Make your own knife

dwighet

Well the knife making bug has me bit....Bit in the ass...just been to daveys house to see his set up and what a set up it is...after a few cups of (instant) and a good auld chat he has me got...
Fair play to him he set me up with a heat treated blade and all the bits and bobs to get me started for my first knife...I already have the mrs tormented about clearing out the junk room and putting in a work bench and the powertools needed.....

Will keep ye posted of the progress of my new little knife and my(fingers crossed) new workshop!!

davymoore

Anyone fancy a go at making a knife.

I was rummaging through some old boxes in my workshop today and found this Drop Point Hunter Blade it's made of 440c. Stainless Steel bolsters attached as well, not integrated but hidden pinned can be shaped as well. 7"1/2 over all length. Blade 3"1/2. Handle 3"3/4. Polished. 3/16" Thick. 2 - 3/16" Pin holes & 1-1/4" add hole.




I bought this blade a few years ago and never got around to doing anything with it.

To be honest it's not the best blade I ever bought by a long shot but would make a decent enough little knife

Now I make my own blades and won't ever use it but someone might want to give it a go.

FREE to the first person to say "Me Please" and I'll throw in postage to anywhere in Ireland.

2 rules

1. You must be over 18
2. You must be willing to post the resulting knife and or sheath up here on this thread.

Davy

pajero2005

Me please

davymoore

Flippin hell that was quick

All yours mate pm me with your address

pajero2005

PM sent

davymoore

And replied to

Good luck with it ..... keep us posted on how it turns out

Davy

pajero2005

Will do. Thanks again.

Sparks

Ultimate Beginners Irish Hunting Knife
Nice one Davy and Pajero!

4gun

been thinking abuot this for a bit practical knife for hunting

lordarpad

could we move this to a separate thread please?

pajero2005

lordarpad wrote: »

could we move this to a separate thread please?

Move what? 4guns post and pic? I think it fits right in:D

Looks good to me 4gun (not that I know anything about knives!) Are you going to give it a bash?

4gun

havent got equipment to make a knife ,been trying to think of a name for it though but my Irish is crap maybe "dha gear" or something or other

pajero2005

4gun wrote: »

havent got equipment to make a knife ,been trying to think of a name for it though but my Irish is crap maybe "dha gear" or something or other

You should try and beg/borrow/steal a few tools from mates and give it a go. I'm looking forward to getting going on mine (thanks to Davy again for the blade) Seems like a great project.

4gun

Maybe sometime in the future. Dav is an accomplished knifemaker anything he does looks well finished . What I was trying to do was give some inspiration the pikes used in the 17 th centuary by irishmen had a spike and a curved hook,the latter is what i've based my drawing on would have to have an oak handle. I think it would be very practical in a hunting situation

lordarpad

interesting. my first reaction was "fighting knife" but maybe I a prejudiced ...

davymoore

4guns thanks for posting the sketch of the knife, it's a pity you werent involved in the project in the earlier days.

It's a good idea to get as many functions as possible out of one knife and that double edge approach to your knife is certainly attempting to tackle the multi task aspect of a knife.

Most people who skin deer, rabbit etc will tell you that a lot of the work is done by choking up on the blade to get a shorter grip the same applies to a lot of bushcrat work. Unfortunately this is what makes a double edge almost impractical as a field knife as it's bound to lead to an accident.



The double edge is primarily reserved for swords and fighting knives for obvious reasons.

4gun

thats why it has only half edged on the open side to facilitate hand or fingers safely on the blade,I should have put dimension on it blade length would be 6-8 inches with a thickness of 3/16 inch at grip.

some areas that I hunt are overgrown with briars and such parabolic knives require you to hold the briar with one hand in order to strike it,with this you should be able to cut by hooking and pulling
I usuall carry a smaller knife for use in the fashion as above

Mellor

I still would fancy putting pressure on the blunt section (which is a bit small) on the rear. Something gives and your hand slides, bye bye finger tips.

There is a reason that, after hundreds of years of huntign knife design, that we are using single sided blades.

4gun

Mellor wrote: »

I still would fancy putting pressure on the blunt section (which is a bit small) on the rear. Something gives and your hand slides, bye bye finger tips.


Soft hands maybe:D
I've cut myself on occasion and this was with a ordinary hunting knife
I'll be the first one to admit it's all down ot lack of skill:o

Grizzly 45

4gun wrote: »

Maybe sometime in the future. Dav is an accomplished knifemaker anything he does looks well finished . What I was trying to do was give some inspiration the pikes used in the 17 th centuary by irishmen had a spike and a curved hook,the latter is what i've based my drawing on would have to have an oak handle. I think it would be very practical in a hunting situation

Looks like you created there a modern version of the traditional Arab jamileiah [Sic] knife.Which is a very effective knife design in it's own right.:)

davymoore

You should build it and test it. I'd be interested to see how it would perform in the field.

By the looks of that recurve I think it would be easier to forge the blade than to build it by stock removal alone.

Any thoughts on steel composition ?

A sheath for that knife will be interesting to build also as you will need a welt on both sides to compensate for the double edge.

Do you really think you need a 6" - 8" blade length ? why?



