Triaxiansilk.com

I like to tinker with knife making among other things. This is one of my recent efforts. I made the blade from an old file, which I re-worked to have the temper of spring steel. The guard was cut and shaped from a piece of scrap, which I then heat bonded to the tang. The grip is solid cherry wood, whittled from a tree limb and sprayed with polyethylene finish.

I am not done with polishing. It is slightly sharper than the average razor. All of my previous knives have either been given away or sold. I think I will keep this one, just to have it as a reminder in my old age of what I used to be able to do with my hands. I am planning, God willing, to make a pair of matching tantos for my kids with their initials etched. Maybe I will live long enough to finish them.

Pretty, pretty!

blacknblue:

The knife looks beautiful yet it looks mean enough to do the job should the need arise. The craftsmanship comes through.

Could you explain a few of the terms? What kind of "old file"? "spring steel?" "guard?" "tang?"

dialee wrote:blacknblue:

The knife looks beautiful yet it looks mean enough to do the job should the need arise. The craftsmanship comes through.

Could you explain a few of the terms? What kind of "old file"? "spring steel?" "guard?" "tang?"

Thank you.

I started with a rusty old bastard file that I had worn out from using it for several years. There is excellent steel in files, but they are tempered to be so hard that they are ordinarily almost as brittle as glass. In fact, if you drop the average shop file on a concrete floor it will often shatter.

To overcome this it is merely necessary to apply heat in controlled doses to soften the metal. You need to have enough experience to know how to control the heat, as well as understand the metal well enough to realize the appropriate temperature range to use. But if it is done properly you can start with a brittle file and end up with a piece of excellent high carbon steel that is hard enough to take and hold a better than razor edge, yet still bend without breaking.

The guard is the cross piece that covers the front end of the handle, right behind the blade. I cut and shaped it from a piece of scrap metal that I had laying around the shop. I really don't recall exactly what the source was. Drill a series of small holes to mark the slot, cut the slot with a chisel, even the slot with a tiny jeweler's file or something similar (whatever is available) and then slip the guard up from the butt of the file until it fits snugly against the base of the blade.

That tang refers to the portion of the file that is not shaped as part of the blade. For this particular knife, I left the rear 40% of the file flat and merely smoothed down the original grooves. That is the portion that slides into the wooden handle.

Great BnB! Nice work. I absolutely love hand made objects like that. I used to go to the Bay Area Knife Collectors show now and again. Is is wonderful to see some of the works those artisans create. Over the years I managed to acquire a couple.

HtH

Now, my interest in knives is rather limited to kitchen use, but I'm impressed that you made this yourself. Do you intend to use it or just look at it proudly?

I have given up predicting what the future may bring.

Really did you make this knife yourself?
Remarkable!

Asso wrote:Really did you make this knife yourself?
Remarkable!

Yeah, no kidding. I really admire this kind of hands-on craftsmanship making this stuff. When someone says, "I made it out of a file" or "I used a piece of scrap metal", I'm thinking... where the hell would I START to make a knife? I'd probably just carry the file around and stab somebody in the chest w/ it if I had to

It's not that hard. Just grind off everything that doesn't look like a knife.

In middle school, in shop we made "soft food spreaders" ie, knives with blunt plastic blade. We also sanded off anything that didn't look like a knife. It was funny because we could have easily made a knife, except it wasn't allowed. My "soft food spreader" was lovingly crafted with a handle just like yours, and it looked like a butcher knife, and it totally useless. It couldn't even cut butter. LOL!

Sure.
Exactly how did Michelangelo, grinding off everything that didn't look like Moses.

Or, even more beautifully, David.

I also have a cutlass of sorts under construction. I may post pics of it, if anyone is interested. Or even if anyone is not interested if the mood strikes me.

Ooooh, yes! More pointy things, please!