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.
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.
How to determine wear and tear?
Checking the saw blade for wear is an important issue that should be given special attention. Deep damage leads to the impossibility of sharpening the circle
There are three main signs by which you can understand that the saw needs to be sharpened or replaced:
- Excessive heating of the protective cover and the formation of smoke. The circular saw has a special cover that signals when the saw has become blunt due to heating. In particularly difficult situations, smoke may appear from it.
- Sometimes the saw device involves a mechanical feed (if you need to adjust the pressure with your own hands). In such a situation, wear can be noticed if the pressure has to be increased.
- If carbon deposits and a strong unpleasant odor are formed on the workpiece when sawing wood.
All situations described above tell the user to sharpen the device.
Other processing methods of the part
If for some reason you can't make a knife out of you, you don't have the necessary material, replace it. For the manufacture of a blade, an automobile spring, the metal of which is softer than that of a saw, is well suited. To process such a workpiece, you do not have to use a sharpener, but you will need a metal saw to cut the shape of the blade. Since the metal is easier to machine, the edges of the workpiece can be adjusted with a file. It will take longer to work on making a knife in this way, because each stage of processing includes manual work.
Making a knife from a saw is a laborious process, but the result is worth it. Having made a knife from a saw with your own hands, you will receive a high-quality and unique blade.
My friend and I decided to make knives from the same steel and the same shape, but I do it by hand, and he uses power tools.
I was wondering how long it would take me to make a knife for concrete or metal using only needle files and drill and your hands... I was very pleased with the result.
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 for 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.
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 markings by means of an angle grinder into several rectangular strips with a size of approximately 20 × 80 millimeters. 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 uniform 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.
Docking the blade with the handle
The steel blade is inserted inside the wood handle. To do this, a hole is drilled inside the handle to a depth of 20-30 millimeters. The blade of the cutter will be on the outside, and the base itself is hammered into the cavity of the handle.
Mounting the crown
A steel snap ring is fitted to secure the blade. A specialized contour is cut on the wooden handle exactly to the size of the ring. Then a thread is cut and the crown ring itself is fixed on the already made thread. As a result, the wooden handle should be squeezed from all sides, and the blade should be firmly fixed in the "body" of the product.
Grinding the blade
For wood carving to be of the highest quality, you need to fine-tune the blade. For this, a fine whetstone or ordinary ceramics is used. A little oil is poured onto the plane of the blade (it is possible to use a motor oil), and then the cutter is sharpened at an angle of 90 degrees.
For information on how to make a knife from a circular disc with your own hands, see the next video.
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 blacksmith tongs.
Making a blade from a chainsaw chain must be carried out in the following sequence:
- Prepare thick cloth clothing and gloves and a protective mask. 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.
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.
Blank knife
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 by even 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, since 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.
Step 11: release the metal
Now you need to let go of the metal. To do this, first clean the knife blank from the scale layer formed during hardening. We heat the oven to 190 ° C, and place the blank of the knife there for one hour. After an hour, turn off the oven and leave to cool without opening the door.
As soon as the workpiece has cooled down to such a temperature that it can be handled, take out the knife workpiece. After the tempering, the metal acquired a light or light bronze hue. Now sand the workpiece, starting with 220 grit sandpaper and gradually changing the abrasiveness to 400 grit.I grinded the workpiece in one direction - from the handle to the tip, this gave the metal surface a uniform look.
How to make a knife handle
The easiest way is to glue the handle from two cut and prepared pieces of wood or plexiglass. It is much easier to make it than to attach it to the tail of a knife. Naturally, you can choose an unpretentious option and wrap the handle with electrical tape, but why try so hard to end up ruining the aesthetic appearance of the knife?
And here comes the most crucial stage of work. Since you will have to drill in the shank of the knife, the blade can easily burst. Therefore, be vigilant and careful.
Steel is a hard but brittle material. With an even pressure distribution when the saw is in operation, it is almost impossible to break it. But with spot drilling, the pressure increases and the metal can crack easily. Therefore, it is better to drill a hole at low machine speeds and do not forget to add oil to the drilling site. In this case, a screwdriver is an ideal tool for achieving this goal, since it has less revolutions, then the possibility of part breakage is not so high.
After completing the previous step and making holes in the handle, drill the same holes in the halves of the handle. Make a copper or aluminum rivet. For insurance, you can glue the area where the rivet will be located with glue, but it is better if you have epoxy.
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.
Finished knife handle
Formation takes place using files and sandpaper
At this stage, it is important to remember about the permissible dimensions of the limiter, sub-finger groove
Final processing is carried out using sandpaper grit 800. 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.
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, the 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.