A large number of knives are presented in stores. They have a different design, purpose, and are made using modern technologies. In addition, materials for production can be not only metal, but also ceramics of special hardness. Such knives are very sharp, do not need sharpening for a long time, but at the same time they are quite fragile. When a chip is formed, it is not possible to restore its previous appearance to the knife, especially at home.
Knife blades should be made of hardened steel for ease of use.
For a knife to be pleasant to work with and at the same time convenient to cut, it must sit securely and comfortably in the hand. With a comfortable grip, it can be used for a long time. But it is not always possible to find such a knife ready-made. Then you can do it yourself. This takes into account the characteristics of the palm, the length and shape of the cutting blade. The blades must be made of hardened steel. Therefore, homemade saw knives will fully meet the requirements.
Knife making options
Homemade knives can be made from many metal parts that cannot be used for their intended purpose, since they have become unusable.
Among the details, from which it is possible, several can be distinguished:
- worn motorcycle connecting rods, from which you can make a set of knives of various lengths;
- balloon wrenches with 1 broken end;
- crutches that are used when laying rails;
- circular saw blades of various diameters and thicknesses;
- damaged hacksaw blade of a pendulum saw.
With certain skills in forging, you can make a knife from a thick metal cable, a chain from a home unit. A chainsaw is ideal for this. Her chain is strong enough, and a homemade knife will turn out like Damascus knives.
If the circular saw has a large blade diameter, and its damage is minimal, then two homemade knives can be made from it. The discs have significant strength of the metal of manufacture, since the saw is used for various purposes for a long time.
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Materials and tools
To make a homemade knife, you need the following equipment:
- Woodworking Machine. If not, you can use an electric jigsaw to pre-cut the handle. For final grinding, sandpaper of different grain sizes is used.
- Nails or better copper wire for rivets.
- Wood.
- Grinding and sharpening machine. In his absence, you can use a grinder, a hammer drill, a high-power drill. In addition, you need nozzles or circles with which you can do these operations. One of these tools should be rigidly secured and then work done.
- Files with various types of cuts.
- Marker.
- Brass plate and rod if the handle will not be riveted.
- Epoxy adhesive.
Knives should have a comfortable handle. For her, the most suitable material is wood. Most often, birch and oak blocks are used. These rocks are the hardest, less susceptible to moisture with prolonged use. They are pleasant to the touch and have a beautiful texture. Since the manufacture of the knife handle does not require a large amount of starting material, for these purposes you can use 1 parquet board, a piece of board or bar. It is important that the piece of wood is not damaged, cracked and free of chips or other defects.
After the blade is sufficiently hardened, you need to cool it.
In order to make a knife, it is necessary to use certain grades of steel. It should be remembered that its characteristics depend on how the metal was hardened technologically. For example, with an increase in hardness, the fragility of metal products increases. Steel grades P6M5 or P3M3F2 are suitable for the knife. In this case, a metal thickness of 2 mm will be sufficient.
The strength of a homemade knife does not depend on the thickness of the metal. It is influenced by its geometric dimensions: length, width, shape of the blade and escapement. With the right choice of these components and careful metalworking, an excellent knife is guaranteed. These steel grades are used in the production of discs, blades, tools such as circular saws.
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Hacksaw blade
If it is decided to use a blade from a hacksaw as a metal blank, then it is necessary to take a blade from a pendulum saw. This saw performs heavy metal work (such as rails) and meets the requirements for rigidity and strength. The size of such canvases ranges from length / width / thickness, 400-500: 30-40: 2 mm. The color is determined by the type of manufacturing processing the saw has been subjected to and can be black or gray.
Before starting the manufacture of the knife blade, it is necessary to check the integrity of the metal. This can be done by ear, but it requires some experience and skill. The whole canvas makes a ringing sound, the damaged one - deaf. If it is difficult to do this by ear, then it is imperative to inspect the metal workpiece thoroughly.
On a whole piece of canvas, a marker is applied to the contour of the future knife.
The angle of inclination of the blade should be 20 degrees.
Moreover, this should be not only the blade, but also the allowance, which will then be hidden in the handle. After that, on a metal-working machine (or a carefully fixed grinder with a circle), it is necessary to gradually and carefully remove the excess.
This should be done slowly, as the metal can heat up. To cool it down and continue working, take a bucket of water. This container should be enough for the workpiece to be placed completely in the water. The same machine makes the contours of the blade. It should be borne in mind that a feature of this steel is that with a sharp change in the temperature of the metal, the smallest cracks can form in it. This can lead to the fact that even with a small force, the knife breaks. Therefore, overheating of the metal must not be allowed during its processing. The point should be especially carefully carried out, because with a decrease in thickness, the metal heats up faster.
