Turning old mower blades into a knife?

abiggs

abiggs

Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
955
Hey guys. Let me start off by saying that I have never made a knife before. I picked up a couple 33" lawn mower blades and am wondering what it would take to make a knife out of them. I have a 1" belt sander, a few files, and that's about it. I have a feeling I am grossly under-equipped for this project, but if any of you guys coud give me some ideas or suggestions on additional equipment needed I sure would appreciate it.
 
you will find alot of information on the Sticky posts for newbies
your not under-equipped
break the process in steps
and go one by one, be patient
your belt sander its the most importan tool
righ now
you need a hacksaw
and hand drill
don go crazy buying tools

step 1.- desing (whit in the dimention of you material)
step 2.-aneal the blade? im no shure wat type of steel is,
so I live tha for you to research)
step 3.-
step 4.-
ext, ext

folow this trheat
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=704980

and the WIP treaths

best regards
 
abiggs said:
Hey guys. Let me start off by saying that I have never made a knife before. I picked up a couple 33" lawn mower blades and am wondering what it would take to make a knife out of them. I have a 1" belt sander, a few files, and that's about it. I have a feeling I am grossly under-equipped for this project, but if any of you guys coud give me some ideas or suggestions on additional equipment needed I sure would appreciate it.
Click to expand...

When you say "I picked up a couple 33" lawn mower blades "
-do you mean you purchased them?
If so return them and get your money back and use that to buy a good quality known heat treatable steel.

If you mean got them for free, then just drop them.


If you send out for heat treatment, any good steel is possible.

If you really want to do it all yourself, try 1080 for a very simple heat treat.
Admiral sells 5 feet of 1/8 by 1" for $8 (or so)
http://www.admiralsteel.com/pdf/bladesteel.pdf


You can see examples of good books here.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=603203
 
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You can make a knife out of lawnmower blades, it will not be a good knife. Lawnmower blades are generally low carbon steel, usually just enough carbon to be hardenable. Think about it, the usual tool for sharpening lawn mower blades is a cheap file, which cuts quickly on a lawnmowerblade, the necessary tool for sharpening a good knife is a diamond abrasive stone.
get yourself some good blade steel 1080 or 1084

-Page
 
ya drop the mower blades like there hot. get some good steel, somthing that you for sure what it is.
 
if you are interested in making knives from salvage sources on the cheap get Wayne Goddard's "50$ Knife Shop".

I've made knives by grinding lawnmower blades to shape... they are softer than what I make now but they were tough, probably straight carbon. I rarely see lawnmower blades broken or bent, so they are hard enough, just don't expect to win edge holding competitions.

Keep them cool while you grind, use a 15$ angle grinder with a cutting disc to profile, use your 1 by 30 sander to bevel (i made my first hundred or so on such a unit)

there are easier ways but this is fun
 
put them on your lawnmower and buy some good steel. why make your first knife out of cheap steel. if it turns out to look good and wont hold an edge, you'll be mad that you didint use good steel to start with.
 
Thanks for all the info guys. I actually picked up a couple mower blades for free so I thought I would try my hand at making one small knife and one large knife. I don't intend them to be masterpieces, only basic usuable knives for yardwork or car-camping. You have given me a lot to go on, I really appreciate it.
 
without anealing them-there is no point!! you will waste much time and belts. i tried it awhile ago. the advice above is great--get some known steel that is on the easier side to work with and have at it. thanks-marekkz
 
Just to make sure you understood the advise:
Lawn mower blades are almost surely no good for making knives.
Stacy
 
I'm probably gonna regret posting this..... However........ You would be better off turning an "Old Knife" into a "Lawn Mower Blade".

Get some known steel and have some fun. Do some research. When you think you have it figured out........ Do some more research. You can have fun with unknown steels, but if it turns out bad, then all you have to show is "Some Fun".

