Uses for failures/rejects?

Col Defender

Col Defender

Joined
Nov 11, 2011
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1,398
Most of you guys probably do not have this problem.....but here still in my first year of knife making I sure do. Every now and then something goes really wrong with a blade I am working on. Like...oops moments on the belt sander that I cannot satisfactorily fix, a blade burned in half while trying to heat treat in my improvised forge (or a chunk burned out of the edge) or a failed attempt at stamping my name which happened three times on one blade and by the time I ground out the name to try again the ricasso was way to thin...and the list could go on.

Mostly I have not thrown them away - I have one on my desk here I ground down to a semi-usable shape, glued the tang into a piece of deer antler and it is always handy to open mail with and I just hide it when someone else comes around, and another I keep in the shop - same circumstances, and a couple I have just given away to family (they actually liked them).

So...like in the recent thread about used sanding belts, what do you guys (if any of you actually have rejects) do with them? :confused::confused:
 
I think most of us have quite a few "Shop Knives" that were problematic blades.

Practical ideas:
Bench knife for scraping epoxy, cutting boxes, marking wood, etc.
Grind a blade with a problem down small and thin and make a leather knife
Grind the blade down and make a smaller knife
Grind the blade down and make a kitchen knife
Make it into a yard work knife.
Letter openers


Creative ideas:
Shape bad blades into coat hooks and screw to the shop wall
Shape them into door handles for drawers and doors
Shape into plant hangers
Wind Chimes
 
Hahaha, knife wind chimes. That would make an awesome decoration for the shop:thumbup:


Some of mine get tempered back and used as throwing knives.
 
Last edited:
jobasha11 said:
Hahaha, knife wind chimes. That would make an awesome decoration for the shop:thumbup:


Some of mine get tempered back and used as throwing knives.
Click to expand...

Yeah, some of my mistakes get thrown too! Oh, not what you meant? Never mind, nothing to see here.......
 
When I first started I made a few blades that I did not grind thin enough and handled. The finish work is great but the blade thickness is a real issue. So these just sit around collecting dust. I could regrind with handle on but finish will likely look marginal. I could remove handles and regrind. Or turn into letter openers.
 
Some of my old blades have sat around for awhile before I had the confidence, skill and eye to design something useful from them. Some of those things I thought were gone/ruined forever. I saw a blade in a scrap box awhile back that was giving me all kinds of fits at the time. I remember just getting frustrated and giving up on it. I wasn't skilled or creative enough yet to know how to take a different approach with it, and I was too stubborn to realize that you can't get very far with dull belts. I picked this blade up, looked it over and laughed at myself for abandoning it. It took me about 10 minutes at the grinder, and I had turned it into one of my best knives. The lonely blade in the scrap box turned into a nice profit for me due to just plain ol' experience. The cool thing about knifemaking, or anything else, is that this will continuously happen. A couple years from now, I will be correcting the things from my junk pile from this week.
 
Josh Mason said:
Some of my old blades have sat around for awhile before I had the confidence, skill and eye to design something useful from them. Some of those things I thought were gone/ruined forever. I saw a blade in a scrap box awhile back that was giving me all kinds of fits at the time. I remember just getting frustrated and giving up on it. I wasn't skilled or creative enough yet to know how to take a different approach with it, and I was too stubborn to realize that you can't get very far with dull belts. I picked this blade up, looked it over and laughed at myself for abandoning it. It took me about 10 minutes at the grinder, and I had turned it into one of my best knives. The lonely blade in the scrap box turned into a nice profit for me due to just plain ol' experience. The cool thing about knifemaking, or anything else, is that this will continuously happen. A couple years from now, I will be correcting the things from my junk pile from this week.
Click to expand...

Good point! Steel doesn't rot! Keep your mistakes. I still have the first knife I was going to make. Man, I thought it was gonna be awesome!! Hand filed, integral bolsters, the who.e nine yards! Hahahahahahahahaha. I never even started it beyond blanking it out. I'm planning on making one exactly like it some day, just to remind myself how far I've come. Kind of funny. I'll try to find the post. It is horrible!!
 
Stacy I like some of your creative ideas, I may just use a couple of those!

Something I do or have plans to do is make other tools. Like broaches, chisels and punches. You can always anneal the steel and grind it into something different! I save all my decent sized scraps for similar projects.
 
Making sure the creepy crawly critters in the local landfill have sufficient iron in their diet. ;)
 
I have a pile of them on my desk. One of my friends asked if I was working on those blades and I said "No, Those are patterns for knives I liked" I guess if I am going to lie I might as well make it a big one. Larry
 
Is there any value if taken to a recycler? The highest prices are usually paid for clean metal of a known type. I recycle all of my unusable rifle and pistol brass and it can add up fairly quickly.

If the pieces are big enough could you make bottle openers or cool key chains out of them?
 
Ooo Jumble damascus sounds like an idea. I think Im about to make some into fire steels just to give it a try. the rest get used as scrapers, shop tools and reminders.
 
I'll expand on the handle/hook thing.

If you forge the bad blade into a sort of "Z"shape where the blade part is flat, bends up at the ricasso, and then bends the tang back to be raised but parallel with the blade, it makes a handle or coat hook. You can give it a quick clean up, leave it "brute de Forge", patina with FC, spray paint it with black "wrought iron" paint, etc. To make it even neater looking, stick on some scales or a hidden tang handle. Drill two holes through the blade part and screw it to a door, closet, wall, or drawer.

For the non-forging crowd, this can all be done with a vise and a propane torch.

You can make knife shaped things like this from mild steel, too. They look great in the mud room and shop as well as sell good at craft fairs and when doing demos. If doing it from bar stock, only shape one side as a bevel.

Many of us have had a damascus blade that suddenly shows a bad weld or inclusion that prevents it being made into a usable knife. We all have some nice looking handle material with a flaw or other feature that prevents us from using it. Shape the damascus blade as above ( if possible put the flaw on the hidden side), harden it and temper at 500-600F, finish, etch, and buff the blade ......who wouldn't love a damascus coat hook with a nice burl wood handle for Christmas.....or keep it for yourself.
 
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