The first cutting tools made by man were made of stone. The ancestors of modern knives were very fragile and required a lot of time and labor to make. The metal blade is devoid of these major drawbacks. Steel is relatively easy to process and has good physical properties.
A handmade knife is the pride of the owner. When self-manufacturing, those characteristics are selected that are necessary. First of all, it is the shape of the blade and handle. The highest quality blades, for example, damask or Damascus steel, are made by forging. At the same time, the material of the blade has the necessary hardness and carbon content.
But forging requires certain tools and skills. What to do if you want to make your own unique blade, but only a minimal set of tools is at hand? In this case, you should pay attention to the circular saw as a blank for the blade. The metal from which the saw blade is made lends itself well to quenching and has the necessary elasticity, so the saw will be the optimal workpiece for making a knife with your own hands. A homemade circular saw blade keeps sharpening well, does not break and can easily compete with industrial knives.
Creating a mock knife
The first step is to create a model of the future knife from a saw. At this stage of work, you can decide on the shape of the blade of the future blade and the shape of the handle. The layout is best made from thick cardboard or thin plywood. You can also use thick plastic. A rigid template will allow you to understand how a knife from a circular saw will lie in your hand and how convenient it will be to use it.
When making a layout, it is important to adhere to the following rules:
- Right angles must be avoided. The right angle is the place of stress concentration. The blade of the knife most often breaks or cracks in this very place.
- The shape of the blade must be chosen based on the purpose of the future knife. The most versatile forms are with straight or descending butt. Such a blade can cut and stab equally well.
- The dimensions of the model must correspond to the size of the saw blade.
When making a model, it should also be remembered that a knife can be classified as a melee weapon. It all depends on the shape and size. The manufacture and storage of cold steel is criminally punishable. Therefore, in order not to fall under the article of the criminal code, it is necessary to create a layout corresponding to the following rules:
- The length of the blade or cutting part should not exceed 9 centimeters. Exceeding this length even by 1 mm will allow the homemade blade to be classified as a melee weapon.
- A knife with a blade thickness of more than 2.6 mm is also a melee weapon. This parameter can be neglected as the saw blade thickness is usually 2 mm.
- Hardness should not exceed 42 units. This parameter refers to hardening, so we also skip it at the stage of making a piece.
- The handle should have a limiter protruding no more than half a centimeter beyond its limits. If there is no stop, the sub-finger groove should be less than 4 mm deep.
After the layout, which satisfies the letter of the law and personal preferences, is drawn, you can proceed to transfer the layout to the saw blade. The mold is applied to the saw blade and traced with a marker. It is best to use a fine marker. A thin line will allow you to more accurately cut the workpiece and avoid unnecessary processing of the workpiece with a file.
Cutting and primary processing of the workpiece
Sawing the workpiece is fastest with a grinder with a thin cutting disc for metal. If it is not possible to use a grinder, then you can use a hand hacksaw for metal. It is important to place the file correctly in the hacksaw. The saw teeth should point forward and the hacksaw should cut when moving "away from you".
First, using straight cuts, the approximate shape of the knife is cut. Then the folds are cut out. It is easiest to cut them out with several oblique cuts, converging at one point. It is important to leave an allowance of 2-3 millimeters before the drawn outline. This is due to the fact that when using a grinder, the metal at the cutting site overheats. Grinding off 2-3 mm with a file and emery paper can remove the overheated edge of the metal.
Shaping the workpiece
The rough workpiece is brought to its final shape with a file or emery. In order to avoid overheating of the future knife from the saw, when processing it with emery, it is necessary to periodically lower it into a container with water. This will allow the workpiece to cool down. When processing the workpiece with a file, additional cooling is not required. It will be most optimal to roughly process the workpiece on emery, and then fine-tune it with a file.
During finishing, special attention should be paid to the smoothness of the folds. It is important to ensure that the fold is even, without depressions or bulges. Miniature depressions are easy to check with a file. To do this, using a marker, the checked end of the workpiece is painted over. Next, a file is carried out with light pressure along the workpiece along the entire bend. There are depressions in those places where the marker trace remains.
Processing continues until no depression remains.
Further, the workpiece is cleaned of burrs and sanded with sandpaper. You can start with 60 grit and finish at 320. The workpiece will still be heat treated, so the final grinding of the blade will be later.
