Homemade skiving knife.

[MarshalWill]

We'll just call it a lightening hole, then. 

[fredk]

The way I hold knife to exert some pressure is to put my fore-finger on the blade. That hole would make an excellent finger locator

[MarshalWill]

8 hours ago, fredk said:

The way I hold knife to exert some pressure is to put my fore-finger on the blade. That hole would make an excellent finger locator

Well, there you go. It now has an official purpose.

[dikman]

Maybe it could start a (w)hole new design trend.

[MarshalWill]

[Nowandagain]

On 7/29/2025 at 3:09 PM, PastorBob said:

I bought a cheap one on Amazon for $10.  It works very well.  I need to put an edge back on it though.

I wish I had that option (and options to buy finishes and leather) but it’s one of the trade-offs for living here. Unfortunately there are few if any knives that Amazon will ship to Israel.
 

On the plus side all of this encourages a person to get creative. 

[MarshalWill]

2 hours ago, Nowandagain said:

I wish I had that option (and options to buy finishes and leather) but it’s one of the trade-offs for living here. Unfortunately there are few if any knives that Amazon will ship to Israel.
 

On the plus side all of this encourages a person to get creative. 

I'm a firm believer of the saw blade option. If you're careful to not heat the cutting edge when you shape it, some saw blades have enough temper to hold a good edge without heat treating.

[dikman]

Most saw blades can be heat-treated and re-hardened/tempered, the el-cheapo handsaws are usually just carbon steel. Nothing wrong with being creative with what's around, I do it all the time when making blades. A gas torch should be all you need to do that with thinner blades.

[MarshalWill]

34 minutes ago, dikman said:

Most saw blades can be heat-treated and re-hardened/tempered, the el-cheapo handsaws are usually just carbon steel. Nothing wrong with being creative with what's around, I do it all the time when making blades. A gas torch should be all you need to do that with thinner blades.

What color do you heat them to before quenching?

[chuck123wapati]

11 hours ago, MarshalWill said:

What color do you heat them to before quenching?

That's the problem with unknown steels. it depends on what type of steel you have so its hit and miss if you get a good temper. Most can be though with some experimentation on some scraps. you have to re-harden the blade, then temper it. you can get by with map gas on small blades if you can keep the steel at temp throughout the whole length of the cutting edge.

P.S. I made this at home, does it count lol. and my putty knife skiver was the inspiration.