Homemade Knives As Taught By An Old Mountain Man
If you know how, it’s not that difficult to make homemade knives. Let’s take a look at the process.
I was taught how to make homemade knives from an older gentleman living in the north Georgia mountains more than two decades ago.
He would go around looking for used hand saws for the knife metal because the older steel was so high grade. They had to be at least ten years old back then so that would mean over 30 years old now.
He would first clean the light rust off a saw blade by using fine sandpaper. Then he would grab a knife pattern and trace it onto the steel with soapstone. You need to make sure whatever pattern you use allows for the steel all the through the handle.
The next part blew me away. To avoid losing the temper in the steel, he cut the knife out with a cold chisel and hammer. It took a while but he got it done. A torch cut would require heat-treating the steel again.
To this day I still do everything like him up to this point. I added electric machines to the mix several years ago to make it easier.
I have a grinder with a white aluminum oxide wheel on one end and a buffing wheel on the other. The oxide wheel is used do heavier steel removal jobs and the buffing wheel is for polishing my homemade knives.
Another handy tool is a bench top belt sander. I use it to finish off my handles and for light stock removal of metal.
Now back to making homemade knives.
Use the belt sander to take off edge imperfections once your cutting is done. Then drill three holes for rivets in the handle area. You can make those rivets yourself from brass or copper round stock.
Wooden handle slabs will sandwich the steel part of the handle between them. Make them that size and 3/8″ thick. Add the rivets and peen them over on each side. Smooth the finished handle with the belt sander after that.
Shaping the blade comes next. Tilt the knife away from the belt sander about 15 degrees and make slow easy passes, alternating sides each time.
Using heavy gloves, place your thumb behind the end of the blade as you sharpen for support and to get an even grind.
Keep a container of water nearby to quench the blade regularly as you sharpen. There will be a lot of heat produced.
Keep making slow light passes down each side of the blade until you’ve got the sharpness you’re after. Polish the blade at this time if you like. Use jeweler’s rouge to add extra shine. You know what? After that you are finished!
These little homemade knives can be made in as little as an hour once you get used to the routine. It helps too to do a little prepping beforehand like making up the handle slabs. It’s a fun hobby and you’ll never run short of gifts when you need them!
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