First timer

[Ricky Wallace]

I think im gonna have a try at making me a good knife. Where can I get pins for the handles? I have made a couple very  crude knives years ago with nuts and bolts holding the handles on,but yall have inspired me to build something nice. And how do you stamp letters in the blade? Thanks...Rick

[liv'nonaprayer]

Brass rod is cheap and easy to find,works great!There are rivets you can buy from knife making supply companies also.

[kansas stik man]

i second that , brass rod can be found at home depot,lowes, hobby lobby, hardware stores and most hobby shops and as for the stamp thats a little more advances since the metal has to be glowing red to stamp.  but the process i go with for marking my knives is called SALT WATER ETCHING. there is a tutorial at the top of the forum that shows you exactly what to do.  i used a 2 amp car battery charger and it worked great but to a while to get any depth.  im sure with a higher amprage charger for car batties or even an old cell phone charger would work great.  remember to take pics to show us your progress and easyier for the more experiances guys to help.

[Doug Campbell]

If your using annealed steel or annealing, (lots of posts on this if you search) it pryor to stamping it's fairly easy. This softens the steel so it's not neccesary to heat to red hot to stamp.

After a visit to my good buddy Karl's shop I came home and built a small press for "stamping" my blades. Takes all the stress out of the process. Bout the only thing you have to worry about is stamping upside down.      

[Ricky Wallace]

Thanks guys,I saw the etching post,That looks like how I should start.Ill put up pics when I get started.

[TheBigRedArcher]

Ricky:

Welcome to the world of knife making, may the bug bite you and bite you hard.

TBRA

[Ricky Wallace]

Thanks Big Red,The bow building bug got me good! So I need something to balance my hobbies!! Im getting started this week!