Home Made Knife Thread

[7X57chilmau]

Well, MacMac and I have probably hijacked enough threads in the last couple weeks , so I thought I might start one where members could show off what they've accomplished for home made knives and other non-firearm weapons.

It'd be great if you could post one or 2 items per post, and tell us about it. Tell us how you made it, where the form came from, what it was intended to do, what parts you succeeded in, what failures were experienced....

Kind of a display case and DIY guide, all in one....

So, good folk, post away! I'll start with one in a few minutes here.....

J

 

[7X57chilmau]

The Wicked

I started forgeing knives in 2005. I built a simple charcoal forge in my backyard from flea market equipment and a few home made fixtures. My forge design is adapted from Tim Lively's design. Air is supplied by a hand crank blower, fuel is Royal Oak natural lump charcoal, and I've used anvils ranging from a carved up section of RR track, cheap cast iron ASO's, and now forge on a 250+ # anvil a neighbour found....

This knife is known as "The Wicked". Forged from a 5160 leaf spring (ford galaxy) in the first summer of my forge's operation. This was (I think) the 4th blade I produced. The design is by my friend Derek, who now owns the knife.



The design is intended as a fighting knife of sorts, and is mostly whimsical. Heavily curved blade is ideal for slashing. It's ALL belly! The clipped point is ground with a false edge to make stabbing more practical, tho that is limited somewhat by the curve of the blade... The grind is a slight hollow grind, and the spine is about 1/4" thick. We originally intended to mount scales on the handle, but were unable to drill thru the hard steel. Should have anealed it and then tried, but the rope wrap handle worked out just great anyway, so that's how it is now.

Started making it with a section of leaf spring about 14" long. First, forged the handle (ALWAYS start with the handle/tang/socket of a blade, blade is forged LAST!). Then forged the blade to rough shape. Once the rough shape was realized to our satisfaction, we used angle grinder and bench grinder to profile and shape the blade to final form. THis is when the hollow grind was formed (by hand, with angle grinder). The false edge was put on the clip, the choil was cut, and generally the blade came into it's final shape.

Heated to critical and oil quenched, then temper drawn. You can see some vestiges of the temper colours on the knife in the photo. The bulk was tempered to purple, with the belly's sweet spot left dark yellow/brown. This gives an EXTREMELY tough blade, with a hard enough edge to take a razor edge.

This is definately the scariest looking blade I've forged. I would NOT want to meet someone carrying this in the proverbial dark alley. A real "blood letting" blade if ever I saw one....

J

 

[James T Thomas]

home made appeal

You apologized for hijacking, so may I diverge; just a little?

The "Home Made" topic interested me.

By the way, I like how you curled the tang, and your wrap on it too.
But, boy -that blade needs a guard! Jamb it into a log with force and a sweaty hand some time and you will see what I mean.

It is a matter of preference, but I like the home made or primitive; it has a certain appeal. Besides often being much less cost than the customs.

-With the exception of Mr. Valkman, who makes such bargains. When I view his products which are exquisitely finished, it occurs to me that he would also have a market for his knives in a slightly or unfinshed; "primitive" category.
Sort of like the way the Tarurus vs. S&W firearms are done.

Your home made knife is somewhere between the categories of "Trade knives" on one end and the commercialy made bottom end of, plain and simple Old Hickory, Chicago Cutlery, that kind of blades.

I have not attempted the making of knives and so, do not know the satisfaction of doing that, but I do appreciate your charcoal, heat treatment, and final product. I would call the one shown a "Roach Belly Bowie."

I'm hoping that you and your friends will eventually progress beyond facination with "blood letting," and come to appreciate utility, durability, and the peaceful use of man's most valued tool.That is where the real value of a knife lies. Strictly "whimsical" is good too.

I hope to see some other home made efforts here.

 

[conw]

That's awesome. It looks pretty well balanced too...more pics of other blades please

I'm hoping that you and your friends will eventually progress beyond facination with "blood letting," and come to appreciate utility, durability, and the peaceful use of man's most valued tool.

To be fair, he has some cool small knives posted in another thread that are certainly not defense-oriented by the look of them.

 

[7X57chilmau]

Here are the little utility knives Conwict is mentioning....

