Best way to start!

[JoeMarion]

Hello JD Knife makers!
I couldn't find a similar post. What knife is the best to start your first? I am curious, what made YOU get into knife making and how much does it typically cost to get started. I am going into the military and after training I expect to have a lot of free time on my hands and a ton of spare cash to use to add to my collection. Then it hit me.. why stop at buying knives when I can start making them?

I am looking for an inexpensive kit that will help me understand the concept of building knives so that I can try it out and determine whether it is for me or now. I am very interested in bali's right now, would those be a good choice?

Thanks for all your input guys!
Joe

[Zero Gravitas]

Joe,
I started by doing the handles and sheaths on purchased blades a while back, and very recently started on blade making

I'd get 3 books:
$50 Dollar Knife Shop by Wayne Goddard
Making Knives by Bob Loveless
The Complete Bladesmith by Jim Hrisoulas
and a catalog from Jantz Supply.

Best of luck in the military, I thank you for your service.

[M.Olexey]

You could certainly start out with balis but there will be quite a bit more of a learning curve than if you started with simple fixed blade designs.

I never did the kit thing. I bought a drill press, bandsaw, KMG, some belts, a propane furnace and some tool steel and just commenced to creating one hell of a bucket of scrap. 2-3 years later and lots of questions to other makers online and research here in the forums, I finally started to produce knifelike objects. From then on, luckily they become more and more knifelike. I've been doing it for 6 years now. Along the way I've added more power and hand tools and other stuff that I have needed based on the way I make my knives. Constantly trying to improve and add more equipment as I can. I have loved every minute of it and will do it until I die...maybe even longer.