Shank drilling
The handle on the shank can be fixed with rivets or glue. The most reliable way to attach the handle is to use rivets. To install them, it is necessary to make holes in the shank. The holes are marked on the shank so that they are approximately in the middle of the future handle. To prevent the drill from slipping off at the initial stage of drilling, the holes are punched out.
Since the circular saw is made of alloy tool steel, it will not be easy to drill through. Conventional metal drills won't last long here.
Drilling should be done with cobalt drills or a ceramic drill with a victorious tip.
During the drilling process, it is important to add oil to the drilling area and to keep the drill from overheating.
Drilling through hardened steel is a difficult task. Therefore, it is possible to make holes in the shank electrochemically. To do this, a wire is attached to the workpiece, then the shank is completely covered with bitumen mastic or plasticine. In places of future holes, the protective layer is scratched to bare metal. Further, a saturated solution of sodium chloride is prepared, into which the blade shank with a wire and an unnecessary metal plate, also with a wire, are lowered. Both wires connect to the battery or car charger. The "plus" is fed to the future knife from the circular saw, to the plate "minus". The etching process is accompanied by gas evolution. After 30-50 minutes, the holes will be ready.
Forming the cutting edge
Before proceeding with the formation of the cutting edge, it is necessary to carry out preparatory work. It consists in marking the edge of the workpiece. The markings are placed exactly in the center and serve as a guide for making a symmetrical escapement.
To do this, the marker is painted over the edge that will be cutting and, using a drill equal in thickness to the workpiece, the marking is scratched. The drill has a tapered edge. Therefore, if you position the drill and the workpiece on the same plane, the tip of the drill will be exactly in the middle.
Then, using a file with a large cut, you can start shaping the cutting edge. In the absence of the proper skill to create an even edge, you can use a simple device. It consists of a base, a corner and a guide with a platform for sanding paper. Sandpaper with a grain size of 180 is glued to the platform with a guide. Several holes must be pre-drilled vertically one above the other in the corner. The knife is fixed flat on the base and the guide is inserted into the hole at a height so that the angle between the plane of the base and the platform with sandpaper is the same that was chosen to form the slopes. An angle from 22 to 30 degrees is universal.
Having made an even descent to the middle of the thickness of the workpiece, the knife is turned over, then the same descent is made on the reverse side. Using such a simple device, you can easily form an even blade.
Thus, a finished blade with a given sharpening angle is obtained. But at this stage, the blade is only conditionally ready. It does not have the necessary hardening in order to confidently hold the sharpening. It also did not go through a tempering procedure to reduce fragility. In fact, this is a semi-finished knife from a saw, which can already be used, but it is better to take a few more steps.
Hardening
Heat treatment will give the knife the necessary hardness, it will not become blunt during operation.
For hardening, the knife from the saw must be heated to a temperature of 750-920 degrees. If you do not reach this temperature, then the steel will not be hardened, and if it is heated too much, then the blade will be unnecessarily brittle.
At home, it is not possible to determine the exact temperature. However, there is a way out. A simple magnet is suitable for temperature control. As soon as the blank for the blade stops magnetising, it is heated to the required temperature.
After the temperature of the workpiece has reached the required limits, it must be kept in this state for about 1-1.5 minutes for each 1 mm of thickness. In the case of a homemade saw blade, the holding time for hardening is 3-5 minutes. It'll be enough. Then the workpiece is dipped into vegetable or machine oil preheated to 50 degrees. This procedure should be followed carefully. Oil vapors can flare up from a hot workpiece, so have a fire extinguisher handy.
A little about the hardening furnace. If it is not possible to use industrial equipment, then the forge can be made by hand. To do this, it is necessary to make a fire of such a size so that it is possible to evenly warm up the workpiece. Further, as the wood burns out and coals appear, a homemade knife is placed on them. A household hairdryer or a mattress pump can be used as bellows.
Vacation
After hardening, the blade must be released. This procedure is performed in order to reduce brittleness, as well as impart high elasticity to the saw blade. For tempering, the blade is cleaned with emery paper from the scale formed during the hardening process, and placed in an ordinary oven preheated to 190 degrees. There, the blade is kept for an hour, then the oven heating is turned off.
The knife should cool smoothly to room temperature.
After this procedure, the workpiece has the required hardness and elasticity.
Sawing out the handle blank and preparing for gluing
To complete the work with the knife, you need to make a handle. There may be different variations of the materials used for the handle. The most popular material is wood. The wooden handle is soaked in linseed oil to prevent moisture from damaging it.
