Knife from an old saw blade advice please.....

[Dave Budd]

looks good there

you're right about not overheating it. The temper of the steel is determined by the temperature it is cooked at when heat treated, hte higher the cooking temperature the softer (and more resiliant) the steel. If you get any oxides (colours on the shiny surface) forming when grinding then you will most likely have softened the blade at that point. The power hacksaw blade should be tempered about right for a blade I reckon, but normally peopepl anneal the thing and file or grind the soft steel, then reharden and temper. If it works for you then that's cool

O1 is easily found and as pointed out comes soft and easily worked, also in a wide range of sizes. It does need heat treating though, but if you can't do it yourself then find somebody who will do it for you. Such as a custom knifemaker who does his own HT

Ooh, a tip with the oak handle. when you have sanded it to finished, wet it and dry with a hair dryer (or fire). that will raise the grain, rub that off lightly with the finest paper you used and repeat the wetting process until the grain stops coming up. then oil it all up

hope that's of use to you, but good effort there ! :You_Rock_

 

[stuartmac5]

Mate, that is a good looking knife,

I was thinking of getting a blank to have a go, I might try this route now. :You_Rock_

 

[JonnyP]

looks good there

you're right about not overheating it. The temper of the steel is determined by the temperature it is cooked at when heat treated, hte higher the cooking temperature the softer (and more resiliant) the steel. If you get any oxides (colours on the shiny surface) forming when grinding then you will most likely have softened the blade at that point. The power hacksaw blade should be tempered about right for a blade I reckon, but normally peopepl anneal the thing and file or grind the soft steel, then reharden and temper. If it works for you then that's cool

O1 is easily found and as pointed out comes soft and easily worked, also in a wide range of sizes. It does need heat treating though, but if you can't do it yourself then find somebody who will do it for you. Such as a custom knifemaker who does his own HT

Ooh, a tip with the oak handle. when you have sanded it to finished, wet it and dry with a hair dryer (or fire). that will raise the grain, rub that off lightly with the finest paper you used and repeat the wetting process until the grain stops coming up. then oil it all up

hope that's of use to you, but good effort there ! :You_Rock_

Many thanks for the advice Dave...
Cheers guys for you comments...

 

[bambodoggy]

That looks the dog's danglies mate but I think you're right about reducing the blade size a little.

Nice one, look forward to seeing the finished item soon

Bam.

 

[Bushcraft4life]

That looks really good Jon.
And the blade looks fine as it is

 

[Too Much Kit To Carry]

WOW - great work Jon and thanks for posting this as a work in progress, it's nice to have seen this through the stages to date.

As for the balde size could you take a picture with a tape measure along side the knife please? Kinda give it a little more perspective?

If all goes well for your next knife I could trace the outline of my Loft Wiseman for you if you fancied something a little larrger

Nice one mate and keep the piccy's coming.

Phil.

 

[JonnyP]

WOW - great work Jon and thanks for posting this as a work in progress, it's nice to have seen this through the stages to date.

As for the balde size could you take a picture with a tape measure along side the knife please? Kinda give it a little more perspective?

If all goes well for your next knife I could trace the outline of my Loft Wiseman for you if you fancied something a little larrger

Nice one mate and keep the piccy's coming.

Phil.

Cheers guys...Phil, the blade is the exact same size as a falkniven F1, but I will put something to scale it on the next photo......

 

[BushTucker]

Did more or less the same with one years ago, cleaned it off, painted gun blue on it, marked my knife shape, very rough ground the shape then smooth ground for better finish, ground the blade, linished it for a smooth shiney finish then heated it and dipped in oil to burn it.

Was great for years till some toe rag nicked it

 

[JonnyP]

Well I am supposed to be back at work now, cos its stopped raining, but hey ho..
I have been up the shed again this morning, made the blade a bit smaller, wetted and dried and sanded the handle a couple of times and applied a couple of coats of boiled linseed oil. I also sharpened the blade on the sharpmaker and it has come up a treat, but wether it will hold an edge is the big question....
Its a working knife now, but I do want to sort out the grind on it. I only have an oil stone, and I was not getting on well with that, and the only wet and dry I have is 400 grit, so I will get some harsher stuff next time I am at the merchants and then have another go at the grind.
Well here is the pretty much finished knife.....

 

[andyn]

Nice one Jon. Thats a very very nice job.

Now get off to work

 

[JonnyP]

Nice one Jon. Thats a very very nice job.

Now get off to work

Lol, yeah ok....Hang on, its lunch time now though.....

 

[JonnyP]

Well I shaved down a piece of seasoned elder into a fire stick this evening and the blade is still hair poppingly sharp. I know its gonna need better tests than that, so it will be my user knife for the near future. Because I designed it on the F1, I have found it fits into the F1's sheaf, so that is handy......

 

[madrussian]

I'm impressed. Now I want to have a go at it.

 

[JonnyP]

I'm impressed. Now I want to have a go at it.

Go for it, its real easy, and you get two goes out of one blade too....Mk 2 will be comming out soon.....

 

[Mike Ameling]

Great knife. It's a fun project, and something most people can do themselves.

Heres's a knife I made from a section of crosscut saw blade. I chiseled/broke out the basic shape (a little oversized), then carefully ground it down to the finished profile - cooling it often. If it gets too hot to hold in your fingers, cool it right away. I then punched and drilled my pivot hole, and ground in my cutting edge. The handle is 14 guage sheet steel folding into a U shape. I used a nail for the rivet/pivot pin.

This knife is a version of the classic French clasp knife, but with an iron handle. It was based on some originals recovered from LaSalle's ship la Belle which wrecked of the Texas coast in 1686. They recovered two crates of cheap trade knives. I made it up based on descriptions from a guy that saw and worked on the original artifacts. His "critique" of this knife was that I made it WAY TOO NICE. He said the original makers didn't even try to hide the fact that they were making cheap knives to trade to the Indians. And here I thought I was making it too crude. I've since made the versions with the rounded end blade, and the hawkbill blade.

A fun and historical project.

Saw blades can make very good knives - if you don't ruin the original heat-treat by over heating them when grinding to shape. It saves you that tricky heat-treating step. And they hold an edge real well. You can do the same thing with a handsaw blade. They make a thinner and more "flexy" blade. I make penny knife blades from handsaw blades.

Ahhh, the "toys" we play with.

Mike Ameling - out in the Hinterlands of Iowa

The above knife is the upper right one in this pic - showing a few more I made. It's the first one I made, and IT'S MINE. I've been talked out of the others, but that one's my baby. Now I have to make some more.

 

[bushwacker bob]

They're pretty amazing Mike.
Making a knife is a really satisfying project,even better when you use them

 

[sam_acw]

Dammit, There's just something about those knives of Mike's that makes me think of excuses to buy one like that.
Jon's blade is pretty swish too :You_Rock_

 

[JonnyP]

Knife is now fully completed, its been polished up and oiled loads of times. I have found that because I designed it on the F1, it fits into an F1 sheaf....

I was rained off work today, so I made another knife out of the other half of the saw blade. Bit different this one, I did a scandi grind, used ash scales, that were a bit thin, so I had a look around for something to pack them out with and came across some perspex, not everyones cup of tea, but I like it. Pins were 4 inch nails, cut down again. All I need to do now is to make a sheaf for it. Getting some leather from the group buy, so that will be my next job.....

 

[bushwacker bob]

Lovely job Jon.If I could, I'd give you rep for that.

 

[topknot]

Hi, the knife looks good. how about a home made sheaf you got the hands for it . cheers topknot.