Have you built a knife using a circular saw blade?.

[Freezer]

I've been browsing this forum and saw folks using hack saw and band saw blades for knives, but no circular saw blades. My first BP project was for a friend and was a T/C Hawken, FL. It just didn't seem tight to give him the toy without the batteries, so I scrounged some things together and made him a knife from a 16" saw blade.

I researched what the mountain men carried and decided on a scalper. I cut it out with a hand grinder then used a bench grinder to bevel the blade, 20 degrees. I kept the metal cool and didn't overheat the blade. I used a file to fine tune the edge before working on it with a Lanski kits after the handle was complete. The handle has many holes for epoxy and I drilled them in stages starting with a 1/16th bit and worked my way up. The handle is made of walnut to match the Hawken. The sheath is Poplar and leather I online. The rivets in the handle are 1/4 copper stock, and the rivets in the sheath were bought at the local hardware store.

 

[64Springer]

In my opinion, the circular saw disc/arbor portion is just the vehicle for carrying the saw teeth/carbide.

I wouldn't make a knife from that material.

Maybe a blade where the teeth are formed from the same disc/arbor material would work better. I've made knives from old industrial metal cutting hacksaw blades. That stuff made great knives.

I need to look in the basement and see if I have any old circular saw blades. Could be a fun winter project.

 

[Davey Boy]

A beautiful job in all respects. Copper is pretty soft for rivets and the material in the picture looks like brass. Did you use copper in the extra holes for the epoxy to grab onto?

Is the sheath made out of wood?

When you next drill larger holes from smaller ones using regular drills, they can sometimes grab and damage your work or break the drill. Step drills were made to drill concentric holes in steps in sheet metal to obtain a nice hole without the grab. They come in different sizes of steps and are really tough metal.

If you have more pictures I would like to see them.

 

[andy52]

I have made blades with circular blades but they were the huge sawmill ones.

 

[tallpine]

Good rule of thumb is if it has carbide tips it's mild steel, not knife material. Best test is to takes a piece of the saw blade, put in a vice and hit it with a hammer. If it snaps off clean it will make a knife. If it bends keep looking.

 

[pacanis]

Nice project.
It should be fine as a patch knife or light duty knife. You'll find out more about it as you use it and see how long it holds an edge.

I've used a regular handsaw, which of course is a lot thinner, to make a small Altoids tin ulu and it works pretty well. Holds a razor sharp edge great.

Lots of guys buy a cheap Old Hickory butcher knife, reshape it and put on new scales. You'll get a more serviceable knife because it started out as a knife.

 

[ZUG]

The carbon steel saw blades would work. I don't know about the saw blades that have carbide tips as they maybe of softer steel. I do know that the carbon steel saw blades will make a nice head knife and skiving knife for cutting leather.

 

[centershot]

Yes, the "body" of a carbide-tipped saw blade is soft steel, not a good choice for a knife. However, if you can find a blade made of High Speed Steel (HSS), now you have something! If there is a saw sharpening shop in your area, stop in, they may have "scrap" blades there available to you for low, or no, cost. If they don't, they can tell you which of the shops in the area may be using that type of blade. Contact them, they may have blades with cracks that can't safely be used anymore. I worked in a local sharpening shop for over twenty years and once I realized the demand, I started saving broken, cracked blades and dull files for the local craftsmen. It didn't cost me or my employer anything and it was nice to be able to help out some true artisans every once in a while!

 

[DanL]

Research and learn to use the grinder test. In Blacksmithing, we collect pieces of known carbon content material and a piece of wrought iron with no to very little carbon. Touch each piece to a grinder wheel and watch the sparks. Each piece of steel with different carbon contents will have different spark patterns coming off the grinder wheel. When you have an unknown carbon content piece of metal, you can compare the spark pattern of the unknown with the known carbon content samples. You can get an educated guess for carbon content in a piece of scrap steel this way. I am sure there are spark pattern charts on the interweb and for sure in some blacksmithing books.

Good luck in your adventures.

 

[Henry Miles]

I've used the large industrial circular sawblades and they are good steel for knives. Almost impossible to drill holes in them, but can be done, with patience. They take to file work well. These had carbide teeth and are about 16" across. I've not tried tempering since they seem to be about right as is.