These are forged from 1/4" diameter music wire, basically 1085 high carbon steel. Basically the same process as used for the Wicked, but without the use of angle grinder. Most of my later blades are as-forged. Also, the blade is tempered rather harder than a fighting knife, a light straw yellow, with blue/purple spine and tip. They take and hold razor edges with little effort. Generally, these little music wire knives have 2-3" blades. They are light duty pocket knives, and weigh next to nothing. Stocking stuffers for friends and family:







So far I've made maybe 20 blades.... 2 have been fighting forms, 2 have been throwing knives, over a dozen have been utility, hunting and kitchen knives.....

But ya gotta post the attention grabbers first!

J

 

[James T Thomas]

follow up

"Conwict:"

Your are fair. I tried hard with that statement; not to make it read as being critical, but it must have come across wrong any way.
It was not intended so.

I've not seen the other "cool" knives posted. Where?

 

[7X57chilmau]

Here is a hunting knife I made for a friend on New Year's Eve. Again, 5160 spring steel (or very similar), but this one from a coil spring (Corolla), he wanted a knife that would be utterly reliable, and utterly unique.

The blade shape is a mix of drop point hunter and big bellied skinner. A simple and durable design, we hope





Tempered much like the music wire blades, the belly and main part of the edge are tempered to light straw, while the tip and spine are purple to blue, giving a blade that can at once shave or chop small bone, or pop a rabbit's hip joint....

James, I know what you're sayin', and I agree. No offence taken.

I operate my forge on a strictly recreational basis. Whenever friends come out to visit, they get to make whatever form is in their head, as best they can. Sometimes it's a fighting knife. These fine fellows will never actually get in a knife fight, unless it's with a home invader.

J

 

[7X57chilmau]

This was the second knife in my now usual form that I forged. It's made to be an EDC utility knife, a duty it's served in since shortly after it cooled from tempering.

Yet another piece of leaf spring, this one hollow ground with angle grinder, and polished a bit by hand with wet/dry paper and finally rouge. Clearly, finishing is not my strong suit. 2-3/8" blade, 6" OAL....






The pocket clip is actually one of my favorite pieces that I've ever forged. Made from an off-cut from the knife's handle. It has now outlived the first leather sheath, and is on the second. After 3 years of EDC, the edge finally worried it way thru the welt and cut a stitch in the original sheath. New sheath has a much denser welt.

J

 

[mole]

I'm not a knife maker, but I do some knapping. Here's one I've posted before. The blade is dacite and is 5" long. The handle is chinese privet. The blade is attached with hide glue and whitetail sinew. The pocket knife is just for scale.





I make wooden bows using natural materials (except glue) and hand tools as a hobby and you said non-firearms weapons as well, so here are a few of my favorites.

75# @ 29" black bamboo backed ipe with a chinaberry handle. 15/16 wide at the handle tapering to 3/8 nocks. 71" and almost goes completely straight after unbracing.


60# @ 29" bamboo backed ipe with a built up leather handle and black cow horn overlays. 68" long, 1" wide at the handle and has 3/4" unbraced reflex.



50# @ 26" $8 red oak board from Lowes. 61" long



50# @ 29" $6 red oak board from Lowes. 71" long. Took only five hours to make. That's my buddy Harley shooting it.




mole

 

[7X57chilmau]

Mole, NICE BOWS!!!!

I dabbled with green birch bows when I was a kid, never got much over 30#, just a carved stick. THey always died by compression failure when the wood dried..... Yours are beautiful!

The knapped knife is awesome too. I've been gaining an appreciation for knapping lately, as I've been playing with flint'n'steel firemaking.... A new skill for me. Just making a flake useful for striking sparks is a challenge to me. I'm learnin', tho....

Hope others will post their work too...

J

 

[Valkman]

I've posted many, many knives here already so no need to post them again. Just click on one of the links in my sig line to see lots of homemade knives!

 

[7X57chilmau]

This is another early knife of mine... I posted it somewhere else here before as well.




It's a double edged dagger of sorts.... 10" blade, 16" OAL. I've not seen any other knives with a blade shape quite like this, with the rather backwards taper it has goin' on.... If anyone knows a name for this form of dagger, I'd like to know...

Again, 5160 leaf spring, forged, angle ground. It has a full tang, the handle is secured with a nut and washer under a wood plug in the butt. That was the greatest challenge in making this piece: Threading the tang... Even annealed, 5160 is rather harder than my die likes to cut, but with ample lube and very careful starting, it managed to cut a workable thread.

