making a scandi style knife on the cheap...

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siguy

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Aug 26, 2006
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i thought this might be appreciated around here. i put this together to show any of the members here that have more time than money that it doesn't cost a fortune to have a good bushcrafting knife. this knife actually comes out cheaper than a mora! :eek:

yesterday i went to the junk shop and bought a file and a chisel for $2 total, so i figure $1 of that was for the file.
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yesterday i reconditioned the chisel, linky

today i started making the file into a knife. i smashed the handle and then marked out where i want the blade and handle to be.
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i used the corner of the stone on my bench grinder to cut it to length;
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next i started grinding down the tang on the bench grinder;
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quite some grinding later i'm almost where i want the tang to be;
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i ground the blade part narrower, since it was too wide for what i wanted. then i started shaping the blade shape;
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next step was grinding the teeth off of the file;
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next came the tricky part. i started slowly and carefully, with many light passes at a time, grinding in the bevels (still on the bench grinder). only a couple of passes and then some swishing in the water bucket to keep it very cool. at the end of this stage, i came out at almost exactly 1 hour of time spent so far;
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after that, i tried flattening out the bevels on a few different stones and then on coarse sandpaper. all too slow, so i gave up and took it to an 80 grit belt on the 1x30 sander;
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nice and even and pretty flat;
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next, back to the stone. i ground for quite a while on the stone, and still didn't get the bevels flat. that's alright, since i did a pretty high scandi, and making it dead flat could make the edge weak. i might work it out flatter over time, but i'm happy for now. after i polished it out some on my medium stone i stropped it to remove the burr and ended up with one sharp file :eek::D
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so far:
total time- 1 hour and 40 minutes
total money spent- $1

next up is a handle, i'm thinking maybe a piece of maple or birch. i think i'll poke around in the scrap bin in the school's woodshop, sometimes there are nice pieces of wood in there that aren't good for much except handles...

anyways, hope this helps someone. for anyone looking to do this, keep in mind that if you have a way to anneal and re-harden the blade, it will be much easier to work. you can clean up the bevels nicely with a large single cut file, which will be almost as fast as the belt sander (but without the danger of overheating the blade).

i did it with a fully hardened file (and left it that way) to show that you don't need a furnace or fancy machinery to make a good sharp knife, just a few basic tools and some time. when you are working on a hardened file for a project like this though, keep it cool!!! dunk frequently and thoroughly to keep it from getting too hot and going soft on you.
 
Great thread! Inspirational, even.

I look forward to the conclusion. You should totally follow this through the handle and sheath-making processes.

All the best,

- Mike
 
You made that with a bench grinder? Cool. Im gonna have to purchase a new bench grinder.
 
Good post siguy. Were I to go to a few farm sales around here I could get a massive supply of files, disc blades, and saw blades.

Heat treating can be done pretty cheap as well. Bryan Breeden uses a simple propane torch and fire brick forge that works pretty slick and is as cheap as they come.

Come to think of it, if it's not too cold over christmas or thanksgiving break, I may have to find some suitable scrap around the farm and whip up a blade or two just for kicks.
 
mentor, i intend to follow through :thumbup:

i think i will probably make a small 1 brick forge sooner or later. i will have to talk to the local welder or check out the fireplace store to see if they have any fire bricks...
 
Wow, that's cool! Wouldn't heat trerting the blade with a good temper make the blade better. Heating it up and air cooling or water cooling might be pretty good I would think. Maybe differental heat treating the blade and spine would be nice too. :thumbup:
 
There's an article in the latest Backwoodsman about making a small brick furnace for removing temper and then heat treating. I'd like to give something like this a try myself.
 
Yeah, tempering would be a good idea. I'm of the impression that this could be done in a normal oven if you want to go real cheap, but I should stop talking and let people who know talk now. If you did do it in the oven make sure you're mom's not baking cookies, that could be bad.
 
There' no real need to anneal (make dead soft) the blade and re-harden it. Files are about as hard as a mo' fo' to begin with. A person with an accurate kitchen oven or toaster oven could re-temper the blade to make it a bit less hard. I'd start at about 350F-375F for about 2 hrs. If the blade seems to be too hard at that point, walk it in 25F higher at a time until it gets to where you want it. The materials are cheap enough to experiment with!;) -Matt-
 
rick, i figured that since this is a smaller blade (just under 3") i want a very hard edge for good edge retention. thus, i left the file fully hardened.

i've never had an issue with files shattering or otherwise being damaged when dropped onto concrete floors, so i figure the knife won't be super brittle.

i will soften the tang end though, to allow it to be peened without cracking.
 
Simon, how about a piece of nicely-figured Black Walnut? I was digging through "handle material" and came across a piece I tucked away seven years ago. Moisture content is 8.0% but would quickly come down when stabilized indoors. I have a nice thick chunk I can send you - a donation to the cause of the "budget project."

Short sections of copper pipe make nice ferrules, if that was in yiour plan.:thumbup:
 
grease-man said:
There' no real need to anneal (make dead soft) the blade and re-harden it. Files are about as hard as a mo' fo' to begin with. A person with an accurate kitchen oven or toaster oven could re-temper the blade to make it a bit less hard. I'd start at about 350F-375F for about 2 hrs. If the blade seems to be too hard at that point, walk it in 25F higher at a time until it gets to where you want it. The materials are cheap enough to experiment with!;) -Matt-
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You're right about that, I guess I wasn't thinking about the fact that files are HARD. But a forge would be good to have anyway. :cool:
 
bob, haven't had a chance to get a fire going, so it hasn't progressed at all. i might end up waiting until i get a 1 brick forge going if i can do it soon...
 
jeff, that sounds very nice, i would appreciate it.

i have some brass sheet that i was going to use for the top and bottom of the handle, but i have used both copper and steel pipe in the past for ferrules.
 
rocketbomb said:
But a forge would be good to have anyway. :cool:
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You are right about that! I've used most of my knifemaking equipment for things other than knives on more than one occasion. The forge is no different. Had to make a pin for hooking up a leaf collector to my garden tractor...enter the forge and anvil! :D -Matt-
 
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