A flat plank is chosen from the wood of the species you like. The thickness of the board should be at least half a centimeter for convenience. A thick board can be cut lengthwise. Using the blank of the knife as a template, markings are applied to the board, including holes for rivets. For a good fit of the future handle to the shank, it is necessary to remove the contact plane using sandpaper.
Forming the upper part of the handle
The upper part of the handle is prepared in advance for the reason that after gluing the handle to the shank, the processing of the upper part will be difficult. Also, during processing, you can scratch the blade, which is highly undesirable. Holes for rivets are drilled according to the markings made during the preparation process. A bar of a suitable diameter is inserted into them. It allows you to rigidly connect both parts of the workpiece and will not allow them to move during processing.
Formation takes place with files and sandpaper. At this stage, it is important to remember the permissible dimensions of the limiter, sub-finger groove.
Final processing is carried out with 800 grit sandpaper. Before gluing, all parts must be thoroughly degreased. This can be done with acetone or solvent. Once the degreaser has dried, glue or epoxy can be applied.
Making rivets
The glue attachment of the handle to the shank is not reliable. To avoid breakage of the handle, the wooden plates must be fastened with rivets. The rivets are made of metal that does not corrode. These can be non-ferrous alloys or stainless steel. You can also use copper or brass tubing as rivets.
A blank of the future rivets is sawn off from a bar of a suitable length. It should be 2-3 millimeters longer than the thickness of the handle. Clamping the rivet in a vice, flare one end with a hammer. It should look like a fungus on one end of the bar. Further, the rivet, pre-lubricated with epoxy glue, is inserted into the holes in the handle and is also flared on the other side of the handle. It is best to use a ball from a bearing to flare a rivet made from a tube.
Shaping the handle
After the glue has dried, they begin to process the handle. First, using a needle file, the protruding parts of the rivet are grinded. Then, with a rough rasp, the wood blank is shaped. First, the profile of the knife handle is formed. Grind the wood until the metal of the shank appears. Then they grind down the sharp corners and give the handle a shape that fits well in the hand.
Grinding and varnishing the knife handle
Finishing sanding is done with sandpaper. By gradually increasing the grain, it is necessary to remove all coarse risks from the paper with a larger grain. It is enough to complete the process of grinding the knife handle with 600-grit paper. The last step in the manufacture of the handle will be its impregnation.
There are several ways to impregnate the handle to better preserve it. This is oil impregnation, wax impregnation or varnish coating.
Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages. So, for example, wax must first be melted by heating it, and heating has a detrimental effect on the strength of the glue with which the handle is glued. The oils need to be renewed periodically. And the varnish has only the function of surface protection.
The final feature when making a knife from a circular saw will be its final sharpening. The best way to do this is to use a sanding block made from a wooden plank. Sandpaper of 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit is glued onto even boards, one grit on each side. Also, a piece of leather is glued to the board for dressing the sharpening. With a little practice, as well as gaining the skill, you can sharpen the knife so that it will cut the paper by weight and shave the hair.
So, with a minimum of tools and skill, but with the necessary knowledge, you can make an excellent knife from a circular saw. The characteristics of a homemade circular saw blade are often higher than store counterparts in the budget segment. Is there still space on the saw blade after making one knife? Another knife needs to be made!
A handicraft knife from a circular saw blade, a hacksaw blade for wood or from a saw for metal will serve for many years, regardless of the conditions of use and storage. Let's talk about how to make a knife from factory-made steel elements, what is required for this and what needs to be paid close attention to. We will also tell you how to make artisanal cutters for wood carving lovers.
Working tools and materials
The raw material for creating a handicraft knife can be any used or new cutting component made of hardened steel. In the role of a semi-finished product, it is advisable to use saw wheels for metal, for concrete, saw wheels for pendulum end saws and hand saws. Decent material would be a used gasoline saw. It is possible to forge and make a blade from its chain, which in its properties and appearance will be no worse than the legendary Damascus blades.
To create a knife from a circular disc with your own hands, the following equipment and materials will become necessary:
- angle grinder;
- emery machine;
- electric drill;
- ruler;
- hammer;
- sandpaper;
- sharpening blocks;
- files;
- center punch;
- epoxy;
- copper wire;
- felt-tip pen;
- container with water.
Additionally, you need to consider the question with the pen. The manufactured item should fit comfortably in the palm of your hand.
To create a handle, it is preferable to use:
- non-ferrous alloys (silver, brass, bronze, copper);
- wood (birch, alder, oak);
- plexiglass (polycarbonate, plexiglass).