Davy

davymoore

4gun wrote: »

thats why it has only half edged on the open side to facilitate hand or fingers safely on the blade,I should have put dimension on it blade length would be 6-8 inches with a thickness of 3/16 inch at grip.

Just looked at that drawing again .... It looks like youre safe area is on the skinning side of the blade ... I don't believe this is a practical approach. Normally one would put an outstretched finger along the spine of the blade and skin, edge down, away from your body ... your approach would appear to require skinning backhanded ... I can't see it working this way

Davy

4gun

If I made an attempt at this knife it would end up a total abomination,:D the handle I could manage with time I can put a rasors edge on any knife but it would take an age for me to make the blade
but if this knife was to be made the steel would have to se such as to hold a really keen edge, the handle would have to be ambidextrous
And I pretty sure that any knife used in any part of the world didn't evolve over night, they took generations

4gun

thought about is some more, and the finger grip would be better on the opposite side, this edge is for slashing and as a gut hook so it doesn't need to have an edge to the hilt

davymoore

4gun wrote: »

And I pretty sure that any knife used in any part of the world didn't evolve over night, they took generations

Actually I know of one that only took 7 months

4gun

davymoore wrote: »

Actually I know of one that only took 7 months

And the next guy will modify and improve its design and so on and so forth unless a knife fit a nitche perfectly or it becomes cerimonial
but it was my first stab at knife design:D:D

4gun

found this and had to laugh just put an edge on the other sise and ..hey presto

davymoore

Mellor
I'm actually very glad that you are asking these questions and that you are developing an interest in knifemaking.

There is another thread however which I think would be a more appropriate place to discuss this topic. I would be more than happy to discuss via the other thread.

The thread is here

Make Your Own Knife

Mellor

moved from UIHK thread

Quick question for Davy (or anybody else who has the knowhow).
This thread has gotten a lot of us thinking for giving the “make your own knife” a shot.
Now it’ll be a year or so before I start (I’ll have to go home first) but there’s a few areas I’ve been thinking about and was wondering if you could part with some knowledge.

Does the blade have to be heat treated? Problems if not done. It was also mentioned that old circular saw blades are good steel to choose. These would already have been treated, is it required again? Also I believe they vary in hardness from centre out. Impact on placement template.

If using a metal finger guard, options for making it without a milling machine.

Scales, pins, epoxy, micarta can be gotten online. No worries there.

Sheath, for something unusual, do you think it would be possible to use a animal that is shot in Ireland for the sheath hide. Or would they all be too thin.
If using normal leather, have you ever seen a design that wasn’t stitched but used rivets or similar.

Thanks

davymoore

Mellor wrote: »

moved from UIHK thread

Quick question for Davy (or anybody else who has the knowhow).
This thread has gotten a lot of us thinking for giving the “make your own knife” a shot.
Now it’ll be a year or so before I start (I’ll have to go home first) but there’s a few areas I’ve been thinking about and was wondering if you could part with some knowledge.

Does the blade have to be heat treated? Problems if not done. It was also mentioned that old circular saw blades are good steel to choose. These would already have been treated, is it required again? Also I believe they vary in hardness from centre out. Impact on placement template.

If using a metal finger guard, options for making it without a milling machine.

Scales, pins, epoxy, micarta can be gotten online. No worries there.

Sheath, for something unusual, do you think it would be possible to use a animal that is shot in Ireland for the sheath hide. Or would they all be too thin.
If using normal leather, have you ever seen a design that wasn’t stitched but used rivets or similar.

Thanks

Ok Let's start with Steel

To make a cutting tool we need a couple of things to happen

The steel has to be hard enough 54-62 RHC (Hardened)
If it is too hard it will be brittle like glass so we need it to be tough (Tempered)
However Hardened and tempered steel is very difficult to machine, drill, grind or file so in order to shape our blade initially we need the steel to be in a relaxed soft state (Annealed)

Not every piece steel is capable of becomming a good knife For example mild steel is mild steel no matter what you do with it so what you want to start out with is a piece of steel designed and manufactured with the intention of becoming a tool or cutting implement. Some of these steels are readily available in bar form 01, ATS34, CPM154 and can be bought off the shelf annealed and ready for machining.

Other sources for knifemakers have been old circular saws as you mentioned and also old W2 files but if using files make sure that they are at least 30 yrs old as modern files are simply case hardened.

If using an old saw etc you will as mentioned before have a devil of a time trying to machine or work the thing and so it's best to anneal it first. This makes it soft enought to work.

Annealing
To do this place the piece in a forge and heat beyond it's critical temperature this is the point at which the steel loses it's magnetic properties (Heat it till a magnet wont stick to it) then leave it to cool slowly in sand overnight.

Shaping
Once annealed you can now shape your blade using files hacksaws drills etc until you get the knife profile you want.

Grinding
Again using files or belt sanders etc you can grind on your edges.

Hardening
Once you are happy that you have made a knife you need to harden the steel. to do this heat the steel up to non magnetic once again but this time plunge it in water.

You now have a piece of very hard steel. you can test this by trying to file it you will notice that the file simply skates of the blade.

Tempering
Your hardened steel is brittle and would probably crack or even shatter if dropped so you need to toughen it. Place the blade in an oven and bring it up to 400f leave it in this temperature for four hours. Remove and let it air cool. repeat this proccess again.

Voila you have just made a knife.