Trying to make a Round Knife

[Colt W Knight]

I keep seeing folks on the forum with those handy round knives, and I thought about getting one for myself.

* I don't know anything about round knives, their use, and I know very little about knife making.

Laid out the rough shape using some basic tools and the lid to an animal cracker jar on an old table saw blade I kept for some reason.

My milwaukee portable band saw makes quick work or cutting out the rough shape

So close to getting it nice and circular...ughhh

The little belt sander will fix that

And his big brother will help with the edge bevel.

and back to the little belt sander to make that bevel pretty

I wanted to bring the bevel back 3/8 - 1/2" but the awkward shape just wont fit into any of my tools to draw that bevel back any further

[Colt W Knight]

I hate this part - Sanded up through 220. I couldn't get all the tooling marks out, they were pretty deep. This is the reason I gave up knife making a long time ago. The sanding and polishing really, really suck. I do not enjoy this process. I get no zen like feelings of relaxation. It just makes my hand tremors worse and my fingers hurt.

Looking at round knives online, they typically have a handle with some sort of palm swell.

I don't know if you can heat treat a circular saw blade, but I did it anyway

Edited July 10, 2016 by Colt W Knight

[Colt W Knight]

A little bit of edge work before I put on the handle.

I've got some Mahogany laying around from my guitar building days

[Colt W Knight]

Then there is a bunch of hard work rasping, filing and sanding

Gave the handle a good dose of Teak oil

That is all I have for now. The handle will get finished over the next few days, and Ill hone the edge up nice( it is sharp now, but it isn't straight razor sharp yet), and I need to decide if I want to polish out the blade, cold blue it, or leave it well enough alone.

I did a little more honing this morning, and I think the blade is definitely harder than mild steel. It skate around on the whetstone and it "zings" whenever you draw it against something. Man I love that sound.

[Colt W Knight]

I cleaned it up some more today

She is sharp

[plinkercases]

No just some laser engraving of your logo and you are all set. Nice work.

[RockyAussie]

A very nice effort Colt and I am jealous seeing some of your workshop tools as well. May i ask what sort of blade is in your band-saw? I doubt if I am showing anything you don't already know but this pic shows where I do most of my circular knife sanding sharpening and polish off on the 6" rag wheel with Tripoli.O and don't laser engrave they will see it and find you and want one made for them.

[Colt W Knight]

That Milwaukee portaband is using a 24 TPI milwaukee brand blade. The generic and Lennox blades SUCK, they break if you breathe on them wrong. Those milwaukee blades will last until you get them in such a bind you have to break it to get it unstuck.

I've got an 8" buffer I used, but I didn't take any pics.

 

Back when I was working on draglines and shovels, we mostly used it to cut pipe for hand rails and some thick electrical conduit. It is a tremendous time saver vs. using a torch. I had the idea to hold it upright in a vice and use it like a wood working bandsaw. You can't make tight turns, and you have to get creative with the narrow throat, but its a helluva better than using a cutoff wheel on a grinder.

Edited July 11, 2016 by Colt W Knight

[bikermutt07]

I have to say I'm totally impressed. When I saw the original post I laughed out loud at the idea of making a round knife out of a saw blade. It looks fabulous. Thanks for teaching me something today.

[RockyAussie]

34 minutes ago, Colt W Knight said:

That Milwaukee portaband is using a 24 TPI milwaukee brand blade. The generic and Lennox blades SUCK, they break if you breathe on them wrong. Those milwaukee blades will last until you get them in such a bind you have to break it to get it unstuck.

I've got an 8" buffer I used, but I didn't take any pics.

 

Back when I was working on draglines and shovels, we mostly used it to cut pipe for hand rails and some thick electrical conduit. It is a tremendous time saver vs. using a torch. I had the idea to hold it upright in a vice and use it like a wood working bandsaw. You can't make tight turns, and you have to get creative with the narrow throat, but its a helluva better than using a cutoff wheel on a grinder.

Thanks for that Colt is the bandsaw blade about 1/2 inch wide or less?I have no idea if I can get a Milwaukee blade here but I will try.

[Colt W Knight]

Yeah, its about 1/2" wide, and when I was looking it up, looks like they come in 14 and 24 TPI blades. Im not sure which one I have. Back when I use to buy these blades, I don't remember there being any options. You just bought Milwaukee portaband blades or generic.

[dirkba]

Hi Colt W Knight,

Congratulations on taking on the challenge and making a round knife.

I did the same 2 yrs ago after I read this post http://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/25315-head-knifei-want-to-make-one/?page=2

My own research clarified the difference between the 2 types of round saw blades.

The normal non tungsten tip seems to be favored more, because of a slightly higher carbon content. It helps to hold an edge longer.  Apparently those with the tungsten tips, you used, are not holding an edge so well. The steel is softer because the tungsten tips, which does the actual cutting, are the harder part of the blade.

 

You don't need to heat treat saw blades. They are already heat treated for the cutting job they need to perform - it is therefore possible that you could have softened the steel instead of hardening it.

Work with the round knife and see how it holds up. Now you know how to build the knife get the proper knife steel and make another one.

This hobby becomes addictive....trust me!!

 

 

Edited July 11, 2016 by dirkba
added link

[MADMAX22]

Those portabands are used by alot of knife makers, even ones that have a nice big band saw. 

As far as the knife great job. 

The steel in the very old circular blades use to be high carbon and great for blades, the new ones because as stated have inserts for the cutting edges are not always the best steel. If your lucky its 80CRV2 or similar which heat treats similar to 5160 and is a great knife steel. The issue is you dont know so its always hard to get a good heat treat on them. 

If you want to get a good cheap steel try for some 1084, you can order some from NJ steel baron. The 1084 you can bring to non magnetic, soak for a minute then quench and then draw it back at like 350f for a couple of hours then work your way up to get the proper hardness. Pretty sure if I remember right alot of the old head knives were similar to 1084 or somewhere in that range carbon steel. 

One other thing on the handle if you can use the long setting epoxy, generally the longer it takes to set the stronger it is.