Knife Blanks

R

rodogg

Joined
Nov 25, 2011
Messages
279
Hi everyone, sorry I ask sooo many questions in these forums but I'm so new to this that I feel the best way to learn is by asking questions to people who know more than me! :) So I've decided to make a handle for a knife (thanks to everyone who helped me with questions R.E that!!!) as my first project. Making a knife itself is too hard a place to start.

SO anywayyy... I want to make a small knife, no more than 6 and a half, preferably less, inches long. I'll be using it heavily, mainly for bushcraft, lots of wood cutting, and I live in Ireland so it'll be getting wet a lot, so I need it to be very rust-resistant.
So here are a few blanks I've seen that I like:
https://www.brisa.fi/portal/index.p...od=product_info&cPath=94_297&products_id=3144
https://www.brisa.fi/portal/index.p...Mod=product_info&cPath=94_26&products_id=3410
https://www.brisa.fi/portal/index.p...od=product_info&cPath=94_202&products_id=1688
https://www.brisa.fi/portal/index.p...sMod=product_info&cPath=94_39&products_id=869
https://www.brisa.fi/portal/index.p...sMod=product_info&cPath=94_34&products_id=284

And this one is my favourite, but might be a bit expensive for me: https://www.brisa.fi/portal/index.p...od=product_info&cPath=94_298&products_id=3147
Also I think that one might come out a bit over the length I want.

So what would you recommend and if none of the ones I posted, what others?

I didn't post any full-tang blades because from what I've seen its easier to handle hidden tangs, but if that isn't true tell me!

Thanks in advance! :)
 
What did you mean by "lots of wood cutting"? Are you going to be hammering the blade through wood or something more like carving a stick? I've not personally done a comparison between flat ground vs hollow ground blades but for some reason I think flat ground (like most of the blades you listed) have a stronger blade. I hope someone can shoot that down or verify it.

You mentioned you wanted rust resistance. It looked like only two of the blades listed were stainless steel. How important is that to you? What do you plan to use for handle material?

- Paul O'Meske
 
I think the full tang knives are a little easier, but that is what I started with so I might have a bias. With hidden tangs you cut an inside hole to fit the tang which takes a bit of skill and time. Check out Jantz, Texas knifemaking supply or others on line. For the ones you posted 12C27 is a great steel.
 
how about this one?

103r.jpg
 
lonepine said:
What did you mean by "lots of wood cutting"? Are you going to be hammering the blade through wood or something more like carving a stick? I've not personally done a comparison between flat ground vs hollow ground blades but for some reason I think flat ground (like most of the blades you listed) have a stronger blade. I hope someone can shoot that down or verify it.

You mentioned you wanted rust resistance. It looked like only two of the blades listed were stainless steel. How important is that to you? What do you plan to use for handle material?

- Paul O'Meske
Click to expand...

By wood cutting I mean bushcraft jobs like firesticks, preparing tinder, preparing small firewood, some carving etc. I'll be using it for other things too though, probably skinning and gutting. I can't afford many different knives so I'll just use one or two for everything. The only knife I currently own is a Mora which is great. Rust resistance.. Well it's quite important to me to have a somewhat rust resistant blade, but preferably one that is very rust resistant. Handle material wise I wanted something like this: http://rosarmsusa.com/knives/Camping/mushroom.html which I assume is leather washers in the middle, not too sure about the outside pieces though so I was thinking of buying some green micarta. I don't know much about blade steels, how sharp they are and how well they hold an edge so thats why I needed some help on that! :P Thanks.
 
Bo T said:
I think the full tang knives are a little easier, but that is what I started with so I might have a bias. With hidden tangs you cut an inside hole to fit the tang which takes a bit of skill and time. Check out Jantz, Texas knifemaking supply or others on line. For the ones you posted 12C27 is a great steel.
Click to expand...

I'd prefer a full tang knife for sure! Do you know of any good online tutorials perchance? :) And also do you know any good small, full tang blades?
 
Blades are a personal preference so google knifemaking supplies and check out the ones which are available. You already have your criteria so you can probably narrow it down to several choices. I have no idea about overseas shipping. I started with a Green River paring knife (it doesn't fit your criteria) and gave it to my girlfriend at the time. It wasn't very good compared to ones that I made recently. Kits are available and some (like the Green River knives) are inexpensive enough that you could buy one to practice on ahead of making your woods knife.

There is a sticky on this forum that discusses making a knife and there is a page that discusses affixing a handle.
 
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