Making knives

[DarrylF]

OK, so I had a bright idea to use a used up hand plane blade to make a marking knife and a carving knife.

I tried cutting it with a hacksaw and, of course, got nowhere. Wound up separating the two halves by grinding a V at each end of the slot.

So now I gotta work out how to sort out a handle for each. Any idea on the best way to do this? Drill a couple holes through the metal and pein over brass pins to keep two halves of a wood handle in place? Grind the handle section of the blade narrower and jamb it into a hole drilled in a wood handle? Any other ideas?

Any chance I'm going to be able to drill the blade steel?

Any good links on making knives?

[Grue]

There is an excellent page of links and information about knives and knife making at http://ajh-knives.com/ this is one that needs a bit of exploring so the link is to the front page.

Please provide some feed back on this site for others.

Regards

Glenn

[DarrylF]

Glenn,

Thanks for the link - though it didn't answer many questions :) It's kinda weird - with woodworking you can find sites that will tell you basically everything about every technique, tool, material you can think of. With making knives I can find a million links to sites about knife makers and their work, but nothing on techniques at all.

I guess I'll keep looking :)

[Rocker]

Darryl,

Check out item # 33K62.03 on the Lee Valley site. They are brass rivets specially designed for re-handling knives. I used them satisfactorily for re-handling a kitchen knife that Mrs Rocker had a sentimental attachment to. I just shaped a piece of 1/2" thick jarrah, cut a kerf in it the same thickness as the blade and inserted the rivets. If you want some, I could send you a few. Of course, in my case, the blade already had the holes for the rivets in it.

I am not so sure about your chances of being able to drill holes in a plane blade, though. When you have succeeded in drilling some 4 mm holes in the plane blade, I will send you the rivets.

Rocker

[derekcohen]

Darryl

Yikes! Trying to cut tool steel with a hacksaw! Drilling it! You are indeed a masochist.

I have only made one (marking) knife to date so my experience and knowledge is rudimentary. However, what you first need to do to work with the tool steel is to draw the temper. This is done by heating the steel (heat with a flame until red hot). This will soften it enough to cut it with a hacksaw and permit you to grind, file and shape it. You are also then in a position to drill the handle for rivets.

Once this is done you move to the second phase, that is, hardening or tempering the steel. To do this you heat the steel and then quench it in oil. The aim is to heat it to a specific colour (straw), which indicates it has reached a required level of hardness. When hardened, a file will skid off the steel (which is where you came in!!).

There are several articles you can find with a search on Google. I recall seeing one in The Australian Woodworker (December 2003).

Regards from Perth

Derek

[DarrylF]

I've been called many things - and a masochist is definitely one of them :)

I did wind up finding an elementary how-to article - http://lynx.dac.neu.edu/m/mbennett/make_knife.html - though I'm still looking for better.

Given I can actually grind the steel from the plane blade easily enough without burning - if a little slowly - with the gear I've got, I think I'll go ahead and grind it to shape for a hidden tang, and epoxy it in place. With a plane blade I don't really need to take that much off on the grinder & belt sander.

I just don't want to get into annealing & hardening right now - that's a whole other track and I want to get some other stuff done.

Thanks for the offer on the pins Rocker :) I might actually grab some when I come back to do another at a later stage.

I'll post a pic when I'm done - assuming I don't make a complete bloody mess of it :)

[bitingmidge]

Try A beginners guide to survival knife design (http://www.btinternet.com/~jhpart/bknife1m.htm) , would be really good for making REALLY big marks, or carving molehills out of mountains perhaps! (I guess the principles are the same).

Seems that car leaf springs are the go for steel at the right price!

I have read a number of the papers written by Mr J Partridge, and appear well researched and presented. His credentials are as follows:.

" .... long term unemployed B.Ed, B.Sc, motorcycle mechanic, technology and science teacher, marine and nuclear engineer and draughtsman, the author would like a job"

Since this is the internet we are dealing with, the usual caveats apply!

Cheeeers,

P

[derekcohen]

Darryl

Here is a great link for what you want.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?threadid=6863

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Rocker]

Darryl,
Remember that most epoxies soften at around 70 degrees C; so your knife might not be dishwasher-proof, if held together just with epoxy (although I am not quite sure what temperature dishwashers operate at).

Rocker

[DarrylF]

Thanks for the links guys :) I like Sawmill Creek Derek - wasn't actually aware of it before.

Rocker: The carving knife is going to be for carving wood, not the Sunday roast mate :) I don't think it's ever see the inside of a dishwasher.