The title should say How to make a knife the Squawsach way. There is more than one way to skin a cat and there is no wrong or right way. This is just the way that I have learned to do it with the tools I have and lots of trial and error. This is a basic three piece knife tutorial. Several folks at RFC have mentioned wanting a tutorial on knife making and I think it would be nice to see more people posting in the custom knife forum. JJ has really sparked some interest with his posts documenting his progress after diving head first into this knife making thing.
I start with a bar of steel and an idea.
I lay the steel bar on card stock, usually the packaging from sandpaper, and scribe lines along the top and bottom to give me the size of the bar I have to work with. I make a couple marks to show handle length. I like a handle no less than 4 1/2" on full sized knives. Many makers make handles which I feel are too short. If you want to know how long you should make a handle for yourself, grab a ruler like you are going to slice something with it and take note of how much of the ruler your hand covers. When I have my handle length marked, I start to doodle inside the lines drawn using the bar stock. I do mean doodle. I sometimes have to make 10 knife doodles before I have one worth cutting out.
When I have a knife doodle that I like, I cut it out of the card stock and trace it on the degreased steel using a Sharpie pin.
This steel is 3/16" O1. This knife is intended for field use and the 3/16" O1 provides enough material for very rugged use.
The fun now begins. I cut my blades out with a hacksaw. If you have something that works better than a hasksaw, use it. I have a very good hacksaw but it's still a hacksaw and it wears me out. I use tap fluid when cutting the blade. It helps keep things cool and prolongs the life of the blade.
The blade looks very rough when cut out with a hacksaw.
That's what they make disc sanders and files for. I like using files to profile my blades. I draw file the spine of the knife paying attention to the curve along the top of the blade.
I like knives that have very few with any straight edges. A knife should flow. Fluid lines make for a better looking knife IMHO.
I use a half round file for the contour on the inside of the handle.
Once the blade is profiled and the handle feels good in your hand, I cut the handle material to profile. I'm using 1/4" maroon, linen micarta on this knife. I trace the profile of the handle onto the micarta with a sharpie.
I then cut the 10" piece of mycarta in half and use double sided carpet tape to secure both pieces together. I cut both pieces at the same time with a jig saw.
The double sided carpet tape is wonderful stuff for knife making. The scales are exactly the same when cut while taped together. The two scales can be wiggled apart after cutting to profile.
I'll be using black spacer material on this knife. I use a Dremel tool to put shallow divots in the scales on the side that will contact the spacer. The divots will allow the epoxy a little room. If the flat surface of the scale was clamped to the flat surface of the spacer with out the divots, the epoxy would have nowhere to go and it would get squeezed out causing a weak bond. I use a fast cure epoxy on spacer material but not for gluing the scales to the blade. I clamp the scales to the spacer using flat 1/2" SS plates and C clamps.
The tang gets drilled while waiting for the scales and spacers to dry. Pins and pin location? That's completely up to the maker. I don't know of any rules about pin size and location. I just use what I think looks good. This one will get a 1/4" mosaic pin up front and six 1/6" brass pins along the rest of the handle. I lay pin locations out using a homemade scribe and a ruler. I mark the pin locations with the ole Sharpie pin and center punch them.
I assume everyone knows how to drill a hole so I won't cover that. After the pin holes are drill through the tang, drill additional holes to lighten the tang and allow better bonding of epoxy. Kinda make it look like swiss cheese but keep material between the holes and avoid removing too much material from the area under the front of the scales.
I chamfer the holes with a stone bit and dremel tool.
I'll post part two a little later.
I start with a bar of steel and an idea.
I lay the steel bar on card stock, usually the packaging from sandpaper, and scribe lines along the top and bottom to give me the size of the bar I have to work with. I make a couple marks to show handle length. I like a handle no less than 4 1/2" on full sized knives. Many makers make handles which I feel are too short. If you want to know how long you should make a handle for yourself, grab a ruler like you are going to slice something with it and take note of how much of the ruler your hand covers. When I have my handle length marked, I start to doodle inside the lines drawn using the bar stock. I do mean doodle. I sometimes have to make 10 knife doodles before I have one worth cutting out.
When I have a knife doodle that I like, I cut it out of the card stock and trace it on the degreased steel using a Sharpie pin.
This steel is 3/16" O1. This knife is intended for field use and the 3/16" O1 provides enough material for very rugged use.
The fun now begins. I cut my blades out with a hacksaw. If you have something that works better than a hasksaw, use it. I have a very good hacksaw but it's still a hacksaw and it wears me out. I use tap fluid when cutting the blade. It helps keep things cool and prolongs the life of the blade.
The blade looks very rough when cut out with a hacksaw.
That's what they make disc sanders and files for. I like using files to profile my blades. I draw file the spine of the knife paying attention to the curve along the top of the blade.
I like knives that have very few with any straight edges. A knife should flow. Fluid lines make for a better looking knife IMHO.
I use a half round file for the contour on the inside of the handle.
Once the blade is profiled and the handle feels good in your hand, I cut the handle material to profile. I'm using 1/4" maroon, linen micarta on this knife. I trace the profile of the handle onto the micarta with a sharpie.
I then cut the 10" piece of mycarta in half and use double sided carpet tape to secure both pieces together. I cut both pieces at the same time with a jig saw.
The double sided carpet tape is wonderful stuff for knife making. The scales are exactly the same when cut while taped together. The two scales can be wiggled apart after cutting to profile.
I'll be using black spacer material on this knife. I use a Dremel tool to put shallow divots in the scales on the side that will contact the spacer. The divots will allow the epoxy a little room. If the flat surface of the scale was clamped to the flat surface of the spacer with out the divots, the epoxy would have nowhere to go and it would get squeezed out causing a weak bond. I use a fast cure epoxy on spacer material but not for gluing the scales to the blade. I clamp the scales to the spacer using flat 1/2" SS plates and C clamps.
The tang gets drilled while waiting for the scales and spacers to dry. Pins and pin location? That's completely up to the maker. I don't know of any rules about pin size and location. I just use what I think looks good. This one will get a 1/4" mosaic pin up front and six 1/6" brass pins along the rest of the handle. I lay pin locations out using a homemade scribe and a ruler. I mark the pin locations with the ole Sharpie pin and center punch them.
I assume everyone knows how to drill a hole so I won't cover that. After the pin holes are drill through the tang, drill additional holes to lighten the tang and allow better bonding of epoxy. Kinda make it look like swiss cheese but keep material between the holes and avoid removing too much material from the area under the front of the scales.
I chamfer the holes with a stone bit and dremel tool.
I'll post part two a little later.