Sunday, June 24, 2012

DIY whittling knife

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.




1 comment:

  1. Very interesting Chad. . .They make some real heavy duty saw-zal blades that might hold a better edge.

    Great job on the whittling knife.

    Dad

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