Knife
A knife is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle. It is one of the earliest tools used by humanity, originally made of wood, bone, and stone (including flint and obsidian). With improvements in both metallurgy and manufacturing, over the centuries knives have have been made from copper, bronze, iron, steel, ceramic, and titanium. Knives can serve various purposes, including hunting, as weapons (either melee or for throwing), survival, cooking and eating.
Materials needed
- Steel. Hot-rolled or annealed metal is easier to work with. Do not use soft steel that can be purchased at local big-box stores, as that steel is made for welding. Stainless steel rod for the pins and tubing for the thong hole might also be needed.[1]
- Crotch walnut wood blanks. Hardwoods are the best woods for knife handles, and professionally stabilized wood is even better. Stabilized wood is easier to grind, easier to finish and lasts longer.[1]
Crafting instructions
Knives can be crafted from zero using a metal blank for the blade and wood or other materials for the handle. Knife blades can be started from scratch by one of two methods: stock removal, or filing and grinding; or forging, also called "bladesmithing". Stock removal is the easiest to do and can be done with a few tools, while orging requires much more experience and tools.[1]
Creating the pattern
Create a full size paper pattern of the blade and trace it onto the blank using a felt-tip pen. Using a metal punch, create starter dimples for a series of holes around the outside edge of the outline. The dimples should be spaced a little farther apart than the full diameter of the drill bit and half the diameter apart from the outline. Bore the holes using a Cobalt drill bit in a drill press. Work slowly, keep the bit lubricated with cutting oil and prevent the steel to get too hot, or otherwise the metal can become "work-harden". Also make sure the blank is clamped solidly. Mark the locations of the pin holes and the thong hole, and bore them as well.[1]
Once all holes have been bored, clamp the blade blank in a solid vise on a sturdy workbench and cut between the holes with a bi-metal hacksaw blade. A metal-cutting bandsaw makes the chore quicker and easier. To shape the blade, the traditional method is filing, which takes time and effort. Clamp the blade blank in a good solid vise and using a new flat bastard file, file the blank down to the outline. Use a file card to keep the file clean of metal filings, and always keep the file at 90 degrees to the blank. Always use complete safety equipment and put a bucket of water under the grinder to catch the sparks. Afterwards, locate the knife edge's center and use a permanent marker to mark over the blank's bottom edge. Place the blank on a smooth, flat surface and use a sharp-pointed drill bit, a little smaller in diameter than the thickness of the steel, to scribe the centerline. Roll the bit along the edge, turn the blank over and roll it again, creating two lines down the blade.[1]
Safety
When crafting a knife, always wear eye protection, such as full safety goggles, and wear a respirator and hearing protection if power grinding.[1]
See also
External links
- Knife Making 101: How To Make Your First Knife - Red Beard Ops, 30 October 2020, YouTube
References
| This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Knife, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors). | 
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