Project: Making a Bushcraft knife

Yeah, but not sure whether to go for Kydex or traditional leather yet. Kydex would be easier, but i think leather might match the knife better.
 
Today was a nice day so thought i'd get this part out of the way. It worked, but in future i need to remove that bottom grill and use twice as much charcoal as there wasn't enough to cover the whole blade properly and i had to keep picking up the charcoal and piling it onto the blade.

The hoover method worked amazingly well. Just blew it in from underneath and the embers started to glow red and burst into flames. The blade was no longer magnetic after a few mins so I dunked it in the pre warmed oil to quench.

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:eek:

It's now baking in the oven for an hour to temper it. I'll then heat the spine on the gas hob and put it back in the oven to cool slowly. Then after its at room temp another hour in the oven for a second temper.
 
The real issue I'd have with making something like this from scratch myself is that when it was finished I'd want to just look at it and not use it for fear of marking the thing!
 
:D I know what you mean, but if done right o1 steel should stand up to a lot of abuse. If i'd paid £400 and waited 4 years to get a proper Woodlore or Ray mears knife i don't think i'd dare use them. But this has only cost me around £30 and some of the things I have bought can be used on another project. The time it's taking doesn't bother me as i enjoy it.

This is also why i have gone for a cheaper, plain timber, rather than the more expensive highly figured walnuts that you can buy.


I'll hopefully get the handle epoxied on and shaped this weekend. I have done a bit of baic shaping and cut a 45o bevel to the front of the handle grips, so they are all ready to be glued up now.

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I wasn't happy with the heat treatment, so decided to give it another go today as it was lovely and sunny. Put twice as much charcoal in so that I could form a 'cave' to place the blade in. I also drilled a hole in the ash collector bit under the bbq, so that the hoover pipe can be placed into it to blow air directly under the charcoal. It works amazingly well! I felt my fingers burning through my insulated builders gloves when i picked the blade up with my mole grips. Then when dunking it in the oil it burst into flames, so definitely got a lot hotter this time as it just bubbled and smoked last time.

Then of course used the rest of the heat for some lunch :cool:


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This was the second tempering to soften up the spine of the knife, but keep the blade hard. Using a potato to act as a heatsink to stop the blade end heating up. According to the colour chart I got with the steel the spine should be around 50 rockwell and the blade end should be around 58.
 
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Blade cleaned up again and polished to a satin finish with 600grit wet and dry. Also ground a secondary bevel on the blade, but not fully honed it yet.

Roughed up the handle with an extra course diamond stone to help the epoxy stick better and put some scratches into the walnut.


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I went for 60 minute epoxy instead of the fast setting 5 min stuff to make it an easier job and I think the longer setting stuff is slightly stronger.

The handle has been drying for about 15 hours now, so I'll get on with shaping the handle later on.
 
Thanks :).

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Did a bit of shaping today, just to get the profile down to the steel and removed a bit from the sides. Not far off being finished now!
 
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Started shaping the handle using my belt sander, dremel with drum sander and 120 grit paper. Still got a bit of fine tuning to do but it already feels very comfortable to hold.
 
Great idea, I have a thing for knives, Have loads of them but not thought about making my own.
 
Its very rewarding process and not very hard, just time consuming. The only bit I haven't liked so far is the hardening of the blade as I have no way to test if it has worked properly. You can send your blade off to be hardened by a professional though, so I think if I made another I would do that to make sure its done right.

Think i'm going to start another soon as I want to try a different design and maybe use some fancy wood this time :D.
 
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