and take our classes and we have enjoyed everyone that has shared their personalities and experience with us.

Some want to continue to do it and why not, it’s a good time. Those who want to continue with the craft often don’t know where to start or what to pick up to supply their own shop. If you are in this boat this post is for you.

One of the first things you need to do in starting your own shop, should be the same thing I did, gird yourself with knowledge. There are many great books out there that really do a great job explaining what the process is and how to complete it. Here are a few:

How to Make Knives, by Richard W. Barney and Robert W. Loveless

This book goes through the forging and stock removal process, but the reason I like this book is, it shows you how to complete a knife without power tools. This is important because buying some files and modifying them is exponentially cheaper than buying power tools. The authors go through the process of filing to shape, draw filing the blade bevels, and hand sanding to final finish. The knowledge in this book will help any beginner without a lot of money be able to create a beautiful knife.

The $50 Knife Shop, by Wayne Goddard

In this book as it alludes to in the title, the author shows how to get a shop set up for minimal funds. He shares his own experience building his own tools and modifying other tools to make them work for knifemaking. The author also goes through how to utilize those tools among others to create simple and effectively designed knives.

Handles and Guards, by Joe Keesler

Whether you are an experienced maker or just getting started this book is a must have for every shop. Focusing only on handles and guards it gives a descriptive and illustrated step by step on how to fit, attach, and finish handles. The author also gives some instruction on building some tools to assist with the completion of the handles. If you use this book, you will learn proper fit up, and finish of handles, both an experienced and a novice will gain from this book.

Bladesmithing with Murray Carter Modern Application of Traditional Techniques, by Murray Carter

I like this book as it gives a different perspective on making knives, the author was trained in Japan and shares his experience and techniques in this book. This book is heavily influenced by the Japanese style of knife making and opens the reader to different techniques than the afore mentioned books. The author spends his time going through the process rather than building tools, but he does talk about the tools used in a Japanese shop and their use.

Once you have armed yourself with knowledge start but start small. I began my journey with a small four brick forge wired together to give a 2”x2” opening, drilled a hole in the side then heated it with a butane torch (the attached picture is an example of what my forge looked like). I probably made my first 50 or so knives with that forge. The fire bricks cost me under $20 and the torch was around the same. I didn’t forge knives in the beginning because I didn’t have an anvil, nor could I afford one. I hand filed my knives, hand sanded, quenched using my small forge, heat treated in my wife’s oven, fit and finished handles with rasps and sandpaper. My whole operation cost less than $100, you don’t need a lot of tools to begin, you just need the desire to start.

Many who want to break out and start their own shop see what I have now and think they need to have that to start. I have watched individuals leave my shop and spent upwards of $15,000 on tools to get set up, without really knowing what they are doing. Start small, take your time, experiment, make mistakes, make more mistakes, learn from your mistakes, learn what your tools can actually do, then discover new uses for them. I recently threw out both of my 5-gallon buckets full of my mistakes …………… and I started on a new bucket.

After I had sold my first few knives I started saving, I bought a belt grinder my second year, I still have and use that same grinder. The next year I bought a drill press, next a buffer, and each year I continued to build my shop one tool at a time, I continued to learn, I made mistakes, I experimented, and I got better. After doing this for 12 years now, I have a shop full of tools, many of them I have built myself, but the experimenting and learning continue. My library continues to grow, my thirst for knowledge never seems to be sated, and my enjoyment of sharing it with others continues to be a bright light in my life. To me this craft is about learning, sharing, and creating relationships.