I've been asked before how the water marking on the blade was done. I have to be honest: This was an early forging, and that is a result of my failure to maintain a reducing fire while heating the blade for hardening. The excess oxygen I blew into the fire etched into the blade. The "water drops" are high islands of steel that were protected by scale or ash from the oxygen rich blast. Many of my early blades show this. It is an accident, and not something I desired to do. It looks MIGHTY COOL on this blade, tho

Boring the handle also proved to be a real exercise... The one installed was the 3rd attempt. The tang tapers from blade to nut, so a tapered hole had to be bored. I drilled 2 separate holes that intersected at the butt, and then carved out the web left between them. Once I was satisfied with the fit, it was made permanent with a liberal application of epoxy. I regret that somewhat now, as I'd like to have put a metal guard in place, basically an iron facing on the handle as it is now, but that won't happen now.

The sheath is the same oak as the handle, ripped, carved out, and glued back together. Fits tight without any mechanical keepers. After 3 years of thinking, I finally managed to come up with a leather frog design I liked.

Anyway, yup, it's another whimsical people-killer, but it was created as a piece of artwork, really. And we all know art knives must be both properly hardened and tempered, and kept service-sharp. It is. It has chopped 2x4's, felled small trees, been stabbed thru car doors, dropped 3' onto a concrete floor (landing edge first).... And not seen any unacceptable damage...

A sentimental favorite. I'll be making a new dagger of smaller and more traditional size and shape this spring, I think.... Have some desert ironwood burl coming......

J

 

[7X57chilmau]

Valkman,

Wow.... Kinda puts my feeble attempts to shame....

I've got to learn something about finishing my blades..... Get me a belt grinder and a polishing center at least.....

Wow......

J

 

[Valkman]

Feeble? Not by a long shot my friend! I envy those who forge and wish I could get into it but learning all there is to know about stock removal is taking all my time. I haven't even made folders yet!

As for finishing I take my blades to 400 grit - that's it. I do not get the "polished mirror" look that some do but I haven't gotten that far yet. After 4 years I can easily say there's tons more to learn!

 

[conw]

I knew it was a good idea to wait before buying a knife from Valk...

Just kidding!

Every craft item posted has been a joy to see, please post more!

 

[BrandonBowers]

7X57chilmau

It's a double edged dagger of sorts.... 10" blade, 16" OAL. I've not seen any other knives with a blade shape quite like this, with the rather backwards taper it has goin' on.... If anyone knows a name for this form of dagger, I'd like to know...

That almost looks like a Roman Pugio. At least that is what the lines and shape suggests to me. Nice work

 

[7X57chilmau]

Yup, the last 5 inches or so have that look....

Never could bring myself to make a blade transition to tang as abruptly as I see on so many daggers, just like the Pugio.... Stress rizer is all I can see!

J

 

[highorder]

I thought I would make a Tracker...

It started as a leaf spring, probably 5160.

I did stock removal, and heat treated in peanut oil.

The final finish was Brownells baking lacquer over glass bead.

The handles are micarta, attached with #10-32 flat head screws.

 

[7X57chilmau]

Nice tracker! I really like the in-progress photos... I always get too carried away and forget to take'em....

J

 

[Macmac]

7X57chilmau, See if you can learn to call me 'mac', be easier for you and everyone else to type too. Just most places mac is already taken.

As to Volks work ouch!

As to this thread ok, but i think you missed 'Something To Do', and maybe you might wanna peek at it again, before I clutter up this thread.

Me: I am beat hard day...

highorder that monster is called just what? That thing is like a modern boarding axe... Just the thing you need to dice up a moose..

 

[SeanSw]

Please don't hold this one against me

 

[conw]

As to Volks work ouch!

I was just kidding when I said I knew it'd be a good idea to wait...not only does he make great-looking knives, he's humble! (I dunno if you were referring to me or not.)

 

[alaskanativeson]

Valkman is making a couple of knives for me. Even though I didn't make them, I'll post a picture when I get them. I was picky about what I wanted, my wife says I like to be difficult. I don't know that she's wrong.

 

[Valkman]

Your 2 are done and the Landshark is off for Kydex. When it's done I'll send them both for leather!

Here's the Stag B&T:

 

[shotgunjoel]

7X57chilmau, I love the wood on that!!