Guthook build-a-long

[Ottomic]

I'm not sure what we were looking up, but my girlfriend stumbled onto the wiki page around the 15th.    :-P   Guess that front page worked, eh?  I loved the idea, so I saved the page so I could look at it after I got back from our house there. 

Three weeks later I sifted through the pile of my grandfather's old sawblades.  I went for one of the cheapers with no carbide teeth.  I figure I might use those later as actual sawblades, go figure.      I traced out my pattern and got to cutting with my little dremel tool.  I actually found that the thicker reinforced blades seemed to take longer and more effort from the tool.  Also, munching through three of the light duty blades (the third was because I forgot to support the falling knife blank and it pinched) is by far cheaper than the wearing out the heavy duty cutter.  :-P     

So, I cleaned it up and found that without a suitable large diameter grinder... I just had to do all the clean up by file.  I tried a 'hollow grind' for one side of the blade and after I noticed that my little wheel would just cut in and not give a nice edge, the file was the way to go.  I used the MAPP torch here and softened up the handle enough to drill pin holes and then went for hardening and tempering it.  Non-magnetic came reeeeeally quick.  Much quicker than I thought it would.  I also had no used motor oil anywhere.  Hopefully the veggie stuff worked.  A felt wheel and jeweler's rouge will still not take any scratches out, so it must still be decently hard.  :-P

The wiki should probably be edited to add in a note to test it with a file for hardness before tempering.  Sounds like a good way to make sure you're not getting it hot and then tossing it in the oven.  :-P 

After all of that, I ran it through with the orbital and some hand sanding to get it to the shine that I wanted it at.  Cut some scales out of the 1/4"x4"x48" red oak I'm using for a doorway transition (lintel?) and shaped those up.  Snipped a few lengths of 1/8" steel rod for pins.  Got the scales positioned and sanded up.  I didn't want to epoxy it (didn't have any anyways!) so I looked up peening methods.  I should have done both sides the same, but wanted to try different methods to see what I like.  :-)  I ground one side to a taper and the other I dimpled with a punch (not pictured). 

What do you think?  I'm getting into wood carving and needed a good knife.  The very edge is still flat, but it slices through the pine shims I used as buffers when peening.  Not sure if I finish the scales or let them get finished with skin oil.  :-P 

[Ottomic]

Good thing I forgot to attach the picture, keeps crashing everytime I try...

[attachment deleted by admin]

[madcrow]

Looks like you arte on the right track.  I was getting ready to ask for a pic when you posted it.  I have seen some carving / whittling knives with single and double bevels.  When it gets dull, if you have not knicked the blade, you should be able to use some rough on a leather strop to hone the edge.  Thinner blades will slice through the wood easier.  Also, you want it as sharp as you can possibly get it.  Dull knives and chisels on hard wood will get you atrip to the emergency room for stitches.  If you are using softer woods, you really want it sharp because a dull blade will bust through instaed of slice.  You made a nice lloking nad very handy knife.  Before you know it, you will have a set of them.

[Ottomic]

Yeah, the bevel looks so shinie, I figured it would be a pity to bring out a stone and scratch it up.  :-P  So, I cut out a 1" rough circle from a belt no longer being used and turned it into a dremel sized stropping wheel.  :-P   It is doing much better than the felt wheels I have already. 

[oldgun]

I've done a little knife building as a result of this thread (thankyou) and am enjoying it. One ? I have is how do you stop the surface rust? I get it to a nice shine but after a week or three I get a small amount of rust appearing on my blade. Is there something you use to prevent this?
Thanks.

[DanaM]

About all you can do is keep a little light oil on it

[madcrow]

You can use very high grit sandpaper (400 - 1000) to buff the surface rust off, or you can use a dremel tool with a buffing wheel and some polishing compound to get rid of it.  One trick that seems to work for oiling is to hold the blade against a 100 watt light bulb and warm it up.  Then rub in some mineral oil, 3 in 1, WD-40.  The oil seems to soak into the steel better if the blade is warm.  Whenever you use the knife, or are showing it off and letting people handle it, wash and dry it and oil it.  Do not store it in a leather sheath in between uses.  The leather just soaks the oil off the blade and it will rust in the sheath.  I have steel blanks in my building that have been there for a year or more that have not rusted yet.

[Stoker]

Thanks for all the info. I work construction and old blades lay everywhere. Can I use my wood stove for the heating? It should be ok as long as I watch the temp. I take it that the same princaples stand for broadheads. Thanks again Leroy

[madcrow]

Never tried a wood stove, but with a good bed of coals, it may work.  You may have to rig up a hair dryer to a piece of pipe to give it an extra boost.  If the blades are carbide tipped, you will need to test the blade to see if it will harden.  Heat it red hot in the coals, dunk it in a bucket of water, put it in a wise and hit one of the teeth with a hammer.  If it breaks, the steel has hardened.  If it bends over, it did not harden and probably won't.  If it did harden, let it cool, draw the pattern and have at it.  You may have to anneal to cut it if it is too hard.  Just heat it red hot again and let it cool on its own.

[Stoker]

I'll have to give it a try soon as I get my shop back in order.Wife thought it was a good idea to move,maybe she was right I now have mule deer in my yard Thanks Leroy

[radius]

hi madcrow,

Question:

A guy just gave me a sawblade that's 18.5" across, 17.5 or so inside the gullets.  Can i use the steel all the way up to the gullets, or only inside that outer ring of steel?  This blade came from a sawmill and was used to cut stacks of plywood, 8 high at a time, the guy said.  Would this be the pro industrial steel that doesn't need to be hardened (as you said)?  If so, then should i anneal it?  Anneal the whole thing at once, before setting to work on it?

Thanks

[radius]

another question:  did you ever wind up doing that hidden tang tutorial?

thanks

[madcrow]

Those big sawmill blades are made from the same metal as the tablesaw blades, which is a variation of L-6 steel.  You could cut the blank out and try to clean up all the rough edges with a good bastard mill file.If the file digs in and grabs alot of steel, it is soft and will need some heat treat and temper.  If it seems to glide across and not grab much, it is hard and should not need any heat treat.  Either way, I would just anneal the handle with a cutting torch or a plumbers torch to be able to drill the holes.  That stuff is murder on drill bits.  I would also stay away from the teeth.  Those things are under alot of stress when in use and get small cracks in them.  One other thing to consider is the blank layout on the blade.  Some sawmill blades are tapered.  They are thinner at the teeth and thicker around the center hole.  There are a few different ways to work this to your advantage if it is tapered.  You can layout the design with the blade tip toward the hole or the handles toward the hole.  These would both offer a tapered tang design, one would be blade heavy and the other would be handle heavy.  You could also place the patterns around the blade, with the blade edge close to the teeth.  This will give a slight taper from the top of the knife to the bottom.  As far as the other buildalong goes, I actually did a couple more, but my daughter decided that my pics were taking up too much memory on the camera and deleted them before I could get them transferred.  I will try to get another one started this weekend since I have a few knives that I need to finish up and a bunch that I need to get started on.

[radius]

thanks madcrow, that's awesome...this blade is full thickness across, i think, or else the taper is so slight i cannot tell...

[radius]

what about fullers?  have you tried putting these in with sawblade knives?