Jarrah/Makita homemade knife

[Jimmy Alexander]

Hey guys/girls this is the knife i made out of an old saw blade and some old jarrah floorboards. I didnt have to leave the house at all.
I tempered the steel in the barbie, used $28 a bottle extra virgi olive oil (only stuff we had at home), hope that does the job. Angle grinder, bench grinder, sandpaper, and a brass plaster toggle for the thread, just unscrewed the wings.
Got it un-magnetised in the coals in the barbie then into the oil then into the oven for about 40 mins at 230c. Didnt go the lovely straw colour everyone describes bit i did kinda yellow a bit at the tip. Gave it a sand up and screwed on the handle pieces, burned of the the bottom of the handle on the bench grinder :shock: I know, im a carpenter should know better. Lacquered the handle and then stripped a leather diary fo the sheath. I used a ramset gun nail that bent on steel and nearly broke my wrist to burn the J and curls on the sheath. If you look closely youll see where i had to stitch a belt loop on. The diary wasnt that big.
Ah well here she is, wont get used but still my first knife so something to look at and improve on.
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x105/JimLongBow/DSCF0972.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x105/JimLongBow/DSCF0968.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x105/JimLongBow/DSCF0961.jpg

Cheers Jimmy

[chugga]

Great work! How did you cut it out?

[XTfreak]

Looking good...
Bill

[Jimmy Alexander]

Looks good :shock:
Thanx for your kind words, i cut it out with a thin cutting disc on my grinder, burned a hole in my shorts and nearly lost an important piece of equipment. Boardies and bare feet dont cut it :lol: .
Make sure you use the thinnest cutting blade cos the thicker ones spit grinding disc all over you. Not very nice.
Crook so might make another this arvo. Cant buy double edged knive in Vic so i made my own. Might make a thrower or a boot dagger next. Ill post pics of stages. I got all my info for knife making off Coach and Jindydiver off. http://www.ozbow.net/phpbb2/index.php
Look in "The cutting edge" for build alongs and heaps off info and pics of homemede knives.
Mine is quite pathetic to what some boys are making :)

Cheers Jimmy

[jindydiver]

Good effort on your first go mate.

I need to warn you guys about the materials though. Those small saw
blades for circular saws are not all the same steel. You could be getting
any mixture and you don't know from one to the other what the elements
are in them and what "recipe" you need to use to get a working knife out
of them. If the steel in Jimmy's knife hardened properly (not a
guaranteed thing) it could be dangerous to use if the steel is not properly
tempered to toughen it up. A sideways force on the blade could see it
break and the bits could cut you, or splinters get in your eye, or all sorts
of things. I know it sounds like a rare thing, but you can make it
practically impossible by heat treating the steel properly.

On your knife Jimmy, you can be sure it has not been tempered at all if
you could not see any color change after it was baked in the oven. Even
the smallest amount of tempering results in a dulling of the blade and
any simple steel is not going to be toughening up until you start to see
the straw or golden color appear.

If you want to know how hot you need your oven you can experiment
with some scrap steel. You do the heating and quenching and then bake
it at the temp you think might work and then stick it in a vice and with
gloves on (and safety glasses) you try to snap it. I stick my piece in the
vice and then attach a shifting spanner about 10 or 15 mm above the
jaws and give it a twist. If it breaks you put it back in the oven and give
it a little more heat (another 20 degrees or so) then repeat your test.
You can keep going until you get to where you are happy that you can
twist or bend it a fair bit before it breaks and then write that temp down.
Then test to see it will sharpen and hold an edge. If it is then you can
bake it some more (going up in small amounts) testing all the way until it
won't hold an edge any more and you will see the range of colors your
steel can go as it changes hardness. It is good to do this because
sometimes your oven might not be working perfectly and you can tell by
looking at your knife that it has been over heated and that you need to
start again.


You need to do this with every new source of steel, this is one reason why
I recommend you go with the biggest piece of steel you can to get your
knives from, so you aren't having to test your steel for every couple of
knives you make.

Sometimes the style of knife can determine how hard you can leave the
steel but even in the most extreme cases you must still temper the knife
to some degree or the edge will be brittle and you will find it will chip
away when you are using it.

[jindydiver]

And when you post your pics of you new knife can you make them a little smaller,
it is a drag formatting the text so people don't have to scroll to read it :D

[Jimmy Alexander]

Jindy you are the master of homemade knives and i should have used a bigger blade. Just didnt want to leave home.Your wisdom is much appreciated. im gunna test some of the scrap the way you said as ive used the same saw blade for a new knife, just posted a build along then saw this :shock:
Might have to delete it :lol:
No i havent tempered it yet so just in time.
If you would have a look at my new post and maybe give me some ideas on how to not destroy drill bits and avoiding bad craftsmanship ill be forever gratefull.

Cheers Jimmy

[wazza_X force]

nice shanker mate... all in all, what did it cost you to make something like that???

is it hard to do???

wazza

[Jimmy Alexander]

Cost me 0. Im a chippie though so i had the sandpaper and grinding discs etc already. But if you were to purchase you can get all the materials including a little grinder for about $30.

Cheers Jimmy

[wazza_X force]

very nice...

ill give you $40 to make me one...lol 8)

wazza

[Jimmy Alexander]

Oh sorry, nah mate not that hard at all. Follow the build along and look for jindys corrections then if you need help whatever just ask, prob home crook all week.

Cheers Jimmy