blade design questions.

P

pody

Joined
Sep 4, 2002
Messages
3
Hello,
I am new here and have a question. After reading many posts here i REALLY want to make my own knife. With the know how here i was hoping someone would have designed a blade shape for the way i wish to use this knife.
What i have in mind is a short blade 3-4 inches long with a thick cross section. The reason for this is that when cleaning rabbits I flick my wrist and pinky in a downward motion to to cut off the feet through the bone. I have been using a marbles small plainsman for some years for this job "one of the older ones with the thicker blade which chips sometimes doing this" I thought 52100 was tougher than this...But i do sharpen at a very acute angle to get the cutting performance i desire
I would also like for the point to be finer than the plainsman so it is easier to trace out the sternum of a deer when field dressing "this would also make it much easier to get the tenderloin out of deer and rabbits. I clean a lot of rabbits!

Here are my design criteria: Blade length can be no more than 4.5 inches max, the but of the handle must have either a swell or a downward bend, I must be able to grind this from flat stock, and overall length must be under 9 inches. I like short handy knives.

Sorry the post is so long, and thank you for your time!
 
the Fallkniven F1 is one of the best designed knives for practical purposes I've ever used. I believe you can also buy it as a blank and add your own scales. It's way cooler to actually grind out your own knife, but if you're going to use it, I'd strongly consider using certified steel stock and getting it heat treated properly.

FF1a.png


Good luck! I hope you let us know how it turns out for you.
 
p.s- welcome to the forum!:)
 
are you saying that one of the simple carbon steels would be too difficult to heat treat?
if so....could anyone recomend someone who does this sort of thing?
thank you!
ps. thank you for the recomendatiuon of the f1....i will look into these. i am just concerned about stainless steels ability to crush bone at an acute angle.
 
Last edited:
I don't know about difficulty, but heat treating steel requires some equipment, but you could totally make that yourself. I plan to some time in the near future.
I hear that 1084 is pretty uncomplicated to harden properly.
Carbon steel is good stuff, I like it a lot, but I don't kick stainless out of bed. I've had great results with that vg10, it takes a beating.
 
There are several reputable heat treating companies that deal with complex alloys. Paul Bos and Texas Knifemaker's Supply are ones I've dealt with. They deal with high-alloy tool steels and stainless steels. Prices are reasonable, too.

Using quality steel and a professional heat treat will improve the performance of your first blade. I did this, and I'm very happy with how my first knife turned out.

Be sure to post something in Shop Talk to get more input from knife makers.
 
Check out Lee Oates of Bearclaw knives at (what else) www.bearclawknives.com
Great guy, really friendly, lots of options, great prices and awesome heat treat. You won't be disappointed.
 
this might work better in the workshop
maybe it can be moved

but any how are you looking to get make the blade or have a maker make the blade or even the full knife to your specs

thers lots of great steels out there and many makers have all the tools to help you out
 
Mabye I posted this on the wrong forum....I am sorry. The following is for after this thread is moved to a more appropriate forum...I apologize ...I havent fully explored the many forums on this board...i found myself here when i was looking.

I do not know for sure what steel would be appropriate for this project.
I was originally thinking of buying a piece of o-1 tool steel, cutting it out , purchasing a belt grinder and grinding out the flats. If no one else had a better idea my plan was for basically a small meat cleaver with a slight upswept pointy tip. The blade would have a lot of belly like a green mountain skinner...only 1/4 inch thick, with a high sabre grind for more weight, kind of like some of the choppers some of you make.
Once again, thank you for looking......any suggestions on steel or design for this project would still be appreciated.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top