Insult to us all: Rambo's tribal knifemaking

R

rashid11

Joined
Dec 8, 2005
Messages
707
in latest movie, he makes a machete from ..... rebar :barf: !
Manages to HT them by dipping them into a bath of something
for a second and then takes it out, still glowing bright red ....

Speaking of rebar - on 60 minutes a while back they had a segment
about Bangladesh (?). They'd bring old ships from all over the world
to this beach area, using a high tide and just run them aground as
far as they could.

Now, this crowd of locals just tears it apart using NOTHING but oxy
torches (no goggles or nothing, either).
 
Yes the injury rate is huge and the environmental damage is also. The rich get richer, the poor try to survive. You can bet your butt, that US corporations have managed to use this "service". Terrible

Same with Rambo,s knife making skills terrible
 
Well you can make a using knife out of high carbon rebar (it's like 1050/1060 I think) gotta brine quench it I think.

At least the movie showed him "making" the blade, pehaps it will bring more people into the fold, there's gotta be at least 20, err maybe 10 people that saw that scene and wondered how they could learn to forge a blade. Could be worse, he could've quenched in a enemy soldier ;)
 
remember how many wanted to get/make a WSK after that movie showed it being so easy to do

just happens cant do anything about it
need a big show (flashy bright orange steel) for the movie goers weather its right or not means nothing
 
Rebar can have .44-.52 C and heat treats great.
rebarhttest-web.jpg


I forged a 2 Lbs hammer from a chunk of #14 rebar a few weeks ago.
rebarhammer1-web.jpg

rebarhammer2-web.jpg
 
I could be wrong, but I think he forged a boat propeller from rebar, not the knife. there are 2 forging scenes.
 
Rat Finkenstein said:
I could be wrong, but I think he forged a boat propeller from rebar, not the knife. there are 2 forging scenes.
Click to expand...

You are not wrong. Rebar in the first forging for the propeller.....the second forging scene starts with an already flat piece.
 
Ray Richard, IMO one of the best bladesmiths out there has successfully used the high carbon rebar for several knives - ask him..........

Movies are movies - they are made for entertainment (at least this type) and to make money not as a documentary - getting one's knicker in a knot over them is self defeating........
 
Wild Rose said:
Ray Richard, IMO one of the best bladesmiths out there has successfully used the high carbon rebar for several knives - ask him..........

Movies are movies - they are made for entertainment (at least this type) and to make money not as a documentary - getting one's knicker in a knot over them is self defeating........
Click to expand...

True as heck.
Exposure is exposure.
I, for one, never even considered a PERSON making a knife 20 years ago. Now, I'm a knifemaker!
I thought they were all made by Buck knives!
For probably the first time in the vast majority of viewer's lives, they were seeing a person doing something they had never seen before! An individual taking something and making a useful tool from it.
There might actually be a few new knife customers out there as a result.
Sometimes, even "bad" press is better than no press at all. It brings people up to a level of recognition that previously did not exist.
Get 'em Rambo.
 
In the movie, he made the rebar to fix the boat prop. It doesn't show what he used to make the knife. Even then, for the type of knife/machete he had I think rebar would work. It's not the best choice but he wasn't trying to make a great knife. It was almost like a machete which don't need to be as hard as a small knife anyway.
 
I once owned a knife made from rebar, by Robert Hankins, that could shave arm hair. Some of the higher-grade stuff has enough carbon to harden decently.
 
According to the movie script, Rambo was to be seen scrounging around in a junkyard looking for some knife steel and he used a piece truck leaf spring. Those scenes were either never shot or edited out of the movie.

Gil Hibben actually made a video and sent it to Sly showing him how to forge for the knife scenes.
 
I bet someone could go and search the archives and find more than one post on rebar knives....Ray has made rebar knives for years,I have made a few and I have also made a tomahawk out of it.If you use the 60 grade it will hold a great edge when heat treated properly...Rebar makes a great mix with a different steel for Damascus also.Hammer heads are great from the proper rebar....

That is the fun of forging,you can make a knife from anything that is hardenable...let them forge their swords into plowshers now we can forge them back into swords or Bowies.

At least the movie shows him forging correct or not he is forging and it will get attention,so start looking for some rebar that will harden and make a couple to show guys when they ask if you can make a knife like Rambos new one,or at least a truck spring like he used in the movie...

Bruce
 
Bruce Evans said:
I bet someone could go and search the archives and find more than one post on rebar knives....Ray has made rebar knives for years,I have made a few and I have also made a tomahawk out of it.If you use the 60 grade it will hold a great edge when heat treated properly...Rebar makes a great mix with a different steel for Damascus also.Hammer heads are great from the proper rebar....

That is the fun of forging,you can make a knife from anything that is hardenable...let them forge their swords into plowshers now we can forge them back into swords or Bowies.

At least the movie shows him forging correct or not he is forging and it will get attention,so start looking for some rebar that will harden and make a couple to show guys when they ask if you can make a knife like Rambos new one,or at least a truck spring like he used in the movie...

Bruce
Click to expand...

Bruce, can you explain what you mean by the proper rebar for hammers???
 
when Loveless started he was using car springs from junked out cars, as many of you probably know. Those are probably some of the highest blades on the market. just goes to show what a little ingenuity can do!
 
As I feel this is massively important, I will make sure no one misses it:


Rambo makes the prop out of rebar, but his knife from a piece of metal the shape and size of a leafspring!! Rambo knows what he's doing!


;)
 
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