The material for the handle must be solid, without cracking, rotting and other flaws.
Metal handling techniques
To keep the blade strong and tight in the course of its creation, it is required to adhere to the rules for handling iron.
- The semi-finished product should not have noticeable and unexpressed defects. Before starting work, the blanks need to be examined and tapped. A holistic element sounds sonorous, and a defective element is muffled.
- When creating a project and drawing of the cutter configuration, avoid corners. In such areas, steel can break. All transitions must be made smooth, without sharp turns. The bevels of the butt, guard and handle must be grinded off at an angle of 90 degrees.
- When cutting and processing, the metal must not be overheated. This leads to a decrease in strength. An overcooked blade becomes fragile or soft. During processing, the part must be regularly cooled, completely dipping it into a container with cold water.
- When creating a knife from a saw blade, you must not forget that this element has already passed the hardening procedure. Factory saws are designed to work with very tough alloys. If you do not overheat the product during milling and processing, it will not need to be hardened.
The tail of the blade does not need to be overly thin. After all, the main load will be applied specifically to this area of the knife.
Making a knife
If the saw blade is large and not very worn out, then it will be possible to make several blades of various purposes from it. The effort is worth it.
A knife from a circular circle is made in a specific order.
- A mold is placed on the disc, the outlines of the blade are outlined. Scratches or dotted lines are drawn on top of the marker with a center punch. After that, the picture will not disappear in the process of cutting out the part and adjusting it for the required configuration.
- We start cutting the blade. For this purpose, it is worth using an angle grinder with a disc for iron. It is necessary to cut with a margin of 2 millimeters from the line. This is necessary in order to then grind off the material burnt by an angle grinder. If you don't have an angle grinder at hand, then you can cut a rough part using a vise, a chisel and a hammer, or a hacksaw for metal.
- All unnecessary is removed on an emery machine. This should be done carefully and slowly, trying not to overheat the metal. To prevent this from happening, the part must be periodically dipped in water until it is completely cooled.
- Getting closer to the contour of the future blade, you need to be more careful so as not to lose the shape of the knife, not to burn it and maintain an angle of 20 degrees.
- All flat areas are smoothed. This can be done handily by placing the part against the side of the emery stone. The transitions are rounded.
- The workpiece is cleaned from burrs. The cutting blade is being ground and polished. For this, several different stones are used on an emery machine.
Blade hardening
Turn on the largest burner on your gas stove to the maximum. This is not enough to heat the blade to 800 degrees Celsius, so in addition use a blowtorch. This heating will demagnetize the part. Keep in mind that the hardening temperature is different for different types of steel.
After the part heats up to such an extent that the magnet stops sticking to it, keep it in the heat for another minute to make sure that it warms up evenly. Dip the part in sunflower oil, heated to about 55 degrees, for 60 seconds.
Wipe off the oil from the blade and place it in an oven at 275 degrees for one hour. The part will darken in the process, but 120 grit sandpaper will handle it.
Making a pen
Separately, you need to focus on how the handle is made. If wood is used, then a single piece is taken in which a longitudinal cut and through holes are made. Then the bolt is strung on the blade, the holes for the fasteners are marked in it. The handle is fixed to the blade by means of screws and nuts. In the version with screw mounting, the hardware heads are recessed in the wood structure and filled with epoxy.
When the handle is assembled from plastic, 2 symmetrical plates are used. We form the outline of the handle. Armed with files of various grain sizes, we begin to form the contour of the handle. Reduce the roughness little by little as you create it. In the end, instead of a file, sandpaper comes for support. By means of its handle, the handle is completely formed, it must be made completely smooth. Finish with 600 grit sandpaper.
The knife is almost ready. We saturate the handle (if it is wooden) with linseed oil or similar solutions to protect it from dampness.
Knife sharpening
If you want a really sharp knife, use water stone for sharpening. As in the variant with grinding, the coarseness of the water stone must be gradually reduced, bringing the canvas to perfection. Do not forget to constantly wet the stone so that it is cleaned of iron dust.
How to create homemade wood carving cutters
Wood chisels are hand tools used for artistic wood carving, the cost of which is not affordable for everyone. As a result, many have a desire to make them on their own.
The cutter has in its structure a cutting steel component and a wooden handle. To make such a knife, you need an elementary set of tools.
Tools and fixtures:
- emery machine;
- angle grinder for cutting blanks;
- jigsaw;
- circular cutter;
- sandpaper.
