DEEDS knives

Finally done.
Bricks chased and installed. Neatened up the wiring. Gave it a run, and turned beef jerky to ash (because why not).

Overall, it took about an hour to reach 1065oC. This includes a quick stop-point at 850oC (for testing) and a slow ramp to peak temperature set point. This was done with the oven chamber at 110mm by 110mm, not 100mm by 100mm as originally designed (and yes, it makes a huge difference).

I really wasn't a fan of the insulating material I used for the chamber walls (front, back, sides, top and bottom) and so I removed it for the moment. It was much weaker and more fiberous than I was lead to believe, and after doing some research I think I've found a more suitable material. But for now, I can take it home and get some knives heat treated. Thankfully this build was designed to pull apart for maintenance, so replacing the remaining fiberous insulation isn't that big a deal.

For a home-made heat treat oven, I'm happy with it. But, it could be better. The outer side walls get REALLY hot, and I've come up with a (future) solution to this. The orange steelwork is too flexible, and again, I have a solution for this as well. If you're reading "I'm going to make another and fix all these prototype issues", you'd be correct.

Do I regret making this? Oh god no. In terms of cost, I'd have to make four complete units to equal the cost of a paragon. It was always going to have some issues, and I'm glad they were fairly limited. But I can absolutely use this without any regrets until something fails, all the while designing the next iteration.

Enjoy.

More progress on the heat treat oven, and even progress on some knives!

The heat tube was out of whack from the seam welding, and not knowing a thing about welding, apparently this is a thing. A weekend with a bottle jack and some blocks of wood, and it's almost perfect.

The coils are also now made and ready for installation. This is a process my brother-in-law showed me during our last build. Super simple, and the coils came out great. Not pictured, but the insulating bricks are glued and ready for cutting. I decided on two coil channels per side instead of four. The spacing of the four channels between the coils was so small, and I felt they would fail quickly. Changing to a two coil-per-side didn't make much difference in terms of coil longevity (still well within Kanthals guidelines), and it will make a huge difference to the life of the insulating bricks.

I've also started wiring the control box: terminal strips, cable numbers, and even a drawing that wasn't on a napkin. If I ever need to fault-find this thing in the future, it'll make life much easier. I'm waiting on some cable trunking, which will make the spaghetti mess a lot more visually appealing.

Overall, I've made a few non-essential, but "nice to have" changes during the build. For instance, I added an external 1 amp glass fuse holder for the controller and fan. I've also been keeping track of changes I would make, if I had made this all over again. One big change would be the heat tube thickness from 1.5mm to 4mm, and hopefully eliminate the warping.

I've also been toying with the idea of a longer heat tube, or a larger tube height and width (throat). Every time I run the numbers, something goes crazy - either the current required goes through the roof, or there isn't enough space for the coils. What I'm learning, is the current build represents the optimal size and heat for a 10 amp plug outlet.

On top of the oven, I'm also trying very hard to have enough knives for the Perth Knife Show next year. So having that in mind has helped me spur the heat treat oven project along, no matter how slow it may seem. Cannot wait for this to be done.

Update on the heat treat oven project.
After a lot of back-and-forth, the metal work is done. Not pictured, but the back frame, back electrical cover and front door are all here as well.

Sourcing the controller proved to be pretty difficult, but I finally found a supplier and it's on its way.

Construction is pretty solid. The heat tube is going to need some finessing (warped ever so slightly during welding) but otherwise it's coming along fine. Wherever possible, I've used nut rivet inserts so I don't have to worry about nuts being inaccessible when covers are on. Yeah, this project is just for me, but why make life harder than it needs to be.

Having the box here is vastly different than seeing it in CAD. I already see where I'd make changes and improvements. For instance, I would install a panel-mounted fuse holder for the controller, so rather than having a fuse hidden and inaccessible in the electrical box, I could access it easily. A few extra screws on the electrical box cover, etc etc. Nothing is a deal-breaker and it can all be fixed with a drill, but still worth considering if I make a larger one down the track. :)

I'm very much looking forward to having this done and dusted. Since my last heat treat oven failed, I haven't been able to make any knives, and I've been having a lot of ideas for a few knife builds I'd like to see come to fruition.

Anyways, enjoy.

Took this one for a hike a week ago and took a few photos.
Enjoy.

I had another knife fall onto the coils in my home-made heat treat oven, which have burned them out again. This time, for the last time. And as much as I would love to own a store-bought oven, I just don't have the $4,000 to $7,000 to drop on a machine.

Luckily, I'm an electrician :D

And so a few months ago, I started designing a new heat treat oven. Something a little less slapped together, and able to meet my future needs for knifemaking.

I wanted the ability to make knives larger than 300mm (my previous capacity), while still maintaining the same ramp time, and still able to use a plug with a 10 amp earth pin.

Should the coils burn out, I wanted the ability to strip it apart and rebuild. So, it would have to have a removable back plate.

