Potato-Demon

I’ve actually got a couple leaf springs from a semi. Way too thick for a knife but I could just draw it out until it’s thin enough. Sorry about the late reply, this week has been a little crazy.

I just shortened the title, thanks for pointing that out.

I’m not very good at making knives so I always like to practice a design by first making it out of mild steel. I then make the “good” version from o1 or whatever. This particular knife is my second stock removal knife. The handle is oak with hidden steel pins and the blade is some mystery (probably mild, it doesn’t stay sharp long) steel I bought at a hardware store. This was my first time doing hidden pins. I didn’t bother polishing the blade much because I liked the look. I did a pretty bad job on the bevels.

I guess that cavemen probably used two rocks to do it... What I meant was it’s difficult for me to do much with limited tools and not much experience.

I wouldn’t have used rebar if the knife I was making out of an old spring hadn’t cracked without enough charcoal to restart but enough for a quick one so this also meant I was super rushed. I’ll try to do better next time. I sharpened it before the heat treatment to reduce time spent filing but I believe I put some ok bevels on it but as you said, they’re hard to see. Man, do I need to buy a belt sander and bench grinder...

I would do other stuff but I don’t have a proper anvil so I’m limited in what shapes and stuff I can make. Makes sense, I’ll try some more fire pokers I guess.

I was cleaning my workspace earlier this week and I found a piece of rebar under my anvil stand from my failed attempt at making tongs. I needed to get my friend a Christmas present and I know he likes knives so what happened next is obvious. Took about an hour or two (not counting the time in the oven for tempering) total of work to do. This is my third knife and I think it’s better than my first and failed second attempts. The reason the blade looks cracked is it wasn’t cleaned off completely in the photo. I wish I had an anvil with a hardy hole and some hardy tools; it would have made bending the handle much easier. The tip was purposely not worked much because I didn’t want to screw it up with barely any charcoal left and Home Hardware closed for Christmas. This wasn’t meant as a heavy-use item otherwise I’d have made it from one of the HUGE leaf springs I got for free. What do you think of it?

I made a knife as a Christmas gift for my friend out of a scrap bit of rebar I found under my anvil stand. I managed to bend the handle using a vice and tongs (I don’t have a proper anvil so I can’t use hardy hole tools). The bottom of the blade isn’t cracked, it’s just dirt. Third thing I’ve made and I think I’m getting slightly better, any advice is appreciated.

By forge welding it on the edge? I’ve been trying to find some coil springs but so far I only have leaf springs and a whole wheel barrow full of low-mid carbon steel scraps. That knife looks really nice, I especially like the handle.

Would a couple of HUGE leaf springs be any good? I got them for free from an automotive place. Some rust but not too bad. I need to order some steel but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. Good idea about the bolt.

I guess it was pretty rushed. I was only doing it to test out the forge and the whole process besides the heat treating only took about an hour and a half. Would a bolt used for joining pieces of track together have more carbon than a spike would?

Where I live I can only find cheap hammers. Off to amazon I go...

Ok, thanks.

First project I’ve ever done other than some fishhooks. Made this out of a high carbon (I know they aren’t actually high carbon but they’re better than just plain spikes) railroad spike. The edge is a bit uneven because I just sharpened it with my Dremel. Gonna fix the edge later tomorrow with my mill file. Heat treatment is done. I heated the blade to non-magnetic and dunked it in a can of cooking oil. I put it in the oven at around 400 Fahrenheit for an hour or so. It seems to cut well but it’s not exactly the best knife. I don’t have a belt sander and my angle grinder is screwed up so I can’t really clean up the knife too well. I kinda like how it looks now though. I’ve started on a tomahawk from another spike now and I expect to be done it in a couple days. Man are these things good for practicing.

Ok, I’ve got an old pallet and I’ll put some more reinforcements in tomorrow, never noticed any bending but I guess it could happen over time. How heavy should my ball peen hammer be? I’ve been using a 12 oz one right now.