Large Camp/Survival Knife from 1/8" stock?

M

M. Johnwell

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Jan 8, 2015
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Hello all, I'm new here and new to knife making. I am currently making a few small blades out of 1084 and they seem to be coming along pretty well. My question is this: how big of a knife could I make out of 1/8" 1084? I know that I could feasibly make one as large as my stock, but could I make, say, a 10" long blade and have it be strong and heavy enough to chop or baton with or should I buy thicker stock? I just don't want to put the time and effort (not to mention the materials) into making a knife and have it break during use. I was also planning on doing my own heat treat with a brakedrum forge and canola oil, would that yield satisfactory results, or should I send my blades off to be heat treated? Thanks in advance!

M. Johnwell
 
1/8" is probably fine up to about 6-7". It depends on geometry and HT. But if you're thinking 10" I'd go with 3/16"-1/4". No matter the thickness, geometry and HT are key.
 
I think 1/8" is too thin for a camp knife that is intended to chop and baton. It can be done, it just wont be very efficient. The blade will be too light to do the task well unless you have almost no bevel and the thing is just basically a sharpened sheet of 1/8" steel. This came up in my forum last week. The users consensus was that 3/16" thick was the right size for a camp chopper. I never did them in 1/8, but I did do them in 5/32 for a while, and they said that was too thin.
 
Thank you, I guess I'll just have to order some more steel then.. :D

Is 1084 still a good choice? I'd prefer to do my own heat treat if I could, and I know that 1084 is the recommended one for that. How hard is a heat treat to do with equipment which leaves a lot to be desired?
 
How thick were Bill Moran's Maryland Camp Knives?
 
It depends on what you mean by "camp knife". Probably the most-used "survival knives" on the planet are machetes that are seldom made of stock thicker than 1/8" - often thinner. ;) As Andy mentioned, they're basically just flat bars of simple carbon steel that are only beveled/sharpened on the edge.

Having said that, 3/16" or even 1/4" stock is probably a better choice. It will be much stiffer, withstand more thumping, and you can grind the bevels to achieve whatever cutting angle you prefer without sacrificing toughness.

1084 is a fine steel for rough-use camp knives. It's very tough and takes a good crisp edge easily.
 
I would most likely carry a smaller fixed blade knife for general use, I prefer a small, thin knife for most tasks. I was just thinking about how a larger knife may fit my needs better for wood processing than a small hatchet or axe. (I don't mean to start a knife vs. hatchet debate, just thinking aloud) I suppose I could make a mini machete, but I don't think I'd feel comfortable trying to baton with that unless I really needed to.

The main thing that got the ball rolling in my mind was a YouTube video of someone doing a chop test with a bk9, some 1/4" thick knife, and a 1/8" thick blade that was 10" long. In that test, the 1/8" blade performed favorably. Just wondering if you all had similar experiences and if it would be rugged enough to baton with. I'm thinking about making a knife up anyways since I have plenty 1/8" steel at the moment and money is kinda tight..
Thank you all for the responses!
 
Well I drew up what I was thinking, and 10" seems like a lot bigger as a knife than it I thought it would.. I suppose I'm bad at estimating lengths, just ask my girlfriend :p I drew up what I felt would fit my needs and it's about 6.5" Would that still be an effective chopper and could I baton with it? I'd rather make my own than buy one, especially if I decide I don't like it. I was thinking about it too, most likely I won't be batoning logs larger than a few inches across, and only then to expose the dry wood. Would such a stout blade be necessary at that point? Thank you all for your patience answering my noob questions
 
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