It's not really hard to make homemade knives, you just have to know how. I'm about to show you here.
I learned how to make homemade knives from an older gentleman who lived in the mountains north of Atlanta, Georgia over 20 years ago.
He would go around looking for used hand saws for the knife metal because the older steel was so high grade. They had to be at least ten years old back then so that would mean over 30 years old now.
He would first clean the light rust off a saw blade by using fine sandpaper. Then he would grab a knife pattern and trace it onto the steel with soapstone. You need to make sure whatever pattern you use allows for the steel all the through the handle.
The next part blew me away. To avoid losing the temper in the steel, he cut the knife out with a cold chisel and hammer. It took a while but he got it done. A torch cut would require heat-treating the steel again.
To this day I still do everything like him up to this point. I added electric machines to the mix several years ago to make it easier.
I have a grinder with a buffing wheel on one end. This is used for heavy stock removal on one end and polishing the blades on the other.
A bench top belt sander also comes in handy. It can be used on both wood and metal.
Let's get back to making homemade knives again.
You almost always have edges that need touching up after the cutting of the blade. Use the belt sander for this. Then drill three holes in the handle area for riveting the handle. Rivets can be handmade too very easy.
Wooden handle slabs will sandwich the steel part of the handle between them. Make them that size and 3/8" thick. Add the rivets and peen them over on each side. Smooth the finished handle with the belt sander after that.
Shaping the blade comes next. Tilt the knife away from the belt sander about 15 degrees and make slow easy passes, alternating sides each time.
Use a gloved thumb behind the tip of the blade to keep it from bending away. Use almost no pressure to do this.
Have a container of water close to quickly quench the blade when it gets too hot (and it will!). This process generates a lot of heat.
Work patiently back and forth down each side until you get the edge you want. You can follow this with polishing on the buffing wheel. A little jeweler's rouge on the wheel helps a lot. Guess what? You're done!
After some practice, you'll be able to knock out homemade knives in pretty quick succession, especially if you pre-make items like handle slabs. You're going to like this hobby and you'll always have some quick gifts to give family and friends!
I learned how to make homemade knives from an older gentleman who lived in the mountains north of Atlanta, Georgia over 20 years ago.
He would go around looking for used hand saws for the knife metal because the older steel was so high grade. They had to be at least ten years old back then so that would mean over 30 years old now.
He would first clean the light rust off a saw blade by using fine sandpaper. Then he would grab a knife pattern and trace it onto the steel with soapstone. You need to make sure whatever pattern you use allows for the steel all the through the handle.
The next part blew me away. To avoid losing the temper in the steel, he cut the knife out with a cold chisel and hammer. It took a while but he got it done. A torch cut would require heat-treating the steel again.
To this day I still do everything like him up to this point. I added electric machines to the mix several years ago to make it easier.
I have a grinder with a buffing wheel on one end. This is used for heavy stock removal on one end and polishing the blades on the other.
A bench top belt sander also comes in handy. It can be used on both wood and metal.
Let's get back to making homemade knives again.
You almost always have edges that need touching up after the cutting of the blade. Use the belt sander for this. Then drill three holes in the handle area for riveting the handle. Rivets can be handmade too very easy.
Wooden handle slabs will sandwich the steel part of the handle between them. Make them that size and 3/8" thick. Add the rivets and peen them over on each side. Smooth the finished handle with the belt sander after that.
Shaping the blade comes next. Tilt the knife away from the belt sander about 15 degrees and make slow easy passes, alternating sides each time.
Use a gloved thumb behind the tip of the blade to keep it from bending away. Use almost no pressure to do this.
Have a container of water close to quickly quench the blade when it gets too hot (and it will!). This process generates a lot of heat.
Work patiently back and forth down each side until you get the edge you want. You can follow this with polishing on the buffing wheel. A little jeweler's rouge on the wheel helps a lot. Guess what? You're done!
After some practice, you'll be able to knock out homemade knives in pretty quick succession, especially if you pre-make items like handle slabs. You're going to like this hobby and you'll always have some quick gifts to give family and friends!
About the Author:
Find out all details for making your own homemade knives at http://how-to-make-a-knife.com . There you will find all the information you need to start out in this hobby. I also have a free video showing you some the knives I made over 2o years ago that are still in use today! You owe it to yourself to take a couple minutes to check it out!
