Scouts Project

[mckyg001]

Good morning All,
I am looking for a winter project for our soon to be formed Explorer Scout Unit.
There are many YouTube vids about making small whittling knives from drill shanks.
Any tips or pitfalls I should look out for ?
Can anybody give me an indication of heat treat temperatures.
We are only a small unit starting out with 4 Scouts. I need to keep a close eye on cash, so need to keep things as simple as possible for now. Long term I would really like to have a go at more Bushy type knives and have the scouts build a small charcoal forge

Thanks
G

 

[C_Claycomb]

I haven't see these videos, and didn't know it was something that "a lot" of people were doing, so take what I say with a pinch of salt!

Drill shanks, or better yet, drill blanks, are pre-hardened, and often are made of high speed steel. Therefore, no additional heat treatment is required, but grinding them to new dimensions is difficult in that it requires grinding and trying to keep it cool (ish). HSS is more forgiving of getting hot than, say, a file, would be, so that helps, but I would not want to do it without a bench grinder, or better still a belt sander.

If you go by hand, think jail house shiv making...many hours spent rubbing metal on an abrasive surface.

I have a couple of little knives made from big reciprocating M2 HSS saw blades, and they are a pig to sharpen. They just don't want to let go of the burr on the edge. I use them as shop-knives and for marking out, but not for whittling. I would much prefer to grind down an old file for that, or to start from O-1 and harden it.

There are some drills that are just carbon steel, and maybe that is what people use.

 

[Stew]

I would suggest just starting with handling some stick tang blades. Brancho has done that. I'll dig a link out.

 

[Stew]

Here you go!

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55365&highlight=

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=68072&highlight=

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=93041&highlight=