So I've been trying for a while to make a knife, more because I think it's satisfying to work with my hands than because I expect a great tool. I've made some fixed blade blanks out of angle iron (just fooling around) and a friction folder out of a brake rotor. This is my first completed knife though and in the process I learned that finishing a knife is at least 2x as much work as making a blank. I was hoping for some tips and advice, so here goes!
I decided to make this out of a wore out sawzall blade, because I figure the wear resistance and toughness will already be adequate, and it's thin, making it easy to grind without adversely affecting the temper and good for fishing (which is mainly what it'll be used for) I'll make notes with the problems and dislikes I have. Please chime in! I'd love to hear some opinions from knifemakers.
Here it is. The wood is a bit of a mystery, but it's dense and easy to work with. The pins are 1/8" steel rod. The miniature guthook was an afterthought, I put it there to cut fishing line. This picture doesn't show it very well. I wish I would've put a ricasso between the blade choil and grind, but hindsight is 20/20.
Here it is again:
Here's the hook. In hindsight, I regret it. It's a bit more (complexity wise) than I can handle. You can see the edge bevel (on the actual blade) is pretty clean though. This pic shows a shadow that makes the hook look worse than it is though. A later picture shows it better.
Pins are clean and polished. I actually like the way they came out.
The handle also has a layer of what used to be red paper micarta. Staining the handle was rough on the color, which used to be much brighter. As you can see, there is also some separation where the wood was sanded back between the wood and micarta. That's a real disappointment. I used fiberglass resin to glue the handle to the blank and pins. I used it because the micarta was just paper prior to being put on the handle, IE it got its resin being glued to the blade. I've had good success making micarta before, but I think next time I'll make the micarta separately and epoxy it on instead of trying to kill two birds with one stone.
After I finished it I was terrified that it would lose its temper from grinding, even though I went slow and dipped the blank in water often. Happily, this fear was unsubstantiated. It sharpened up BEAUTIFULLY. Edge retention will be no where near as good as that of a knife which has had a heat treat specifically for it, and I'm okay with that for now. This is a better look at the hook too.
Cutting fruit the knife worked perfectly. After this little apple, the knife will still take hair off my arm, so the temper can't be THAT bad. I look forward to gutting fish with this.
A few questions:
1) What is a good way to make the hook?
2) Can I make the micarta and attach the handles at the same time if I use epoxy instead of the resin? Can one make micarta with epoxy?
3) How can I stain the wood without staining the micarta?
4) How do I add dense, evenly spaced "jimping"? I added some to this knife as best I could with a dremel. Maybe I just need more practice?
5) Any idea what the composition of this steel may be?
I think I may make another friction folder with a thicker saw blade I have in the future. I'm really impressed with the edge this took.
I enjoyed this try and look forward to refining another attempt again. Any other comments are welcome!
I decided to make this out of a wore out sawzall blade, because I figure the wear resistance and toughness will already be adequate, and it's thin, making it easy to grind without adversely affecting the temper and good for fishing (which is mainly what it'll be used for) I'll make notes with the problems and dislikes I have. Please chime in! I'd love to hear some opinions from knifemakers.
Here it is. The wood is a bit of a mystery, but it's dense and easy to work with. The pins are 1/8" steel rod. The miniature guthook was an afterthought, I put it there to cut fishing line. This picture doesn't show it very well. I wish I would've put a ricasso between the blade choil and grind, but hindsight is 20/20.
Here it is again:
Here's the hook. In hindsight, I regret it. It's a bit more (complexity wise) than I can handle. You can see the edge bevel (on the actual blade) is pretty clean though. This pic shows a shadow that makes the hook look worse than it is though. A later picture shows it better.
Pins are clean and polished. I actually like the way they came out.
The handle also has a layer of what used to be red paper micarta. Staining the handle was rough on the color, which used to be much brighter. As you can see, there is also some separation where the wood was sanded back between the wood and micarta. That's a real disappointment. I used fiberglass resin to glue the handle to the blank and pins. I used it because the micarta was just paper prior to being put on the handle, IE it got its resin being glued to the blade. I've had good success making micarta before, but I think next time I'll make the micarta separately and epoxy it on instead of trying to kill two birds with one stone.
After I finished it I was terrified that it would lose its temper from grinding, even though I went slow and dipped the blank in water often. Happily, this fear was unsubstantiated. It sharpened up BEAUTIFULLY. Edge retention will be no where near as good as that of a knife which has had a heat treat specifically for it, and I'm okay with that for now. This is a better look at the hook too.
Cutting fruit the knife worked perfectly. After this little apple, the knife will still take hair off my arm, so the temper can't be THAT bad. I look forward to gutting fish with this.
A few questions:
1) What is a good way to make the hook?
2) Can I make the micarta and attach the handles at the same time if I use epoxy instead of the resin? Can one make micarta with epoxy?
3) How can I stain the wood without staining the micarta?
4) How do I add dense, evenly spaced "jimping"? I added some to this knife as best I could with a dremel. Maybe I just need more practice?
5) Any idea what the composition of this steel may be?
I think I may make another friction folder with a thicker saw blade I have in the future. I'm really impressed with the edge this took.
I enjoyed this try and look forward to refining another attempt again. Any other comments are welcome!
