Homemade Leather Tools

[CajunMojo]

Has anyone tried to make a head knife out of and old saw blade? I got the idea from Ron Edwards book Bushcraft Leatherwork. Has a whole section on homemade leather working tools. Very interesting read. Going to try to make a head knife here pretty soon.

[TwinOaks]

There are several threads on tools people have made for themselves. I think it was Electrathon that was making half-round knives from old saws.

Take a little extra time, if you don't already know about it, and do a little research on hardening, annealing, and tempering. Depending on your cut-out method, you can heat the remaining steel (the knife part) to the point that you ruin the temper. At that point, you won't be able to maintain an edge on it until you reharden the edge.

Also, for reference, many head knives have the edge sharpened to about 20 degrees. That should give you a starting point.

[King's X]

A couple of us guys at the guild are going to produce about a dozen (cheaper) head knifes. We have some things to work out. We are going to put on our favorite wood handles....It should be an interesting project.

Good luck

[dustin29]

A couple of us guys at the guild are going to produce about a dozen (cheaper) head knifes. We have some things to work out. We are going to put on our favorite wood handles....It should be an interesting project.

Good luck

That sounds awesome Sam! Cannot wait to see them. Are they going to be for sale?

[electrathon]

Here is one of the ones I made. Cut from a hand saw blade with a plasme cutter. Youwill need to sharpen past the color on the edge where the plasma cutter heated the edge. I did not retemper, just relied on the origional.

Aaron