The LPF Method of Knife Making

I recommend giving it a try on your own;

1.Forging;  Bars of raw steel are heated in a gas or coal forge and formed with a hammer and anvil to very nearly their final shape.  The blade is marked with our stamp.  85 -90 percent of the shaping is done at this stage.

2.Themocycling;  Multiple heating and cooling cycles are performed on the rough forging to control the grain within the steel and to release stresses from forging.  With some steel, quenches are performed to refine carbide structure.

3.Annealing;  The blade is held at temperature and very slowly cooled over the course of many hours in a kiln in order to soften the steel and prepare it for machining.

4.Profiling and Rough Grinding;  The outer edge of the blade is refined, followed by the grinding of main bevels on a 2x72 belt grinder.

5.Drilling; Performed on a drill press and edges are chamfered.

5.5 Filework;  Blades are embellished with file work or gimped, by hand, with a file.

6. Final grind; is performed on blades, refined to 220 grit on the belt grinder, leaving depth for decarburization.

7.Blade treatments applied for heat treating, such as antiscale or hamon clay.

8.Hardening;  Blade is held at correct temperature (about 1450 degrees) and quenched in proper oils to harden the steel.

9. Tempering;  The hardened steel is heated to a lower temperature (350-550) in order to relieve stresses within it and to toughen the steel.  Blades are tempered according to their uses and particular qualities, with an oven, torch, or both.  This is done several times for 1-2 hours with slow cooling between.

10.  Polish;  The tempered blade is cleaned of oxidation and given it’s final finish on some surfaces.

11; Metalwork; Bolsters or guards are milled, fitted and soldered to the blade.  Particular care is taken not to damage the hardened blade.

12; Handle slabs are prepared.  Often they are milled from local wood and require months or years of preparation to create native, stable beautiful handles.  Some are stabilized using a vacuum tank and thermoresin.

13.  Handle glue up:  Liners are added and handle slabs are glued to one side of the tang with toughened high strength epoxy tested to 120,000 PSI.  They are carefully hand fitted to the handles and clamped in place for the eight-hour cure time required by this extra strong epoxy.

14;  Drilling first side;  The secured first slab is drilled in place and epoxy cleaned for second slab

15;  The second side is glued in place and clamped for the eight-hour cure time.

16.  Bolt holes and lanyard hole are drilled through newly glued slab and countersunk to accept required bolts.

17.  Pins, loveless, corby etc are custom fitted, sanded and installed with high strength epoxy.  Eight more hours of cure time…

18.  Hafting.  Handle is shaped on grinder, then sanded and polished down to 800 grit.

19.  Handle finish;  Wooden handles are wet sanded and soaked in oils.  Then they undergo a series of drying and finishing steps culminating in a polish on a buff.

20.  Blade sharpening.  With the handle finished, the blade can be ground to a razor’s edge by slack grinding a convex edge and working from 120-600 grit and then a polish compound, to give a razor sharp convex edge that shaves hair the entire length of it’s edge. Kitchen knives are sharpened on waterstones by hand to achieve a perfect edge.

21.  Sheath making;  The finished knife is brought to the leather shop and a pattern created for a custom sheath.  The pattern is hand cut, dyed, glued, sanded, stitched, trimmed, stamped and edge sealed.  It is then wetted and cased to the well oiled knife, ensuring a custom fit.  After drying, the sheath is oiled with preservative.

22.  Buff: The knife is given a final buff on the wheel and waxed.  This may be the most dangerous step.

23. Package, inventory, photograph, document, price etc.

24. Explain to my customers why custom knives cost more than factory knives.