Two knives from a $5 OH Butcher blem

Wow, that's a really cool little knife and sheath combo. Can't wait to see what you do next! :)
 
Thanks Andy. My buddy actually has one of those. Perhaps I didn,t see the cross pattern as I was just seeing it as decoration.
 
They don't all have them Kevin. I think they look cool as all heck.

Thanks Nov. They're fun to make.

Anyone wants to make one I would love to talk you through it...
 
sweet stuff uncle santa andy :) you know where my chiminey is :>

course, where did the seconds come from? perhaps i missed that part?

bladite
 
Thanks Bladite. The seconds were from SMKW. $5.
 
I tried to make a knife out of a old butcher knife.

I think I don't have the tools or the experience needed because I'm unable to drill the holes in the blade :( I broke 3 drills.
 
For those of us that aren't engineers I was wondering about getting a step by step tutorial on how you make those. Please? :D
 
Cybrok,

Why were you trying to drill holes? Was the original handle molded on the tang?
 
cybrok said:
I tried to make a knife out of a old butcher knife.

I think I don't have the tools or the experience needed because I'm unable to drill the holes in the blade :( I broke 3 drills.
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Cybrok,

These knives, and most commercial butcher knives, are drop forged. IE they are hard all over the blade. In order to drill them you've got to SELECTIVELY burn off the temper with a blow torch. Do that by wetting a shop towel with cold water, then wrapping the wet towel around the portion of the blade you don't want to soften. Then clamp it into a vice and use a blow torch to turn the parts you want soft red hot. Allow to cool to room temperature. Then the steel is drillable. Be sure to soften the area of the tang just proud of the handle, or else there'll be a risk it'll snap there.
 
Terry Newton said:
For those of us that aren't engineers I was wondering about getting a step by step tutorial on how you make those. Please? :D
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Terry, quick step by step. Ask questions about steps for more detail.

1. Bandsaw the pins off the handle. Just run the blade down the handle ~0.150" from the tang. The handle scales will fall right off after this.

2. Layout blade #1, ie, the blade made from the tang end of your billet.

3. Layout blade #2 from the rest

4. Cut out the 1st blade using a dremmel. BE CAREFUL not to get it too hot, or you ruin the heat treat. Check this by feeling with bare fingers. Dip in a bucket of water as it gets warm.

5. Grind the shape of blade #2.

6. Cut the profile of your handle out of a hardwood plank.

7. Bandsaw a kerf the shape of your tang (trace it onto the handle blank) in the middle of the blade end of your handle blank.

8. Soften the tang of both blades with a wet towel and a blow torch. (described above)

9. Glue her up. I use Devcon 2 ton epoxy because its $2 at Walmart, and my buddy Sarge recommended it once.

10. After the glue is totaly set, drill for pins.

11. Shape handle.

12. Finish with Watco's Danish Oil.

C'est finis.:thumbup:
 
The reason I asked was that unless the holes for the rivets or pins were too near the edge of the re-shaped tang I would likely just use them. I have a knife or two around here that I didn't even use pins or rivets on. I just roughed up the insides of the grips panels with a very small drill then used some gap filling glue (Gorilla Glue?) to attached them to the tang.

My theory being that the glue would expand into the holes in the tang, and into the holes of the grips creating a "good enough" system to hold the knife togeather. I figure if Laha can do it...
 
how about annealing? (is that the word; soften) the entire blade, work/shape it, then re-heat treat? even as simple as get it red, and slice the working edge into oil/water/etc... hold. pull out, let residual heat flow... bake in oven at 400? for an hour ...

i seem to recall a procedure like that. keeps the back of the blade soft... a feature of a proper nessmuk is that it could be batoned if you wanted to. tough! but sharp and hard edge and ... mmm.

i'm so looking forward to "son of mr stripey" :) maybe 30 more days?

also i'm starting to like the looks of the BRKT wolf river? shape that's like the adirondack guide they make (awesome!), someone bought the last wood one i knew of, and dang, i liked it enough to consider getting it. well, perhaps a bit more curvy next time.

i do like the basic shape of the green river blanks too - enough to keep one as is, and maybe this winter making (or at least getting parts for) nessy shapes; when i get my kydexes etc. 20 inch AK needs sheath, my new/used trade foxy folly needs a sheath (23 ounces, thinnest yet, light, tough, tested!) ... gah, projects. at least a lot of the fall cleanup is done, make room for more.

bladite
 
Re-heat treating is certainly an option bladite, but why? Additionally when working with thin edges quenching sometimes warpes them. So again, why? I've softened the spine with the torch, so they'll be tough.
 
aproy1101 said:
Re-heat treating is certainly an option bladite, but why? Additionally when working with thin edges quenching sometimes warpes them. So again, why? I've softened the spine with the torch, so they'll be tough.
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simple reason: you might not know what you got, sure you can etch it, but if you have the means, it could be quick.

other reason: you might want something else or have different needs.

you hadn't mentioned the spine part that i remember, so i mentioned...

bladite
 
Nice stuff. You seem to have a knack for the whole package -- shaping, handling, sheathing.

I'd also like to add that OKC's heat treat is excellent as is and I'd be reluctant to play with it further, outside of selectively annealing areas that need work. Having aquired a sample piece recently I was so impressed by it that I immediately went and got a few more. My only complaint is that they use stuff that barely qualifies as firewood for the handles, but at that price I won't complain too loudly. (And it can be fixed in any event.)
 
Thanks Dave, and Shappa. The handle shaping is certainly coming along. Been making knives all weekend, thread to come up monday.

Dave you're right. Their heat treat is excellent. I tried to drill a piece of cutoff, and pop goes the drill bit. Little heating with the torch and through goes the bit. So I softened the tang and spine. You should see how those thin blades cut when they've been convexed. Wicked stuff.
 
The next time that I have to drill one I'll be spot annealing it. This stuff eats HSS tools like no one's business.

Here's an old armorer's trick for spot annealing a case-hardened receiver for drilling and tapping holes:

Get yourself a piece of round stock about the same diameter as the hole you're going to drill. (A broken punch with the end dressed works great for this.) Bigger is fine, smaller is not. Holding it with tongs or channel locks, heat it with a torch until it's nice and bright and press it against the spot to be drilled. Hold it there until the color fades. This probably won't completely anneal the spot but it'll knock enough points off to get a HSS bit through with no real risk of harming the surrounding area.

Or, use the Rishar method and just keep throwing bits and oil at it until you make it through. Vigorously cursing the manufacturers of both the work and the tools seems to make the process go a bit faster. Keep a fire extinguisher and first aid kit on hand if you decide to go this route. ;)
 
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