So I was taking my daily morning walk.
The council clean out (garbage) day is near and the nature strips are littered with all sort of garbage.

This piece of steel caught my eye.


It is about 35mm wide



and about 5mm thick



It sort of nag me for the whole Sunday morning, and I decided to go home early and see if I could make something out of it.

First lets see if it has high carbon contents (harden-able)

No problem there..

Next I start to roughly shape it using a grinder


To about this shape

Next I rig up a quick jig I learned from one a member of BushcraftOz forum
and I file the rest of the way


Then I drill some holes on the handle


And harden it by heating till it is not magnetic and quenching into old car sump oil.
Then I draw the temper at about straw color then quench again.
This is what I get.


Finally with some more polish,



Sorry I did not take photo on how I put handle on the knife - I just plain start work and forgot about everything else.

Anyhow, to keep with the spirit of "found" or scavenged parts, I too another walk on Sunday morning and found me some pieces of old fencing material that was being chucked out.
Although the timber is weathered, I could not break a 20mm x 100mm x 500mm piece!!! that told me that the inside of the timber is OK.

So I took it home, shaped, drilled, glued and finished it with a couple coat of linseed oil.
Instead of rivet, or brass rods, I use a couple of screws (I found on the walk) to reinforce the handles.

Oh ya, I also etched my image on the knife

Here are some photos of how I made the sheath.

First I take a scrap paper (brochure) and wrap it around the blade to get the rough circumference.



Next, I cut the shape, belt loop for the sheath is the long end.


I also made a "middle" piece of leather to protect the stitches (not sure what this piece is called..) -
Note, I use sticky tape to protect ME from the sharp edge

Ok, No photo on the actual shaping, stitching and oiling, but well, it is quite simple anyway..

Here is the finished product.


Sheathed


Unsheathed



Now you know how Gelan looks like too

Ya know gelandangan, I've been meaning to have a go at knife making for the last 30 years, and still haven't quite got there, and here you knock it off on a Sunday morning, good one .
I even have a length of 1075 steel ready to go.

In the mean time I'll just go back to learning how to TIG weld aluminium and stainless, one triumph at a time.....

A forum that might help is;
www.australianbladeforums.com/vb4/
Sort of like here with a knife fetish, helpful blokes.

very tidy work. I keep a piece of pvc pipe inside my knife sheath now after having a knife cut through the sheath, my pack and finally my leg!!!!

Great work.
My only complaint is that you make it look to easy

BRILLIANT job Gelan. You done good mate. I particularly like the pic of Darwin etched onto the blade. I'm interested how you actually did that mate.

You have enough steel left over to start a couple more different shaped blades and handles mate. Making a knife that is useful and holds a good edge is very satisfying. I've made three or four now and I'm looking forward to the next one.

Instead of using screws to hold the handle scales in place mate, drop into your local RC Model Aircraft store and have a look at the various shapes, profiles and sizes of brass, aluminium and stainless they have available for modellers...and it's cheap too.

Nice job. I have an old 12 inch file that I have been saving for just such a project. Must dig it out and think about it for awhile. I made one once way back when I was a young fellow in Boy Scouts. All file work, no grinding allowed then. Took out the temper in a hardwood campfire and tempered same way.

Very nice work!

Good job, but I would also recommend to exchange the screws. They give this custom made knife a cheap look.

And for your info: I have to agree with your wife, it wouldn't harm when you loose some weight (and now I'm lucky my wife doesn't read this )

Thanks guys, I haven't made lots of knives for I was over complicating the process in my head.
Finding the steel sort of made me reckless, just do it cos it doesn't cost..
I guess I am cheap
anyhow, once I start, everything just slot in place.
Filing the blank definitely gives more control than grinding.

Oh yeah, Vince and Aloy, I know the screws looks odd, where I do have a bunch of nice rods of different materials,
but using scavenged screws, this knife would then be true in the "all scavenged" spirit.
Well almost.. The epoxy I use for the handle is purchased..

I like it, very nice.

question: what kind of trick persuaded you it was high carbon contence? With a grinder? (or is that ancient chinese science that's not allowed to transfer without somekind of Suz's raindance?)

Quote::

question: what kind of trick persuaded you it was high carbon contence? With a grinder?

This chart may help a bit.
No need to bother Suz, although it would be nice to see her doing the raindance,
maybe she'll even show us some snake skin tats.

You beat me to it galan, I was going to post this very chart and ask the same question as Aloysius, the sparks in the photo arent clear enough for me to tell.