In addition, you will need the material itself, in particular - carbon or alloy steel to create a cutting tool.
Source materials:
- round block of wood with a 25 mm cross-section;
- a strip of steel (0.6-0.8 mm thick);
- drills (for thread);
- discs for a circular cutter.
An abrasive disc is also a consumable, through which the cutter will be ground. Used circular discs are useful as a key material for creating incisors.
Step-by-step guide to creating a wood pick
Creation of semi-finished products for a cutter blade
Elements for the cutter blade are made from a used circular disc. To do this, the disc is cut according to the marking by means of an angle grinder into several rectangular strips of approximately 20x80 millimeters in size. Each strip is a cutter in the future.
Shaping the main incisors
Each cutter needs to be machined to the required configuration. The process can be implemented in 2 ways: by sharpening on a machine and forging. Forging is necessary to create a deflection, and turning is necessary to form a single blade configuration.
Sharpening
To sharpen the blade, you need an emery machine with a small grit stone. Sharpening is performed at an inclination of approximately 45 degrees, and the length of the pointed part is somewhere between 20-35 millimeters, taking into account the total length of the cutter. The blade itself can be sharpened both by hand and on a rig.
Creating a handle for comfortable carving
To make the use of the tool extremely comfortable, you will need to make a wooden handle. The handle is carried out on special equipment or by hand, by planing and subsequent grinding with sandpaper.
Having made a knife from a saw with your own hands, you can get at your disposal a cutting device, which has much better performance than factory counterparts. Making a knife with your own hands, they give it exactly the shape that suits the master best. Factory knives are beautiful but not always reliable. There is no guarantee that they will not fail at the most crucial moment.
A homemade knife from a disk, a hacksaw for wood or a saw for metal will last for many years, regardless of the conditions of storage and use. Consider how to make a knife from factory-made metal parts, what is needed for this and what you should pay special attention to.
The raw material for making a homemade knife can be any new or old hardened steel cutting part. It is better to use cutting discs for metal, hand and pendulum saw blades as a workpiece. An old chainsaw is a good option. From its chain, you can forge and carve a blade that is not inferior in quality and appearance to the famous Damascus steel.
In order to make a knife with your own hands, you will need the following equipment and materials:
- Bulgarian;
- grinder;
- electric drill;
- ruler;
- hammer;
- sandpaper;
- sharpening bars;
- files;
- core;
- epoxy adhesive;
- copper wire;
- marker;
- bucket with water.
Separately, you need to think about the issue with the handle. The finished product should fit comfortably in your hand.
For making a handle, it is better to use:
- non-ferrous metal (copper, bronze, brass, silver);
- tree (oak, alder, birch);
- organic glass (plexiglass, polycarbonate).
The raw material for the handle must be intact, without traces of cracks, rot and other defects.
Rules for working with metal
In order for the blade to be strong and resilient, in the process of its manufacture it is necessary to follow the rules of working with metal. They are as follows:
- The workpieces must not have visible and hidden damage. Before making a knife, the workpieces must be inspected and tapped. An integral part sounds loud, and a defective part sounds hollow.
- When designing the shape of the blade, angles must be avoided. In such places, the steel can break. All transitions should be smooth, without kinks. The cuts of the butt, handle and guard must be ground off at right angles.
- When sawing and sharpening, do not overheat the steel. This leads to a decrease in its strength. An overheated blade becomes brittle or soft. During processing, the workpiece must be constantly cooled by completely immersing it in a bucket of cold water.
- When making a knife from a saw blade, you need to remember that this product has already gone through a hardening cycle. Factory saws are adapted to work with the hardest alloys. If you do not overheat the fabric during the grinding and finishing process, then you will not have to harden it.
The blade shank must not be made too thin. It is on this part of the product that the greatest load will fall.
Making a knife from a canvas
If the blade is large and does not have strong wear, then several blades for different purposes can be made from it. The effort and time spent are worth it.
A knife from a circular saw with your own hands is made in the following sequence:
- A pattern is applied to the canvas, the contours of the blade are outlined. Scratches or dotted lines are drawn on top of the marker with a core. So the drawing will not be erased when cutting the workpiece and adjusting it to the desired shape.
- Workpieces are cut from the circular saw blade. To do this, it is better to use a grinder with a metal disc. Leave a margin of 2 mm from the contour. This is necessary in order to remove the material burnt by the grinder. If there is no grinder at hand, then you can grind the workpiece using a vice, a hammer and chisel, or a hacksaw for metal.
