Be kind, it was my first attempt. I hope I am in the right forum for this, I know I don't belong with the knife makers, so hopefully this is right. Please let me know if it's not.
Let me preface this by saying this is hopefully going to be a gift for my wife's father. My father-in-law is one of those guys that can make or do anything. He grew up having to learn to make due or do without. Kinda puts pressure on you when your wife asks you to do something
. He is also hard to buy for, since there isn't much he 'wants' and even less he 'needs' that he doesn't already have. Last year he did some custom carving on the butt of a .22 LR for me for my gift, and we gave him... well, I don't even remember what it was, so that should tell ya something.
He gave me his old circular saw a year or two ago. I had the old blade that had come with it laying around, and that's when inspiration struck.
I have lots of hand tools, but the only thing I had to cut it out with was a grinder with a 4" metal cutting wheel. It was my first try using it, and I think it went ok. I also lacked a proper bench vise, so I had to make due with what I had. I think that having to 'make due' works well for the spirit of this knife (and it's going to be a recurring theme as I try to get this thing done!).
I used the grinding wheel to smooth it out some and put a very very rough edge on it. I'll take it to work one day and use the bench grinder there to work on the edge some more. I couldn't resist trying a cut, and it skinned the branch pretty well.
I used a dremel to get most of the 'age' off the metal and shine it up some. I don't have a belt sander, so I'll need some finer grit sand paper to finish up shining it some. As you can see from the side by side picture, I have some shaping left to do to get it to match the shape I'd planned originally, but it is close for not having a bench grinder to it yet. Hopefully in the next few days I'll be able to post another progress report on it.
The last picture didn't show the 'shine' really well, so hopefully this one will. Even if the pictures don't it was a real difference between what it was and what it is now.
It was a carbide blade to begin with, so I think it will function pretty good for a usable knife.
Please, if you have any tips or suggestions (or if you think I should just toss it!) let me know, I am trying to learn as much as I can as I go. I think the hardest part was getting the nerve to try it in the first place. Thanks for looking!
EDIT: For spelling and adding a picture.
Let me preface this by saying this is hopefully going to be a gift for my wife's father. My father-in-law is one of those guys that can make or do anything. He grew up having to learn to make due or do without. Kinda puts pressure on you when your wife asks you to do something
. He is also hard to buy for, since there isn't much he 'wants' and even less he 'needs' that he doesn't already have. Last year he did some custom carving on the butt of a .22 LR for me for my gift, and we gave him... well, I don't even remember what it was, so that should tell ya something.He gave me his old circular saw a year or two ago. I had the old blade that had come with it laying around, and that's when inspiration struck.
I have lots of hand tools, but the only thing I had to cut it out with was a grinder with a 4" metal cutting wheel. It was my first try using it, and I think it went ok. I also lacked a proper bench vise, so I had to make due with what I had. I think that having to 'make due' works well for the spirit of this knife (and it's going to be a recurring theme as I try to get this thing done!).
I used the grinding wheel to smooth it out some and put a very very rough edge on it. I'll take it to work one day and use the bench grinder there to work on the edge some more. I couldn't resist trying a cut, and it skinned the branch pretty well.
I used a dremel to get most of the 'age' off the metal and shine it up some. I don't have a belt sander, so I'll need some finer grit sand paper to finish up shining it some. As you can see from the side by side picture, I have some shaping left to do to get it to match the shape I'd planned originally, but it is close for not having a bench grinder to it yet. Hopefully in the next few days I'll be able to post another progress report on it.
The last picture didn't show the 'shine' really well, so hopefully this one will. Even if the pictures don't it was a real difference between what it was and what it is now.
It was a carbide blade to begin with, so I think it will function pretty good for a usable knife.
Please, if you have any tips or suggestions (or if you think I should just toss it!) let me know, I am trying to learn as much as I can as I go. I think the hardest part was getting the nerve to try it in the first place. Thanks for looking!
EDIT: For spelling and adding a picture.
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