Hand made hunting knife

[cOOter]

After the machete clean up last week, I still have the metal bug.
So I grabbed an old 6mm thick metal bar that was laying around doing zip.

[img]./images/knife_project_june_2017/knife_300617_01.jpg[/img]
Did a google for "knife templates".
Eye balled  a few hundred images.
Only one design stood out that I liked.


[img]./images/knife_project_june_2017/knife_300617_02.jpg[/img]
Width of the stock is 5cm, so I photoshoped the original drawing to 5cm wide
A4 paper is only 29cm long, so I made the template 29cm x 5cm
After cutting it out, it became obvious that the handle was too small,
so a quick cut and stretch of the template.

In hindsight, I should have reprinted the template out to around 31cm x 5cm and just used tape to join the second A4.


[img]/images/knife_project_june_2017/knife_300617_03.jpg[/img]

Anyways, time to get dusty .. a cleanish surface to make out the template.

In hindsight, I should have cleaned the surface up better for the nikko pen
to stand out better.


[img]/images/knife_project_june_2017/knife_300617_04.jpg[/img]

I don't have an anvil or good enough neighbors that would put up with me hammering wrought iron from scratch, so for now, it's the cheating stuff with an angel grinder.

Nice yellow sparks while cutting and grinding which means some level of carbon content. Or so they say on my favorite TV show 'Forged In Fire'.


[img]/images/knife_project_june_2017/knife_300617_05.jpg[/img]

It's taken about 90 minutes with a small hand and bench grinder so far.
Due to the template cut and stretch, I think the blade looks a bit
short compared to the handle. Ow well.

Gotta get down to miter-10 and pick up a good single cut file.
Either that or knock up a swivel rig with my angle grinder on it.
Not sure yet. Probably both.

I'm making a coal forge out of an old portable air compress cut in half, a BBQ plate on top with plaster sand mixed sides and a drilled steel pipe and hair dryer for the blower.

Or I might just get on ebay and by a $10 knife from China?
Nah stuff that. Every bloke should make himself at least one knife in his lifetime.

To be continued ...

[cOOter]

Next day - Watched a few videos on how to tell mild steel from high carbon, and realized that I'm working with mild steel.   The file test was a flop, as it turned out my file was blunt.

There was no way I was going to spend the time hand filing the bulk off mild steel, as the finished product isn't going to be that flash. So I set up a basic holder, pulled out the grinder and went to town not caring too much if things went south.




Who needs a jig or belt sander anyway. All by eye with the ugliest grinding disc I could find. Even length ways strokes and just let the weight of the grinder do its thing.

No rush. Get on ebay and by a cheap Chinese knife if you're in a hurry. Having the item well secured so it doesn't move around distracting the meditation moment, is key as well.



As this is mild steel, I changed the bevel angel from the template design. The angle in the template would make the blade too thin for mild steel. Both sides in 30 minutes with a course disc. The idea is to leave 1mm or 2mm on the edge and play with that later with a hand file.



1 minute with a single cut hand file (old man had one that actually works)
Grinder marks be gone 



About 45 minutes to this point today.
I'm gonna hate working with high carbon steel if it takes any longer.



Considering it's been all eye ball so far, I'm not that far out. (I could not see one side while doing the other) Got most of the two edges down the center, and where the bevels start and stop on each side worked out near spot on. Need to drill a few holes for the handle and some extra to rid some weight.

Now I gotta get a forge of some sort together and see if a heat treat quench in cold saline salt water (google it) will skid a file off the blade a wee bit more. Probably not, but I need to make a forge anyway. Gotta find some free dark walnut for the handle scales. Ow well, it's all practice for the real stuff next time.

To be continued ...

[Thunderbird]

Looks good so far, this may help with the strengthening of the steel blade area.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempering_(metallurgy)

I'll have a Katana when you're done playing with that girls blouse 

[cOOter]

The girls blouse is slicing paper and tomatoes OK today  

I'm not to fused about the light scratches and such, and probably won't
try to harden this one as it's only mild steel. I'll keep some
400 wet and dry handy to buff it a bit after each use.

You got any old leaf springs laying around   ?

They have higher carbon content and harden up real goodly  

I watched a good doco on Katana making last week here >>>
http://mywatchseries.to/serie/handmade_in_japan

:russell: