Sawzall blade turned into a knife.

[bighat10]

A few people asked me to post some pictures of one of my sawzall knives. Well here ya go!

This used to be the knife I would take with me hiking, fishing, camping, etc, etc, etc. But the handle was a pain. It would get wet and slippery So now I just use a helle Gaupe which really isn't that much better in the rain... but oh well.


It is about a 3inch blade that is made from a reheat treated sawzall blade. It holds a edge quite well, but it is in a dire need of some cleanup and sharpening. The handle is a unknown type of wood. I pulled out of a scrapbin of wood I got at a fleamarket. The handle was finished with 2coats of danish oil, and 3coats of polyurthane.

And I know, it is a sawzall blade. But It does its job so I am happy with it.

Oh and anyone who helped me with my previous post(the one about laminating sawzall blades) reads this. Thanks for advice. I might not of taken it as you hoped I would. But You still took the time to help me out, and I Apreciate it.

 

[12345678910]

This is popular because a popular youtube woodworker showed it.

It's not really that useful, but will wrk somewhat, the carbonspring steel the HSS teeth are attached to is hardenish-able

whatever floats your boat.


Try this info, you will improve

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...a-Folder-Kit-Assembly?p=14755242#post14755242


Especially see the PDF from Stacy on things to avoid.

 

[NC Biker]

Hey, I'd buy one of those, I could add it to my shank collection

 

[Brian.Evans]

You obviously want to make knives. Why not remake that knife with a little larger first finger choil, rounded butt, and a full flat grind in something like 1/8" 1084. You'd be very surprised how much better a knife you'd be able to make doing it right.

 

[NC Biker]

You obviously want to make knives. Why not remake that knife with a little larger first finger choil, rounded butt, and a full flat grind in something like 1/8" 1084. You'd be very surprised how much better a knife you'd be able to make doing it right.

He was given lots of good advise on making knives in another thread, he's chosen to ignore that advise and wants to make shanks. To each his own.

 

[phorizt]

Hey, I'd buy one of those, I could add it to my shank collection

That's an impressive shank collection. Having grown up right next to one of the biggest prison systems in the country, my mom being a prison guard and me getting my hair cut by inmates and going to prison haunted houses on Halloween as a youth I really appreciate a good shank. Brings back lots of old memories like when I learned that my barber stabbed one of the prison guards. She seemed like a nice enough lady to me.

 

[Sosa]

Heartwarming story.

 

[bighat10]

This is popular because a popular youtube woodworker showed it.

It's not really that useful, but will wrk somewhat, the carbonspring steel the HSS teeth are attached to is hardenish-able

whatever floats your boat.


Try this info, you will improve

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...a-Folder-Kit-Assembly?p=14755242#post14755242


Especially see the PDF from Stacy on things to avoid.

Yea, its definitely not the best steel. But its practice, and gives me something to do when I run out of good tool steel.

Hey, I'd buy one of those, I could add it to my shank collection

I will sell it to you for a few cigars!

You obviously want to make knives. Why not remake that knife with a little larger first finger choil, rounded butt, and a full flat grind in something like 1/8" 1084. You'd be very surprised how much better a knife you'd be able to make doing it right.

Thanks for the advice! I am buying some more 1084 and going to find a better way to heattreat. My little homemade soupcan forge isn't quite satisfying.

He was given lots of good advise on making knives in another thread, he's chosen to ignore that advise and wants to make shanks. To each his own.

You did not read the end of the post did you? My question was if anyone had done something similiar before, and if you had any ideas on how to do it. I wasn't asking if I should spend my saturday trying it. I already planned on spending my saturday in the workshop just screwing around with the idea. I don't care if it works or not, I am having fun doing it. So... If i am having fun and not hurting anybody, why do you care? Oh and once again thanks for taking the time to give me some pointers. I believe your pointer was something like "Stop being a idiot. REAL bladesmiths use steel, and don't play around with cheap sawzall blades" Or something to that effect. I might of paraphrased abit.

That's an impressive shank collection. Having grown up right next to one of the biggest prison systems in the country, my mom being a prison guard and me getting my hair cut by inmates and going to prison haunted houses on Halloween as a youth I really appreciate a good shank. Brings back lots of old memories like when I learned that my barber stabbed one of the prison guards. She seemed like a nice enough lady to me.

Great story, Might just use it as a bedtime story for my kids!

 

[scubasteve4sq]

OK now he is just trolling.

 

[NC Biker]

You did not read the end of the post did you? My question was if anyone had done something similiar before, and if you had any ideas on how to do it. I wasn't asking if I should spend my saturday trying it. I already planned on spending my saturday in the workshop just screwing around with the idea. I don't care if it works or not, I am having fun doing it. So... If i am having fun and not hurting anybody, why do you care? Oh and once again thanks for taking the time to give me some pointers. I believe your pointer was something like "Stop being a idiot. REAL bladesmiths use steel, and don't play around with cheap sawzall blades" Or something to that effect. I might of paraphrased abit.

You're not paraphrasing, you're hallucinating. I didn't even post in the other thread. I have to agree with scubasteve now, your just trolling.

 

[bighat10]

Now you are just trolling. What is with this community? I come in and ask a question, now yes it was a kinda stupid question. But anyways. Then you guys asked me to show one of my sawzall blade knives, I show the one I made a year or two again. Then you come back and tell me I am trolling by posting some pictures of the dang thing. If this is the kind of community you guys are, I think I need to find a different group of people. I came to this forum to see what kind of work you guys do, to get some pointers so I can improve. It has 30% helpfulness, and 70% you guys calling me an idiot/troll.

 

[bighat10]

Sorry wrong person, my sincere apologies. I must of gotten names mixed up somehow.. sorry again.

 

[Nic.]

That's an impressive shank collection. Having grown up right next to one of the biggest prison systems in the country, my mom being a prison guard and me getting my hair cut by inmates and going to prison haunted houses on Halloween as a youth I really appreciate a good shank. Brings back lots of old memories like when I learned that my barber stabbed one of the prison guards. She seemed like a nice enough lady to me.

Holy crap man, glad you didn't get your neck shanked by some of those prison barbers!

 

[Nic.]

Pretty much everyone on here is very helpful, and willing to provide great info! It's not fair to judge this community based on them trying to give you helpful info by saying that what you wanted to do was not really possible for a real knife. Listen to their advice, and then try to judge them if you so please. Otherwise, don't listen and do your own thing, but don't attack them

 

[JG Custom Metal Works]

What is with this community? If this is the kind of community you guys are, I think I need to find a different group of people.

 

[scubasteve4sq]

You didn't come here for advice, you were given the same advice from at least 10 different people, yet you chose to reply with "I don't care" and proceed anyways.

Grow some thicker skin, learn to admit when youve had a stupid idea (news flash we all have them) and thank the people here for preventing you from hurting yourself or wasting your time.

You are not practicing knife making with your epoxy laminated saws all blades. Because nothing about your plan resembles knifemaking.

 

[Sosa]

I kind of like the crude little bugger of a knife. It would be a great clam shucking knife for fishing here in the delta.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

OK folks, lets give big hat some slack here. Derailing his thread with posts of your shank collection and other non-connected chit-chat is a rules violation. Also, some basic courtesy to a new member is in order here. It is fine to offer critique, even blunt critique, but don't get out of hand.

Bighat,
There are several issues with your knife:

You already know about the steel, so we will let that go.

The blade shape is sort of a "sharpened bar of steel" type. Nothing really wrong with it, but a look at some in The Gallery would show some ways to improve it.

The biggest issue is the handle. It is the classic new maker handle suffering from "BHS" - blocky handle syndrome. It needs to be rounded and made smaller. The cross section should be some sort of oval or egg shape. The front and back end should be rounded a bit, too. All those layers of varnish don't help either. Again, look at some finished knives in the threads here and in The Gallery to see what the proper shape is. Nothing really wrong with using nails for rivets ( it looks like that is what you did), but there are better choices.

I'm guessing you are pretty young and doing all this on your own with nothing buy You-Tube videos to go by. Be aware that there is probably more bad info on You-Tube than good info.

Some things you can do to help yourself:
Fill out your profile...all of it. Your age, location, occupation, and hobbies/interests will help us better know you.
Find a maker near you. By filling out your profile, one might even reach out to you with an offer of help.
Don't get ruffled to easy, and try and avoid copping an attitude when people criticize your thoughts or knife. Most of us are just trying to help

 

[bighat10]

Pretty much everyone on here is very helpful, and willing to provide great info! It's not fair to judge this community based on them trying to give you helpful info by saying that what you wanted to do was not really possible for a real knife. Listen to their advice, and then try to judge them if you so please. Otherwise, don't listen and do your own thing, but don't attack them

I listened to the advice, but for some reason some you think you are the overlords of how I spend my saturday. You said it wouldn't work. You guys probably right. But I want to try my stupid ideas out, because I have fun doing them.

You didn't come here for advice, you were given the same advice from at least 10 different people, yet you chose to reply with "I don't care" and proceed anyways.

Grow some thicker skin, learn to admit when youve had a stupid idea (news flash we all have them) and thank the people here for preventing you from hurting yourself or wasting your time.

You are not practicing knife making with your epoxy laminated saws all blades. Because nothing about your plan resembles knifemaking.

I did listen to your advice that it wouldn't work. But what I didn't listen to was you guys tlling me not to try it. It is a stupid plan. BUT I DO NOT CARE because I enjoy trying out my stupid ideas and watching them fail. Can nobody accept the fact that I enjoy spending my saturdays watching my plans fail? I do not need your guys help on IF I should try a stupid idea out. I want your guys advice on HOW I should try my stupid ideas out. If you don't feel like helping me out my stupid ideas, then don't...

And I have a question for you. What is a knife? Isn't it simply a tool that gets the job done. Can It skin a rabbit? Yes it can. Can it shave off kindling to start a fire? yes it can. Can it open boxes? Yes it can. Thats what I made the knife for. Was to be used. It does what I need it to just fine, so how is it not a "real knife" simply because Inferior materials to what a "real knifemaker" would use.

I kind of like the crude little bugger of a knife. It would be a great clam shucking knife for fishing here in the delta.

OK folks, lets give big hat some slack here. Derailing his thread with posts of your shank collection and other non-connected chit-chat is a rules violation. Also, some basic courtesy to a new member is in order here. It is fine to offer critique, even blunt critique, but don't get out of hand.

Bighat,
There are several issues with your knife:

You already know about the steel, so we will let that go.

The blade shape is sort of a "sharpened bar of steel" type. Nothing really wrong with it, but a look at some in The Gallery would show some ways to improve it.

The biggest issue is the handle. It is the classic new maker handle suffering from "BHS" - blocky handle syndrome. It needs to be rounded and made smaller. The cross section should be some sort of oval or egg shape. The front and back end should be rounded a bit, too. All those layers of varnish don't help either. Again, look at some finished knives in the threads here and in The Gallery to see what the proper shape is. Nothing really wrong with using nails for rivets ( it looks like that is what you did), but there are better choices.

I'm guessing you are pretty young and doing all this on your own with nothing buy You-Tube videos to go by. Be aware that there is probably more bad info on You-Tube than good info.

Some things you can do to help yourself:
Fill out your profile...all of it. Your age, location, occupation, and hobbies/interests will help us better know you.
Find a maker near you. By filling out your profile, one might even reach out to you with an offer of help.
Don't get ruffled to easy, and try and avoid copping an attitude when people criticize your thoughts or knife. Most of us are just trying to help

Makes sense. Will try rounding my handle more with my next knife.

Yea, going to pickup maybe some brassrod when my 1084 and furnace shipment comes in.

You are sort of right. I watched a few videos from gough custom, and walter sorrells and the metalworking advice my grandfather taught me. And basically ran with it... I had an idea what I wanted it to look like and, started shaping it with the tips and tricks I learned in mind.



Thanks for the help guys! I will be back when I have something better to show you.(but it might still be a sawzallblade because my shipment of steel isn't going to be here for a few weeks)

 

[tryppyr]

Stacy said what I was thinking. I'll add a couple more points.

First, I would say "practice" should ideally lead to some particular increase of skill. If you practice doing things wrong, it takes considerably more practice to overcome the ingrained habits learned. You start thinking like, "I'll just do what worked before," rather than doing what you OUGHT to have done before. Believe me, I taught myself many improper methods and it took these guys a lot of extra effort to get me to start doing things the right way.

For instance, the way you put the edge on that blade. Because the steel you used was so thin, you opted to make the bevel very small. Later you'll have trouble convincing yourself that a full flat grind is worth the effort, and you'll probably fall back on this shortcut again. Then you'll notice it doesn't work as well on real knife steel. Better you should get into the habit of drawing the bevel up the blade properly.

Your handle was obviously an afterthought. But the thing about simple tools like knives is that every part of the tool is important. Don't downplay the importance of proper handle design, and teach yourself the skills of making the handle shape match the function the final product. Also, think about the handle material. What characteristics does it need? Grippiness? Waterproof? Impervious to chips?

How will you mount it? Pins? Bolts? Hidden mechanisms?

Does it need to be removable? Does the knife need a guard or pommel?

Make your practice meaningful. Make it count to advance your skills. Though nobody knows everything, it's important to understand you are not the first to take this journey, and others who have been where you are going can help you get the skills you want much faster.

Good luck, and I hope you enjoy the journey.