a great cheap tinkering, knife making project for all

<Sigh> please don't do this. Recip saw blades don't make acceptable knife shaped objects. The don't make acceptable saw blades most of the time either! I bar of 1080 or 1084 steel is so friggin cheap, and so easy to work with, it wll also make a perfectly acceptable knife that will be a known hardness.


-X

 

I agree, the cost of the steel blank shouldn't really concern you as much as the time and effort/work going into making the knife. You can get D2 for like less than $15.

 

The chance of it snapping while you are asking it to do something normal is a prescription for an avoidable injury to you or someone who borrows it. What it costs for your out of pocket or insurance deductible for lidocaine, iodine and stitches to get patched up could have bought you all kinds of nice steel to use or a decent custom knife ready made.

 

The only reason I can see to make a knife shaped object (KSO) out of those saw blades it to get a better idea of what the knife would be like if made from decent steel. IMO, wood would be a better medium for this.

A useful small, special purpose blades could be made from this metal, but even then it's not worth the time or effort in most cases. Maybe if you had to have a special blade right now and didn't have good steel, then it becomes a possiblilty.

However, it's your choice. The Bladeforum police won't come to your door and confiscate the knives you maked from sawzall blades.

JMHO,
Allen

 

I made a blade prototype out of 316 once. Never again.
If it works, you'll wish it was made from proper steel and if it doesn't you're $14 richer. What will you spend it on?

 

I am certainly not as experienced as most posting on here. That said, I see no harm in making this knife if it is made just for the experience of doing it. It could be a great conversation piece to others that don't have the knowledge or ability to do this "craft project". As long as the OP does not expect more out of it than the satisfaction of the project, and does not actually try to use it as a viable knife. More power to him I say. My Grandfather made a "Bowie" type knife several years ago out of an old crosscut saw blade, and put a walnut handle on it. It was a beautiful blade, and we cut up lots of deer with it over the years. I understand this is a lot better steel than the sawsall blade is. However, it could be good practice for a better blade in the future, and knowing whether or not he wants to pursue this project further.
Just my $0.02 worth that you don't even have to pay for.

Omar

 

If all your looking to do is work with some thin steel to make a "knife" with and you only have a dremel and some files, get some 15N20 in .060 or 1/16 thickness. It will work as a knife MUCH better than sawzall blades, be just as easy to work and will only cost a couple bucks to send out for HT or can be done yourself with a plate quench. It will be just a few dollars more expensive and at the very worst you will have an ugly knife. No matter how good a sawzall blade knife comes out, it wouldn't be good for more than opening letters.

I'm not trying to discourage you at all from tinkering with knife making, just trying to help you get better end results from the effort put in.


-Xander

 

Perhaps the web page you referenced makes it look relatively easy, but note that he heat treated his own blades. If you do not plan to heat treat the steel he mentions that the steel will be less hard but still usable as a knife. I do not know what kind of steel those blades are made of, there are so many unknowns that if you did go to the trouble to make a finished knife you would not know what properties to expect from the blade.

I hope you understand that the steels you buy from knife supply places will need to be filed to the right shape, blade bevels rough ground, properly heat treated, finish ground, handles applied, then sharpened and a sheath made. You would need a bench vise, clamps, either a belt sander or a well thought out hand sanding setup at minimum. Making a knife from a bar of metal is about the most difficult way I can think of if you have limited tools and experience. That is basically what a professional knifemaker does with all of the tools of a full shop setup. It is not a shortcut by any means. Grinding even unhardened steel without better tools you will find becomes tiresome rather quickly.

If you like this sort of project maybe you have read Wayne Goddard's $50 knife shop, it has many interesting ideas for simple knife projects using simple tools. The knife supply places have plenty of finished blades in many shapes that you could add handle scales, modify the shape of the blade and hand finish / sharpen it yourself. If you want to do some easy projects I would suggest maybe starting with restoring/modifying some old knives you may have around the house. Doing a good job of refurbishing an old knife can be challenging and satisfying and requires some basic skills without requiring a lot of tools.

 

Don't get discouraged. Go with your original plan, but use the better steel. You will figure out on your own what extra tools you will need. I think you can make a decent performing knife with patients, attention to detail, and some basic problem solving skills. I say start with a small knife, maybe a 2.5" blade and a 3.5" handle. Cut your profile out, grind some short bevels, maybe 1/2" of 5/8" tall but don't take it to a sharp edge leave about half the thickness of a dime, drill your handle pin holes and then sand everything to 320#. Its now ready for HT, post over in shop talk and someone will be able to do it for you, possibly for free. Once you get it bck, sand it again, regrind your bevels down to about .010" t the edge and then start on the handle. Get some 3/16" slabs of whatever handle material you want and then drill, glue, cut and shape. Sharpen nd enjoy.

This is the grossly oversimplified version, but if you are a mechanically minded person, you should be able to get your way through it.


-Xander

 

Definitely do what you can to learn by doing. Every decent knifemaker has a collection of knives that were learning projects. Each one gave them one or two more ideas of how to do the next one better. The ones who get real serious take those pieces and test out what the steel has for hardness, toughness and all kinds of terms that sound alike but mean really different things when it comes to knives.