Preference for Knife Blade Source??

[Loyalist Dave]

Hey Folks,
Give a concensus please...

Do you prefer a knife that is made from a store bought blade blank, or would you like a knife that is made by converting another source? In the past I have made knives from broken lumber saw blades, which is good steel for a knife, and I have made them by converting the handles on manufactured knives to be more appropriate for the 18th century, as well as using blade blanks from knife maker supply stores to fashion a knife. I prefer when making a knife from "scratch" to use the saw blades, as I like the finished product, but I was wondering as such blades are often hard to find these days.

Which do you like or do you have any preference at all?

LD

 

[WVAED]

I have made knives from old bandsaw blades. I like making them from spring steel. Coil springs or leaf. Of course i have a forge and anvil.

 

[BillinOregon]

Dave: What do you use to cut your blanks out of saw stock? A cutting torch works, of course, but someone pointed out that it burns the steel along the edge of the cut, and you have to remove quite a bit to get to sound material.
Here's where that 18th century plasma cutter is handy.
:wink:

 

[fatboy]

plasma cutter would be a cool to have

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Yes, my local smith told me a torch would burn out the carbon, and leave me a bit of iron along the edges where the steel once was. :grin: So I didn't use a plasma cutter....,

The book I read said to score the saw blade with a cold chisel, then to put the saw blade into a vise, and snap off a chunk of the blade. It worked, and then I scored the chunk of saw blade with the chisel, and using the vise and a 4 pound hammer, knocked bits of metal off along the score marks until I had a rough outline of a blade..., kinda looked "knapped" if you get my meaning...,

Then I used a grinding wheel, and lots of water, and smoothed out the rough edges while not letting the blade get so hot I messed up the temper. So I had this really brittle knife blade blank at that point.

OK so the book I read then said they (Continental Soldiers) would bury the blades in the ground, leaving the tangs exposed, and would build a fire over them to soften the tang for drilling. So I used a bucket of play sand (trying to get consistent results in the future - if it worked), and hardwood charcoal, and angled the blade in the sand so that the "cutting" edge was buried, but the spine was exposed. The sand acted as a heat sink, and the blade was less brittle, and I had no trouble when the fire had burned out and the blade had cooled, with drilling holes in the tang.

The book was (iirc) The Revolutionary Soldier, 1775-1783: An Illustrated Sourcebook of Authentic Details about Everyday Life for Revolutionary War Soldiers by C. Keith Wilbur.

Now that I have a forge, I might hot-cut the blank out.

LD

 

[necchi]

I always have an eye out at second hand stores and garage sales for old high carbon blades.
You can get some really nice stuff out of say an olde chopper.

 

[BillinOregon]

Dave, I have that same book and thought to try that technique. But my crappy cold chisel just skated on the blade steel and I gave up.

LHunter, the 18th century plasma cutter was "make the apprentice do it."
:rotf:

 

[ohio ramrod]

My prefernce is old files, next old industrial hawksaw blades.For heavy throwing knives I like ford ranger or chevy S 10 leaf springs But then I like "pounding steel". :idunno: :idunno:

 

[BillinOregon]

Ohio: You figure those springs might be 5160?