When hiking with the girls I often carve various things along the way. I have been using an old pocket knife which gets very uncomfortable on the fingers after a while. A good whittling knife has a much more substantial handle, however they are not cheap. I decided to try and make one. I started with an old sawsall blade and a scrap piece of maple.
I used an angle grinder and a belt sander to shape the blade into a knife shape.
I polished the blade to 12,000 grit with my micro mesh pads. I shined like a mirror.
I heated the blade on our stove until is was red hot then dipped it in oil to harden it. I then baked it in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes to temper.
I used the belt sander to shape the handle. It's not the prettiest but it is very comfortable. It's sanded to 320 grit and finished with a coat of boiled linseed oil. This thing was razor sharp for a while. I could shave my arm with it. However, the edge didn't last very long. I either need a different type of metal or some work on my metal hardening steps.
Very interesting Chad. . .They make some real heavy duty saw-zal blades that might hold a better edge.
ReplyDeleteGreat job on the whittling knife.
Dad