I thought a would make a head knife

[tomcat]

I had a piece of O1 tool steel laying around and i wanted to make a head knife as simple as possible in case someone who couldn't afford one, and with some basic skills, a hack saw, a file, a mapp (propane type torch), a nice piece of wood, could make three for about $10 (the cost of the steel), assuming you have the wood and the torch ...I took a few pictures of building it, and if you like i will make a small tutorial of how to, including heat treating and tempering....

[rdb]

nice job tomcat! she's purdy. Ingenuity wins again.

A tutorial would be wonderful.

[Tkleather1]

I have a few saw blades that I would like to use to make a knife or two but I dont know where to start without taking the temper out of the steel. if you could I would love to have more info on this.

Thanks

Tim

[sdkid]

I 2nd the tutorial. The knife looks great.

[electrathon]

I have a few saw blades that I would like to use to make a knife or two but I dont know where to start without taking the temper out of the steel. if you could I would love to have more info on this.

Thanks

Tim

If you cut it without showing color, the temper will stay. If you get color, grind past it, and all will be good.

This is not as good of an answer as tempering it initially, but is a great solution for home work.

[ryano]

I would like a tutorial also.

Thanks! She looks really good!

[UKRay]

I'd like to know more about knife making too - bring on the tutorial!

Ray

[tomcat]

Thanks everyone for the kind words, like i said i will keep this as simple as possible...The first thing we need is a good tool steel, all steels have a number or letter, the steel i want you to use is a great all around steel, knife makers still use this because its simple and keeps an edge......O1 tool steel here is where you get it...

http://www.texasknife.com/vcom/index.php?cPath=87_72

Get the 1/8 x 12" i think its $10.95 and you can make at least 2 of them ....

When you get the steel, its not hardened so its easy to drill and file, remember this is your design, and its custom, so if you think of wanting to do something different, by all means do it, just be careful, and be safe, remember we are dealing with a sharp knife and heat and flames, so follow all necessary precautions....

Here is a picture of the steel, and the halfmoon shape i cut out with a hack saw, and filed....

[tomcat]

For some reason i can't do more than one picture at a time, so i will have to have only one picture in every post...

I cut out another piece out of the steel to make a handle, in my case i welded it, if you don't have a welder or know someone that will do you a favor and weld it for you, don't worry, you can bolt or rivet it together, Hey if your a leather worker you should have plenty of rivets around lol....

[tomcat]

Her is a picture of me filing away....Now if you notice i started to make an edge, at this point don't make it sharp, looking down at the point leave about a 1/32 of an inch in the center, in other words file it even on both sides but don't come to a point, you will do that last little bit after you harden it...In case you are curious, if you made it very sharp now, the edge won't stand up to the heat, it will be too thin.....