where can I get a broaching tool for hidden tang knives?

LARRYZ10

LARRYZ10

Joined
Feb 6, 2010
Messages
1,427
I saw a thread yesterday on Bladeforums about a pair of broaching tools handmade from damascus stock as a gift from one knifemaker to another. They looked like long lockpicking tools with saw teeth on the first 3/8ths of an inch of the tip of the tools.

My question is : where can I get these tools? Do they have be made from scratch? I have started my first hidden tang knife and was going to drill a large hole in the handle and fill it with epoxy to secure the tang but I don't want the handle to twist areound the tang if the epoxy gets old. I'm not sure I could use the broach anyway because the handle cylinder is phenolic resin and is hard as a rock. Any advice from you guys would be much appreciated since I lack the experience to solve this myself. Thank you, Larry Lehman
 
Three words.... Pawn shop screwdriver. Take a flathead screwdriver, grind the sides flat and put some saw teeth on one side of the head. Bingo, with a handle.
 
Nick Wheeler did a WIP thread a little while back.
In it he showed the broaches he uses and if I remember correctly he said where he got them. The link above will take you to that thread but you will have to read it all the way through to find the info. You might learn a thing or two. I know I did.
 
I have never seen them for sale but have made a couple and have thought about making some for sale. So maybe the question is, what would you pay for one?

I have seen guys use jigsaw blades with home-made handle fixtures on them, sometimes putting 2 or more together side by side to create a wider slot.
 
Go to my web site here ---> http://www.flemingknives.com/misctools.htm and scroll down towards the bottom of that page. There are some pictures of how to make one. The one pictured was made out of 1/8" 01 and heat treated to 62 HRC. Works fantastic. If you do not want to make your own, John Perry makes some incredible broaches. Just do a web serch for him.
 
Wow, These are all great suggestions and I will follow them up and try a couple different approaches. I need all the help I can get. Thanks to every one who took the time to respond. Larry Lehman Bakersfield, Ca
 
A hardened broach should be able to cut micarta/G10.

G10, with the glass fibers will dull it faster, but I cut g10 with hack saw blades frequently. My last "broach" was two pieces of my bimetal hacksaw blade. I broke an old one into pieces and stacked them to match the width of stock of the blade tang.

Ground the spines down to a narrow cross section and went to town.

I need to make a few broaches with pieces of 15n20. I have some .07 sheets, I could add or remove from the stack and just tape the ends together. Not elegant, but it would work!!

One of my issues is I find the 15n20 a pain to drill.

It cools rapidly at that cross section, and seems to air harden when i get it hot.

I just torch heated a piece and stuffed it in vermiculite to slow cool. Will see if that makes it easier.

Burned out my bit 4 or 5 times drilling holes ro start filing. Torch softened it first and it still seemed too hard with an air cool from red.
 
Another approach is to start with a sawzall blade. Grind it down from the back to the width you want ... then grind down all but the bottom 3-4 teeth. Pot it into a small piece of wood for a handle, and you have your broach.

( I can’t take credit for that one ... it came from weo)
 
I built this one:


I tried to take inspirations from Nick Wheeler and Kyle Royer on their designs. While I used 2 teeth I think that 1 tooth would of been sufficient. Having the head slightly larger than the shaft helps the whole thing not get bound up in the handle block. I haven't used any other broaches to compare it to.. but it seems to be working pretty good.
 
how about a new saw blade only being broken into 1 inch pieces then spot welding onto a handle?? you can shape it as thin or as thick as you like..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top