R.D.
 
just a comment from another newb... but if you buy some 1084 it will probably be annealed and make your life a lot easier and you will be able to get right into grinding and shaping. Lawnmower blades are pretty gnarly to work with. My dad used to be a buckskinner and he made throwing knives from them. There ya go! Make a throwing knife! It only needs a point!
 
Or… he could make a blade from whatever his heart desires and see how it works for him.

No, I am not drunk or messing with folks;) and everybody knows exactly where I stand on the topic. Believe me, to protect my own mental health, anymore I have a firm rule not to ever get involved in these threads. But something inside me desired peace and, for just one day, just one less contentious thread on this once great board.

Mr. biggs has expressed his desire to use his chosen material, he has received input from very experienced and well qualified people who know pretty much what the results will be, but he has decided to follow through with his original desires. According to the old adage of “leading a horse to water”, we now probably need to accept that and allow him to follow his own path. I, more than most, have learned the hard way that providing good information is about the most we can do without alienating the O.P. and drawing the fire of every scrap steel user happening upon the thread. I know how good intentioned you all are, but I also know what the road to a certain unseasonably warm place is paved with.

Just my $0.02, which, of course, folks can take or leave as well;)
 
Well put Kevin :)

Honestly, my first thought was 'make a big ole camp/hacker knife'. Try to anneal and heat treat it in the grill. Use some pallet oak for the handle and coat hanger for the pins. You got the whole weekend. Might be fun, what the hell...

I wouldn't spend much time on it though, it won't get or stay particularly sharp. If you want to make a hunting or edc knife, get real steel.

By the way, even though I have a metal bandsaw and a 2x72" grinder, I rough out my blades with a cheap angle grinder from Harbor Freight. Saves a lot of time for $20.
 
Yes Mr. Kashen, you have again confirmed that I like to read all your posts! I have made many knives from old lawnmower blades... now I pay up to 30$/lb shipped for powder steel for high performance stuff, but I started with salvage steel and it made sense at the time... In fact just 2 days ago I ran into a guy who's dad salvaged me a blade from the dumpster. The dad is long gone, but the hunting knife I made him in thanks for finding me steel is still in use every fall.
 
For some people (not collectors or knifemaker)
It’s more interesting to see a knife made of a lawnmower blade or car spring ext,
and some wood for handle.

That to hear, ats34 or other,
that they never hear of
It a piece to show off to friends and family
 
Yes, many of us made our first knife from whatever metal was in the garage. I still have my first knife ,made 50 years ago, and it is valuable to me...even though it has a mild steel blade that will never get sharp. It looked pretty good ( well, to a kid it looked good), but the piece of steel was just some metal strip that was in the corner of the garage. It wasn't long before someone who knew better told me about carbon steel.

However, the OP was asking for advise and suggestions. The suggestion to use a known steel that will produce a reasonable quality knife was a good one. While learning by making mistakes is one way to learn, learning by the experience of others is a better way. My favorite quote on this was from Bill Moran. We were discussing the value of hammer-ins, the internet, and the wealth of information available to new makers.
He said to me,
" There weren't no books on knifemaking when I was learning'. I tried one hundred ways to make damascus steel......and I discovered ninety-nine that won't work. I wish there was a book back then that had told me the way that did...it would have saved me a lot of heartache ."

Stacy
 
I would guess that a lot of us started making knives from saw blades, old files and pieces of farm implements. It was a great way to practice grinding and hammering. I started about 25-30 years ago when I found a very bad book in the library about knifemaking; I spent years trying to recover from the bad habits it gave me. I get jealous when I have someone in my shop just starting out and see them come to a fair level of proficiency in one week-end when it took me several years to attain a mediocre state by trial and error.

Practicing on an unknown steel is fine but buy some books, order tapes, pick the brain of a local maker, search the internet (carefully though, not everyone who posts is an expert) and get some good steel when you are ready.
 
Why not just use the lawn blades as is, just put handles on them and use as a chopper? The steel would be too soft to be a good cutter.
 
i once used a mower blade. man it cut straight through grass like the cold steel guy cuts through rope.. oh no -i mentioned cold steel--marekz
 
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