Mill reccomended for knife making

[pike3e]

I am in the process of learning to make custom knives. I am wondering what you folks would reccomend for a benchtop mill. My main uses will be slotting guards, typically annealed steel less than 1/2 inch thick, and milling mating surfaces flat and parallel. I am looking for decent quality but not top of the line as this is just a hobby.

Thanks

John

[jalessi]

John,

Do you want a manual or CNC mill, what is your budget?

Welcome to the Zone,

Jeff...

[pike3e]

manual is fine. budget is fairly flexible, if i can get a machine that will do the job for cheap, then great, if it takes a few grand, I will just have to save longer. Looking for best bang for the buck but not purchasing more machine than is realistically needed to slot guards and true up guard and wood handle surfaces.

Thanks

John

[TroyO]

I'd think a Mini Mill would handle that stuff... work envelope is about 4x8 inches. Since you'd usually be working on a blade or a handle seperatley, you could do a 16x4 inch knife.... bigger than that they usually call them swords. ;-P

Usually about $490 at Harbor Freight, plenty of info out there for them. Use a 20% coupon and you get it for $391... coupons in most car mags, machinist mags, woodworking, etc.

It will need some love to work well, but should be a great little handle/guard shaper.