- Everything unnecessary is grinded on the grinder. This process will take a lot of time so as not to overheat the steel. To prevent this, the workpiece must be regularly lowered into water until it cools completely.
- The blade is outlined. Here you need to be careful to maintain the contour of the knife, not to burn it and maintain an angle of 20º.
- All straight sections are aligned. It is convenient to do this by placing the workpiece on the side of the grinding wheel. The transitions are rounded.
- The part is cleared of burrs. The blade is ground and polished. For this, several replaceable wheels are used on a grinding machine.
Separately, you should dwell on how the pen is made. If wood is used, then a monolithic fragment is taken in which a longitudinal cut and through holes are made. After that, the blank is pushed onto the blade, holes for fasteners are outlined in it. The handle is fixed to the blade using rivets or bolts with nuts. In the case of a bolted connection, the heads of the hardware are recessed in the wood and filled with epoxy glue.
When the handle is assembled from plastic, 2 overlays are used, which must be symmetrical. To give the knife originality, the plastic pads are painted on the inside. In the linings, you can make cavities filled with jewelry, products from non-ferrous and precious metals, small compasses and photographs.
After fixing on the blade, the handles are sharpened until they acquire the desired shape and smoothness.
Chainsaw chain knife
Saw chains are made of high quality alloy, which perfectly withstands long-term friction and heat. The process of making a blade is long and laborious, but the result is a beautiful, unique and very durable knife. For work, you will need a heavy anvil, barbecue and charcoal. To make it easier to handle a red-hot workpiece, you need to purchase forging tongs.
Making a blade from a chainsaw chain must be carried out in the following sequence:
- Prepare thick cloth clothing and gloves and a face shield. Pour charcoal into the hearth and set it on fire with a special liquid.
- Fold the workpiece from a single piece of chain. In the place where the handle will be, you can add some pieces from the chain. It should be remembered that the result of the work should be a single monolithic product. Separately, the handle for the knife is not done.
- Put the workpiece on the coals. Provide air flow to raise the temperature. Wait until the steel turns dark red. In this state, it becomes forged without losing quality characteristics.
- Remove the hot chain from the fire and place it on the anvil. With a few strong blows, flatten it so that the links fuse together, turning into a single monolithic part.
- Step by step, by heating the workpiece in the furnace and shaping it with a hammer, forge a knife, which has a handle and a blade. After the workpiece has cooled down, sharpen and polish it.
- Temper the product. To do this, it must be heated red-hot again and immersed in cold water. After that, you can finish the knife. It uses an acid and an engraving machine. The finished blade is polished again and washed in warm soapy water.
When making a blade yourself, it is necessary to adhere to certain parameters so that the finished product does not fall under the category of edged weapons.
If you can find a source for used saw blades, you can make excellent knives out of them. This steel must be quenched, at least many claim that high carbon steels are used in the manufacture of saw blades.
The knife is made quite simply according to the classical scheme. Maybe you will learn something new for yourself from this instruction. The author does not use a grinder, a grinder and other sophisticated tools in the manufacture, everything is done by hand, not counting the hardening devices.
Materials and tools for making a knife:
- saw blade;
- a marker with a fine tip;
- cardboard, scissors, drawing tools for making a template;
- hacksaw for metal;
- files of different grain size;
- vice;
- drill with drills;
- wood and brass pins for the handle;
- clamps;
- water stone for sharpening;
- sandpaper of different grain size and more.
The process of making a knife from a saw blade:
Step one. Transferring the template to metal
The first step is to make a paper template. Choose the type of template to your taste. In the first case, the template can be created on thin paper and cut out. And then this template is simply glued to the workpiece and then cut out.
In the second case, the template is made of thick paper, such as cardboard, and then traced on a sheet of paper with a marker. It was this option that our author chose. The marker should be used with the thinnest possible nib, as processing problems will arise in the future.
Step two. Cut out the workpiece
Work is carried out with an ordinary hacksaw for metal. You can use a grinder or a band-cutting machine, the author just makes a knife amateurishly, so to speak, "for a bet." First, you will be able to cut a very rough profile with a hand hacksaw; it just cuts straight lines. For further work, you will need a vise or clamps.
Further, when the main profile is ready, you will need to cut out the rounded places. For these purposes, the author makes several cross-sections to the profile line, and then cuts these places in sections. This allows you to cut the desired shapes with a regular hacksaw.
Step three. We grind off the excess
It is customary to carry out further work at least with a sharpener or grinder, and ideally on a belt sander. The author does everything armed with good files. With the help of it we grind off all the bumps, irregularities that remained after rough work with a hand hacksaw.
