First attempt at hand made knife(starting to look like a knife anyway)
 

Started with an old file and shaped with sand paper and a little mora knife to shape the wood all by hand. Its finally starting to look like a knife and actually shave hair.


Still have some work to do.

did you make the knife out of a finger nail file?

lol no, A real file.

that makes much more sense. if you made that knife out of a fingernail file i was gonna have a cow.

No its a 9 inch knife. The blade is 4 inches long and 3/16 inches thick

thats a good lookin knife. i might have to try to make one.

Its a joy crating things by hand. I hope that is just the first of many knives you make. Its a great hobby. Did you aneal the file to make it soft enough to shape? Did you then heat treat it and temper it?

I still have the very first knife I made back in 1982. Ive lost track of all the dozens and dozens I have made since then.

No I left it hard. I was thinking it would be great for skinning and such being super hard but its looking like I'm going to have to go ahead and anneal it in order to put pins in the Handle.

I was able to take my time and shape it with sand paper but that is looking like a waste now as I can not get holes drilled in the handle.

You wont be able to anneal it with the handle on (that you show in the first picture). Most old files are made from WI steel (W indicates water quench) but it could even be 1095 steel.

You could bake the file in the oven at 450/500 Degrees F and then turn the oven down to 400 for an hour and then 300 for a half hour and then leave it in the oven to slowly cool. That will soften it up a but allowing you to grind a bevel, drill holes and do final shaping.

Then your going to need to re-harden and temper the steel so it holds an edge.

Heat the blade to 1,400-1,500 degrees F (A magnet should not cling to the metal at this point) Then quench the steel in 180 Degree F salt water or veg oil. Have your oven preheated to 450 degrees F and take the still hot blade and temper it for an hour in the oven.

Its going to look black and scaley so you will need to clean it up and polish it again.

After this, get your hands on some O1 tool steel (buy it already annealed) and save yourself some work.

Thanks

The scales are just loosely glued on. They will come off.

Most of the custom knives I make are made from O1 tool steel. It’s a great steel and even better for beginners since its so forgiving. I buy it in 36 inch lengths in either 1/8 or 3/16 thickness. It even comes with the recipe to heat treat and temper right on the package. Its very common and easy to get.



If you want to continue to make knives from reclaimed (repurposed) steel, you might want to consider circular saw blades. Ive made a lot of knives that way. Also large diameter diamond coated concrete saw blades work well. Your making me consider posting some knife making tips and steps and final work.

hey man nice knife I made one to but not that nice. did you use epoxy or quik steel to get the blade in the handle just wanderin.. but awesome lookin knife congrats:party0005:

I just used some weak glue I had around the house. The plan was to just use the glues to hold it while I drilled the pin holes but I ended up having the take the handles off and anneal it.

I finally got the pins in. Now I have to get it all polished up again.

Getting closer on the first one.


Did one from a saw blade today. How do you get the chipping to not happen on the bit exit? I tried tape........didn't work.

Drill a smaller hole than required for the pin. Drill it all the way through. Then come back with the proper sized drill bit and drill from both sides but only half way through. No more break-outs.

Ahhh common sense huh

Thanks.

It's not so common these days.

Not everybody has this problem, but I have a lot of leather scraps around my shop. "bedding" scales or pistol grips in leather so the bit comes out into the leather instead of out into the tray port works quite well also. DIY's "double drill" method works great too, if you don't have scraps.

Another tip for you, Brad point drill bits help or even mortise bits, I dont know if they have them small enough for the rivets though. Now as far as knife handles go I would make the exit holes on the piece you drill to come out towards the blade side. So if it does tear out it will be covered by/behind the knife handle.