Guthook build-a-long

[madcrow]

When making knives, i just wanted you to know that there is more than one way to skin a cat.  He is the shop supervisor.

[radius]

finally drew some knife outlines on an old blade.  it's a 10 inch blade with only 24 teeth...came with the saw...basically brand new steel, since i replaced it with a decent blade immediately.  Thanks madcrow...

[radius]

well i cut one out today...took 2 of those little dremel wheels...my instructor (in carpentry) at the college requires us to bring in some chisels and plane irons to get practice on the grinders and stones...what'll he say when i bring in this knife???

[radius]

here are the 3 blanks i cut out today.  The rough edges have been filed off...now i just hope the school doesn't mind me using their equipment for this project!

[radius]

Well, either they didn't mind or they just didn't care to say anything...the school's grinders are set at 25 degrees (for chisels and plane irons) and i think i need a much steeper edge than that...but i did grind them to shape and grind a rudimentary edge on them...then brought them home to polish them up a bit with the orbital sander...

enjoying it so far...next tool:  a grinder!

[madcrow]

25 degrees is good for utilty and skinning.  Once you drop below 20 degrees, the edge will become more delicate and prone to chipping. 

[radius]

q 4 u, madcrow

I have taken one of those 3 knife blanks above, and filed an edge on it, and taken it to the sharpening stone.  It's not super sharp yet, and i wonder:  do i take it to full sharpness before tempering it, or after?  This is my 1st try, so i'm pretty much walking in the dark...thanks.

[DanaM]

Harden and then temper the blade before final sharpening, thats how I do it anyway.

[radius]

isn't hardening and tempering the same?  you bring the steel to non-magnetic state, and then quench it in motor oil? 

So you're saying I should bring the knife to shape, but not sharpness, and then sharpen it after the quench?

Have you ever coated the back (spine) with clay so that it doesn't quench as rapidly as the blade?  From what I can tell, it helps keep the thing from becoming brittle.

[DanaM]

radius I get mine almost sharp then as you say bring it to non magnetic and quench in drain oil, after its cool check it for hardness by
taking a file to it if you can't file it than its harder than the file. At this point I clean it up real good and put in the oven at 400 degrees for
1 to 2 hours to temper it, in otherwords I draw some of the hardness out making it less brittle, I usually leave it in the oven until its a straw yellow color.
As for the clay thats a diferential hardening process and I don't know much about it .

[escanabajosh]

well i got a ol saw blade at work and got the blade all traced out on it gunna give this a shot this weekend i think. i ain't gotta camera but once i can get one i will show ya's what i come up with 

[DanaM]

Josh I can help ya with this also when ya come visit.

[escanabajosh]

that is comming up soon! i think i'll take ya up on that, if i do get around to any of it i'll just get it cut out. i got 65 cedar post to peel starting at 7:30 am till 3-4 pm (if i get em done then start bed building) then off bass fishing and picnic at the ford river mouth till dark.

i'll wait to do the heat treating and finish till i come visit....

[Abiqua]

Hey everyone,

Madcrow and I teamed up to put this article up on wikiHow.com. What do you all think? Is it clear? Are there any tips or warnings we can add?

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Guthook-Knife-from-an-Old-Saw-Blade

If there are any corrections or additions you can think of, please edit the page directly. You don't even have to register. Here is the link to the editing box for that page:

http://www.wikihow.com/index.php?title=Make-a-Guthook-Knife-from-an-Old-Saw-Blade&action=edit&override=yes

There's a link back to this forum in the article, and I'm hoping this article gets featured on the home page, so that might bring new people to this community--so any help to make this article accurate will be great!

[Abiqua]

 

This tutorial's going to get featured on the home page at wikiHow! It's scheduled for Oct. 15. Congrats Eddie!!

I'm curious to see how the public responds. Maybe they'll add tips and insights? Anyway, I'm hoping it brings more traffic to this forum. That would be cool.