10 Cent Survival Knife

i've seen it before linked from other "survival" sites. never seen it mentioned here on BF.

it's a knife, and it's better than just packing a scalpel blade, or utility knife blade... but seems limited until you lash it to some other handle to give it a litle more grip and it's not something you're going to want to baton with.

it's cheaper and lighter than most of the "tin knives" i've seen so i'm not gonna say it's worthless, but that's not what i'd want as my only knife. probably a backup, backup, backup. (after you've lost a belt knife, your pack and your SAK or Leatherman)
 
Another hacksaw knife, a folding model: folder. I made some single blade models except I used a dead Starbucks card for the handle.

Ric
 
Thanks for the link Scott Free. Looks like a cool project, bout same size as a Hartsook, $19.90 cheaper and a person can customize to his own specs. Henry
 
Before I could buy a lock pick set I made them out of hack saw blades. I also made arrowheads out of hack saw blades they work very well... nice little knife!!
 
I think that it is a great idea. I may make a few. But. That spear idea is a joke. Why do people think they are going to need a spear when things go tits up? I'll never understand it. I have spent cumulatively years in the woods and deserts and hunted everything from frogs to eland. Built shelters with snow or tree limbs and not once have I ever needed a spear.
 
762 shooter said:
Why do people think they are going to need a spear when things go tits up? I'll never understand it. I have spent cumulatively years in the woods and deserts and hunted everything from frogs to eland. Built shelters with snow or tree limbs and not once have I ever needed a spear.
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Thus, since you have never used or needed a spear, it is a completely defunct idea? Not that I'm trying to slam you, but I can also never understand why people keep using 'I've never used this technique in all my years' as though it were some kind of logical argument about why something is a poor choice or idea.

I've personally used spears to capture fish. I've also picked out spawning suckers directly by hand. Sometimes the hand thing won't work and I'd prefer a spear. Sometimes other ways are needed. Saying spears are completely useless would either imply a whole series of assumptions about conditions or alternative methods or somehow suggest so many aboriginal cultures just couldn't figure out things correctly.

Now, do I keep a spear head thingy in my PSK? No, but I wouldn't discount somebody else from doing so....
 
I made a few of them. The key is to get the cheapest blades you can find. They are hardened though the entire blade. The expensive blades are only hardened on the very edge of the blade, to keep them flexible so they don't break easily.

They work ok for what they are. I keep a couple on the work bench for cutting cardboard and stuff, got a couple more tucked away in kits. I'll take them over a scalpel blade or a single edge razor blade any time.

You could use them as a spearhead for small game, snakes, or small fish. Or as an arrowhead on a shaft for a makeshift bow.

I tried a few out of sawzall blades and didn't like them as well as the hacksaw blades. I could also make 4 or 5 of the hacksaw ones in the same amount of time it took to make one out of a sawzall blade. They were also harder on the hand due to the the end of the blade, where it hooks in to the saw, unless you wrapped the handle.

I've made a couple of arrowheads, similar to the ESEE, out of files that I annealed to soften for grinding and cutting, then hardened and tempered. I made them with a single side chisel grind, vs a double bevel like the ESEE. The ESEE (I have one) is a lot prettier, but the home-made ones are a lot cheaper and will work as well. It's also fun to make your own gear too.
 
If you would like a thicker blade, use a Power Hacksaw Blade. They are two to three times as thick as a regular hacksaw blade.

They come in .050'', .062'' and .075'' thick and 1 1/2'' or 1 5/8'' wide and 18'' long.

Look in your phone book and call up your local older machine shops and ask them if they have any older blades you could possibly get from them. They always have them laying around and if you're nice, they always give them away.
Plus those power hacksaws run with a coolant so the blades just wear out and never get hot so they make perfect blanks for almost anything you want to screw around with and try to make.
 
kgd said:
Thus, since you have never used or needed a spear, it is a completely defunct idea? Not that I'm trying to slam you, but I can also never understand why people keep using 'I've never used this technique in all my years' as though it were some kind of logical argument about why something is a poor choice or idea.

I've personally used spears to capture fish. I've also picked out spawning suckers directly by hand. Sometimes the hand thing won't work and I'd prefer a spear. Sometimes other ways are needed. Saying spears are completely useless would either imply a whole series of assumptions about conditions or alternative methods or somehow suggest so many aboriginal cultures just couldn't figure out things correctly.

Now, do I keep a spear head thingy in my PSK? No, but I wouldn't discount somebody else from doing so....
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I understand your point (heh). I use a spear gun to spear fish with. The spear tips I have used have configurations to keep the fish attached to the spear head. It is not a survival tool. A gig may be a good survival tool but a spear is essentially worthless. (I don't see this as semantics, the two are mutually exclusive) The spear that the video shows will not catch fish. It is a useless tool in the configuration shown. My point. Somewhere, somehow, somebody got the idea that a spear was a necessary tool for survival into the masses heads. It is not. Especially if it is a knife lashed to a stick. Oi.
This in no way discounts the idea of using hacksaw blades for cheap kit knives.
 
Hey all I just wanted to mention BI METAL BLADES WILL NOT MAKE A GOOD KNIFE!, They are junk low carbon steel with HSS (high speed steel) teeth welded on! you need to find a "Full Hard" Blade like a Starrett Red Stripe. (green or blue stripes are bi metal so there out too!) to grind a blade out of. Good video and link otherwise!


Jason
 
Have any of you looked at the other knives he's made on that site? I think it's been a while since it was updated, but I would like to have something similar to his bulldozer blade.
 
762 shooter said:
I understand your point (heh). I use a spear gun to spear fish with. The spear tips I have used have configurations to keep the fish attached to the spear head. It is not a survival tool. A gig may be a good survival tool but a spear is essentially worthless. (I don't see this as semantics, the two are mutually exclusive) The spear that the video shows will not catch fish. It is a useless tool in the configuration shown. My point. Somewhere, somehow, somebody got the idea that a spear was a necessary tool for survival into the masses heads. It is not. Especially if it is a knife lashed to a stick. Oi.
This in no way discounts the idea of using hacksaw blades for cheap kit knives.
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Thanks for clarifying your reasons 762! That makes more sense to me now. So you are suggesting something with a barb as more essential spear fishing gear? I agree that its use as a makeshift edge has good potential functionality for knifey like chores.
 
I saw one made out of a circular saw blade a while back. It was merely ground out, I think. Not forged for sure. I think it was in BW magazine. I would think that would be more sturdy.
 
762 shooter said:
I think that it is a great idea. I may make a few. But. That spear idea is a joke. Why do people think they are going to need a spear when things go tits up? I'll never understand it. .
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The influence of hollyweird. Rambo used a monster-sized, hollow handled knife. He used it to make a spear and stick a pig. (Yeah, like they teach that in SWC Sere School. When you are evading an enemy, take some time out of the day to stick a pig and have a big roast on the hillside.) He sewed himself up with absolute disregard for infection. I'm sure there was more but I'm old and can't remember like I used to.

Hollyweird wrote it that way and it is so. People copied hollyweird. Now those people who copied hollyweird have passed it on to others, many of whom have never even seen the movie but still clamor for their huge Rambo knives, self-suture kits, and improvised spears.

The Edge on the other hand, now that was a movie. :) What one man can do, another man can do!

Wait a minute. They used spears on The Edge also....
 
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I really prefer plainer blades. Its a little more work, but they have a very good tool steel. Also, they're not all flimsy like a hack saw blade.
 
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