Sawteeth... How to. Need help.

S

sicily02

Joined
Nov 23, 2005
Messages
3,987
Hi all,

I am looking to put some sharp saw teeth on a knife I am making for myself. I was looking at my leather man wave that has a saw blade on it
and thought I might be able to cut some in like that with a file but when I tried it on a peace of steel it did not turn out the way I was hoping. I used a triangle type of file. Is there a certain file or files I should get to do this and how would I use them to get this done.


any thoughts and suggestions would be great.

I have a pic of the knife blank and where I would like to put the teeth at. I drew some marking with a felt tip black marker. It is a Tom Brown Tracker type of knife design.
IMG_0208.jpg



Thanks

Bryan
 
Bumped.

anyone, have any thoughts? Even a place to see about where or how to cut the saw theeth shape in.
Cna it be done with files?

any help is better than no help lol.
Bryan
 
How thick is the stock? If it's more than 1/8" any "sawteeth" will perform badly, if at all. Thinner is definitely better, it's just the nature of what saws do. Combining a saw and a heavy-duty knife is like trying to drink whiskey from a bottle of wine. (EDIT) even a cheap "wire saw" will perform better than a thick blade with some notches cut into it.

Do you want to actually saw wood? Buy a Coughlan's or Gerber or Fiskars folding saw or keep your Leatherman handy. A "plain" bladed knife with a pouch on the sheath for a good multi-tool, firesteel and a sharpener would accomplish all the survival tasks a person could ask without being a "jack-of-all-trades, master of none" BS compromise that doesn't do anything very well.

Do you want serrations for cutting fibrous stuff? That can be done pretty easily even with thick stock. A narrow chisel, flat or hollow grind on the spine can have simple serrations cut into it that will do a fine job of cutting rope, vines and stuff like that, without needlessly weakening the blade.
 
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Hi James,

The blank is 3/16 thick. Correct on the saws you mentioned. I would like to just make some saw teeth like the Knife that Dave Beck made for survival instructor Tom Browns knife.

I I have seen some other makers make a knife with saw teeth on theres. I think one fellows name was Roger and I can"t think of his last name.
That guy made a version of Dave Becks knife. That probably does not help ya lol.

As to really cutting any wood. Yes I just want it to be able to cut some for being able to make notches for traps and such.

Here is the deal I started on another knife like this last week Here is the pic of it.

IMG_0206.jpg


I took a file that is triangle in shape and was looking at me leatherman wave saw. I placed the file in the teeth of the saw blade and thought it sure looks like I could file that type of saw teeth arrangment in my first knife blank. It turned out ok but not really the way I was hoping.
After I heat treated and tempered it I took the knife and sawed on a 1" plywood peice and it cut right into it just fine better than I thought I would.
I was like holy crap I can not believe how well it cut into the wood. I think if ithe teeth were more even and sharper that it would make it even a better cutter.

Agreed that a knife and pouch with the firesteel, leather man wave and a knife sharpener really is a better way to go,but for fun I wanted to try making my own version of the knife Tom Brown had made for him.


Thanks James for comments and thoughts.

Does anyone know if is can be done by hand or does it need to be by some type of machine?

Thanks,

Bryan
 
For cutting fairly shallow (1/4" or so) notches, like you would want for making traps or helping to lash together shelter poles, the USAF pilot's knife "teeth" work really well.

I've laid out filework and jimping with a thread-cleaning file, just to get evenly spaced marks to work from. You can also use a "blind" (smooth) round or triangle piece, same size as the actual file, taped tight to it. Make the first cut with the file, lay the blind guide in the first cut and continue so forth to make the next cut. That will keep things even too.

You can get "knife edge" files with a much more acute angle than the typical triangle files, I bet those would make narrower sharper teeth.

Or if you plan to do a bunch you could have a waterjet service cut the basic teeth pattern.

Or just carry a saw :D But I do understand that's not as much fun.
 
Thanks James,

Water jet service? got a link or place inperticular?

Again thanks for the help.

Bryan
 
Hey Bryan... Brilliant!! ... love the scoring... is that one of those knives that you can just snap sections off to give you a new tip?


Ha!.... I kill me....... just messin, brother.
 
sicily02 said:
Water jet service? got a link or place inperticular?
Click to expand...

Look up H2Oknives here on BF (haven't used them but hear good things about their work) or Great Lakes WaterJet (he's cut some blades for me and they came out nice). I'd dig up the links for ya but I have to go cut my lawn ;) Point is they can do pretty fine detail work when it comes to profiles and it saves a lot of messing around.
 
Rick, that was a good one lol.

Thanks James. I will check in the couple of places you mentioned.

Bryan
 
I have cut real saw teeth with a Dremel and a separating disk. It's a lot of work.
Find someone who sharpens saws, and have him use his equipment to cut the teeth.
 
Ive been thinking of making a survival spear tip with a saw tooth side for my hunting kit. I was thinking of using my lil milling machine and a dovetail cutter for the teeth. With the digital readout should make short work of it.
 
I have cut saw teeth on two knives using needle files. If you google how to hand make a saw there are tutorials on how to cut teeth in different patterns.

Wayne Suhrbier
 
I've seen that style of knife with a steep grind on the top portion of the blade as well. Something that can take abuse without chipping out or rolling too badly, to be used for bone or other materials that will damage a more acute grind. That's much more functional than a thick saw, IMO.

To get a functional saw, maybe file notches at reverse angles, you know, one this way, one that way, then cut a slot down the middle of the toothed area to the same depth as the notches. That would be a double cut saw, basically.
 
Hi all,

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I have been in contact with a machinst here in the town I live in and will be meeting with him this week.


Thanks again,

Bryan
 
Again, a saw sharpener works a lot cheaper than a machinist, and has a lot more experience cutting saw teeth. He will also have the equipment (already set up) to cut real saw teeth.
 
Hi all,

A little update here.

I do have a saw sharperner near me and I will be contacting him him in the morning. It seems he has all kinds of stuff to sharpen saws and stuff.
a local locksmith told me about this fellow Gorlyn Nunn. Here is a link.
http://www.manta.com/c/mm73lm8/gorlyn-s-sharper-cut

This place is like 25 miles from me. I am going to call this fellow in the morning and see what he has to say and maybe be able to go for a visist and take my knife blank to him to look at and go from there.



Anyways thanks again guys for help.

Bryan
 
Hey Bryan,

I know saw backed knives are always a sore point ( Sorry, had to do it ) on these forums I really can see how they could be useful for trap making like you mentioned.

One thing that came to mind looking at your design though was wouldn't it be better to have the saw section up near the handle for stability, this would also then leave a nice flat spot near the end for battoning or holding to use as a draw knife ?
 
sawteeth are cool. I like them alot. some of your other knives with them would also be cool.
 
These saw teeth can be cut using a triangle file. Look closely at the design used on the Swiss Army knives to develope the pattern. This is what I went by when I designed the saw teeth for the Tracker knives. When these knives were produced on a regular basis, the teeth were cut using a vertical milling machine with a right angle milling attachment & a "V" cutter. This is a quick & easy method if you've got a mill in your shop but the the cutter will still leave quite a burr which still requires truing with a triangle file. Today, I have gone back to cutting my saw teeth using files because I no longer have a milling machine in my shop. You can do a very nice job if you take the time but for anyoneone who has tried this you'll understand why I now only make a very limited number of these knives per year. I can't afford the bandaids.
 
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