With the help of a file, you can still make some measurements of the plane, if there are any on the blade.
The files here need to be used different, the more you have, the better. You will need not only flat, but round, semicircular and others. Here you need to focus on a felt-tip pen, as a result, this line must be ground off and disappear. Well, or you can grind the metal down to it, then whoever chooses how.
Step four. Drill holes and outline the blade profile
At first, the author wanted to make long, wide bevels, but the metal of the saw blade was too thin, and they had to be reduced. So or otherwise, to create even bevels, you need to mark them on the workpiece with the same marker.
You will also need a drill with the same diameter as the thickness of the workpiece. With it and the drill on a flat table, draw a line along the entire length of the blade. This will allow it to be clearly divided into two halves. Then it will be very convenient to grind the bevels.
At the same stage, the author outlined and drilled holes in the metal for the pins that will hold the handle. He, of course, did not use a manual mechanical drill, but a cordless one (on a battery). Well, I think everyone has an electric drill.
Step five. We form a profile and grind the blade
The most crucial and difficult stage in the manufacture of a knife comes, because all cutting data will depend on it. To form the bevels, you will need a solid block and a couple of self-tapping screws. Attach the workpiece to the bar and screw it with two self-tapping screws. Now, armed with a file, you can slowly form bevels. Take your time and make sure the bevels are straight.
When the bevels are made, the blade can be sanded. This will remove any scratches from the file. You will need 220 grit sandpaper here. The sandpaper will need to be attached to the bar for convenience.
That's all, the workpiece is ready for the next step - hardening.
Step six. Metal hardening and tempering
To make the knife as strong as possible and keep sharpening for a long time, it can be hardened. Although in some cases, when making knives from saw blades, they are not hardened at all. You will need a good fire for hardening, or you can use a small homemade stove, as in this case. To get the right temperature for warming up, you need a regular household hair dryer and a piece of a long tube (suitable for a vacuum cleaner). Well, then, how, what and where, I think you will guess for yourself. By the way, instead of a hair dryer, a vacuum cleaner is also suitable.
We need to heat the metal until the moment when it will no longer be attracted by a magnet. If you are inexperienced, hold a magnet near you and check. The color of the metal also indicates the degree of heating. The section should be bright.
Once the knife has warmed up evenly, it's time to cool it down. The author used peanut butter for cooling. Any other vegetable should do, however. A lot of smoke and splashing will be emitted when cooling, so do this at a safe distance and generally adhere to all safety rules.
An integral part of hardening is metal tempering. If you ignore this, the blade will be strong, but it can shatter to pieces if it falls on a hard surface, since the metal will be too brittle. To make the knife resistant to mechanical stress, you need to release it a little. Here an ordinary household oven comes to the rescue. It needs to be heated to a temperature of about 200 degrees Celsius and then put a blade in it for an hour. After this time, the oven must be turned off and allowed to cool with the door closed. This is how the metal is tempered. Further work is carried out when the metal has cooled down.
Step seven. And we grind again
As you guessed, after quenching, there will be a lot of burnt oil and other contaminants on the metal. They will need to be cleaned off and the metal brought to a shine. Here you will need 220 and 400 grit sandpaper. WD-40 also speeds up the cleaning process significantly.
Step eight. Handle making
The author makes a pen from walnut, there is some nuance in the manufacture. Since the workpiece turned out to be too thick, the author then cuts it along with a hacksaw. As a result, two halves are formed. Here you have to suffer a little to get an even cut.
We use the knife itself as the profile of the handle, just circle it with a felt-tip pen or a sharp object, attaching it to the tree.
Having cut out the workpiece and cut it lengthwise, the author then forms a rough profile of the handle. Even at this step, it is important to ensure that the planes of the handle that adjoin the knife are even, this will ensure good adhesion, and in general the handle will be of high quality. So we take the blanks and drive them over a piece of sandpaper or a sharpening disc.
In the same step, we drill two through holes for installing the pins. The pins should go into the handle with some force, but be careful, if the hole is too small, the handle can easily split when driving the pins. You can choose the pins of copper, brass or others to your taste.
Step nine. Glue the handle
Before gluing, do not forget to thoroughly sand the metal with sandpaper so that the glue will securely connect the handle. Well, then take the epoxy, lubricate the two halves, install the pins, and the handle is clamped with clamps until the glue dries completely. Usually epoxy cures completely after 24 hours, but there is also a glue that dries faster.
In order not to cover the blade with glue, you can glue it.