knife blanks

[northumbrian]

dear all i have just been browsing heinnie haynes site and noticed some cheapish ? bowie blanks, apperently made in pakistan (will the steel be of good quality ) ?
just thought i would ask for some advice as i fancied trying to do up one myself and would'nt be to bothered if i messed up due to the price of them !

cheers andrew.:You_Rock_

 

[Perrari]

I may be wrong, but I wouldnt of thought they were high quality at that price, but then again you get what you pay for, and as they are so cheap I suppose it would be worth a gamble.

 

[lannyman8]

i would not think so mate, good steel costs, but it depends how much was charged for labor of course???

 

[mountainm]

email hennies and ask them what kind of steel it is. It says stainless - if it's 440 or 440c it should be servicable...

 

[vizsla]

I no pakistan use to make some of the worst steel there is. Maybe thats changed but i doupt it

 

[Laurentius]

There seems to be a general assumption that anything made in Pakistan is crap, I dare say a lot of it is. I don't think this is any reflection on the quality of Pakistani workers, so much as they are not generally employed in any capacity where quality matters. I think it is the difference between mass production and something that is genuinely craft produced. I think anything advertised on the internet is more likely to be the former. I have for instance a Kukri purchased for pennies at the Birmingham flea market many years ago, nice and shiny, good for a wall hanger, but I wouldn't ever think of using it for an actual tool.

 

[sargey]

have a look through this lot.

https://www.brisa.fi/portal/index.php?option=com_oscommerce&osMod=index&cPath=94

cheers, and.

 

[brancho]

There are many low priced knife blanks out there

Look HERE and THESE arent bad

 

[northumbrian]

thank you all for your replies ! i will e mail heinnies and will let you know their reply.

cheers andrew.

 

[forestwalker]

As to price, I can get a carbon mora blade for SEK 30 or so, and a laminated one for SEK 70-80. Now, these are not the near sentient super-steels, but they work fine. Plain but good carbon steel, bought in bulk, does not need to cost much. One risk/potential is the the cheap Pakistani blades are ok steel, but poorly tempered and with uneven grind.. I read on the Oldtool list that someone had bought cheap new chisels, removed the handles and retempered them, with very good results. Perhaps you could to the same?

 

[northumbrian]

just got a email back from heinnie's all the info they had on them were carbon/spring steel ??

cheers andrew.

 

[Perrari]

Totally different to the 'Stainless Steel' it is listed as then ?? If it is Carbon Steel, and has been heat treated properly, then fine, but I have my doubts. If I wanted to buy 01 Carbon steel to make the Bowie blank like the one they are selling for £14.95, I would be looking at approx £17 including delivery before starting work on it. ( a bit less if I bought other items at the same time)

Ok labour, overheads & material would be cheaper in Pakistan, but it still needs working & shipping over here, and these are retail prices (possibly 30-50% markup).
If you want to have the experience of assembling and finishing the knife for display, then it is probably a good buy, but if you intend to give it some serious use, then probably not !

Eifion

 

[nic.]

| don't think you will know unless you buy one. There may even be variation within a batch. I doubt the makers would see a half of the retail prices but even so good steel isn't expensive really, not even in this country. 01 is expensive but that is ground and generally sold in small quantities. I guess the blank would weigh around 500g. You can get decent steel for around £3/ kg . Good grinding and decent HT cost no more than bad quality work so it could be OK.

Be aware that if you buy anything by mail order under the distance selling regulations you have the right to claim a refund within 7 days if it isn't OK.

 

[Everything Mac]

£8 - just buy one and find out.

Not exactly breaking the bank. You get to have a play and if it isn't any good then bin it.

Then once you've had a go at that - get a proper one from the Sheffield knives website.

Easy.

 

[bushmanuk]

Hi
I obtained the 4" hunter from heinnie about a month ago to test build and steel quality. Bulild quality,though not perfect, was reasonable at the price,(Ihave seen worse on blades costing ten times more!).
The edge was nicely hollow ground just a little uneven at the riccasso. The side of the blade was hollow ground also rather than the usual flat surface grind, and to my eye looked a bit odd,(nicely done though).
The file I used for the test on the edge was fressh out of the acid bath and did remove metal from the blade edge so I expected the Rockwell to be low. The actual rockwell reading was high 56 and even throughout,so would still make a usable blade. There has been a few horror stories about Pakistani steel shattering and without a dougt this has happened in the past but no worries here as it bent to 90% and back agian with no problem. With a days general work it held its edge quite well but needed sharpening at the end of it.
In conclusion for a modest outlay you could make a reasonable knife, though do expect to sharpen it more often.
About ten years ago Pakistani steel caused several severe injuries due to shattering, but since then quality control has been tightened and with overseeing from outside professionals the overal quality of their steel products has improved a great deal, though still not perfect.
I will be obtaining a couple of bowie blades in the near future so will advise of my findings.
Hope this has been of use to you.
Paul
www.paulbakerknives.co.uk.

 

[brancho]

£8 - just buy one and find out.

Not exactly breaking the bank. You get to have a play and if it isn't any good then bin it.

Then once you've had a go at that - get a proper one from the Sheffield knives website.

Easy.

I agree with this other than binning it as you only make one first knife and dont give it away either.

 

[Ginn]

Try this link. Scrol down

http://www.sheffieldknives.co.uk/acatalog/Hunting_Kni

 

[gjclayton]

Has anyone made one of these knives yet? I bought a bowie blank a while ago ad I'll get round to handling it at some point!

Would be very interested in seeing someones finished product...

I'm tempted by this one:

http://www.heinnie.com/-Knife-Kits/Misc-Blanks/Damascus-Short/p-0-881-882-8742/

Just to mes around with some cheap, cheap damascus...

GJC

 

[Bogsteve]

I have made a couple of knives using the cheaply blades front Gwinne's and although still a relative novice with a dozen or so knives under my belt, in my humble opinion, although not the finest of quality they can be turned into a half decent knife. Well worth the few pounds they cost.