And while I wanted to start out with a simple PID, it needed to have the ability to upgrade to a freely-programmable controller for multiple ramp/soak programs, depending on the steel.

As far as I know, nothing like that exists. So, I designed one.
I couldn't find an adequate online calculator to work out the coil lengths, turns, wattage per square centimetre based on internal volume, and all the other stuff that goes along with designing a heat treat oven. So, I made one (I learned a lot with the previous build!).
I didn't know how to use Fusion360 to make steel forms for the sheet metal worker so they could build the frames. So, I learned.

It's been a lot of stuff to learn, and it's starting to get rewarding.

The new oven will have a 450mm length capacity, and draw 9.5 amps single phase. Initially I'll have it operating on a basic PID, but in good time this will change to a Raspberry Pi operating with a modified version of the jbruce kiln controller. Same safety features as before: limit switch to cut the power to the coils when the door opens, overcurrent protection, proper frame earthing, EMF protection, etc.

One way or another, this build is going to happen. I'll post up some more as the project continues to grow. Stay tuned!

The first stone-washed blade I've made. The first synthetic handle material I've used.

And the first knife I made specifically for myself :)

Unfortunately, the colour correction on the camera struggled with taking these images. The blade isn't as dark as pictured, and the handle isn't as luminescent. Still a light green, but not a neon.

Steel: CPM 154 with tapered tang
Handle: Green G10, Iron wood, and white G10 liner and spacer
Pins: brass
Hardness: HRC 60-62
BESS: 93

*** I rely solely on word of mouth for my business. If you like what you see, I would greatly appreciate it if you could share this post with your family and friends. If you're looking for a kitchen or bush craft knife, please drop me a line

This is the third variant of my tried-and-tested bushcraft knife. Handle is slightly taller and the blade is longer to match the proportions.

I am still making the second variant as well, and the choice between the two really comes down to preference.

This knife is the second produced for the full membership assessment with the Australian Knife Guild. I'm very happy with how it turned out and look forward to presenting it!

Steel: CPM 154 with tapered tang
Handle: Turkish Walnut and Spalted Oak, both stabilised, with black G10 liner and spacer
Pins: Carbon Fibre

Hardness: HRC 60-62
BESS: 110
Weight: 107 grams

*** I rely solely on word of mouth for my business. If you like what you see, I would greatly appreciate it if you could share this post with your family and friends. If you're looking for a kitchen or bush craft knife, please drop me a line

Thought I'd share a photo of a frame-jig I made up recently. First and foremost, it makes placement of the logo a lot more precise and consistent between knives.

Using Lightburn for my laser CNC, I can Disable the frame layout and burn in the logo. The frame is always placed in the same spot on the CNC bed (and I later added screws to secure it, not pictured), meaning the logo will always go in the same place.

This method also means I could (and in the future, will) add markings to the other side of the blade, while also keeping it consistent.

Once the marks are burned in, I'll finish the blade with 1000 grit.

The other benefit of having this frame is consistency of the size of the blade. Placing the blade in the frame shows where I haven't removed enough material to make it fit properly. Does that matter? Probably not to some, but I like that when you pick up one, it's the same as picking up the rest.

Been a few minutes!

These past few months, I have been working on improving processes to make the end product more consistent, so there hasn't been much in the way of social media posting; it's really not that interesting to look at. However, it means if you put two of my knives together, they will look and feel almost identical in shape, weight, function and markings.

For any maker, consistency has always been difficult, but it's not impossible. In some up-coming posts, I hope to show you the new processes and what this means to the end product.

I have also started work on a variant of the camp knife. As I begin to ramp up the business, I need something that will function as the 'work horse' for the business while not sacrificing the materials or quality of the final hand-made product. In transparency, it means I can build multiple of the one design quickly, while focussing on building the more complicated knives in between. I think I may have found just the thing, and I'll start taking about this project early next year.

I have also started working on promotional material. Some of it will be 'traditional' (as below) and some will be designed specficially for social media. Hopefully I can get some of that out the door soon as well.

Thanks again for all my supporters in 2024. You're awesome.

Greeting from Poland.
And a taste of things to come.

Over the past few weeks, a few knives have gone out the door but this one I am especially happy with.

Camp knife (Type-A) turned out fantastic. The book-matched york gum burl has an almost reflective polish, and the steel came out great (especially with the high vanadium content!)

I have changed the dye method and am now using a different final leather treatment, which doesn't darken the leather so much. Overall, this sheath is much improved.

Steel: S-35-VN
Hardness: HRC 60-62
BESS: 74
Handle: York gum burl
Pins: Brass

Today is leatherwork day. This is for a customer who ordered a Camp knife (Variant 1).

Not my favourite thing, but the better I get at leather work, the more I enjoy it. I heard a quote the other day: 'You have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Though learning a new skill makes you feel dumb, it's actually making you smarter'.

Except for hand stitching. No one feels good when hand stitching :)