Hi all! 

This weekend, I am hoping to get a little forge time in, and I am looking to making a simple draw knife. 

I will be using some old spring, as its not intended to be anything fancy, just a workable tool. My question is whether there would be any benefit of using either 1/2" round coil spring or some leaf spring. 

 

Thanks, 

Ridgewayforge

Yes definitely depending on the size and style of the drawknife, your skills and your tools.

Good point, I wasn't specific enough. My appologies! A small drawknife, perhaps a 4-6 inch wide blade, for shaving down small logs (i.e. 4"diameter). My skill level is zilch for knifemaking, although I do frequently use springs for punches, chisels, etc, so I know how to work the material, and I have read the blueprint on this topic, but other than that, i'm more or less clueless; I want to do this project to increase my skillset as well as keeping my projects fresh. 

Either would work, but the limiting factor of the 1/2" coil is the cross sectional area you can get. You would be looking at around 1/4" X 3/4" flattened out, unless you want to do some upsetting for more mass. Round stock would be more flattening, leaf would be more cutting. If you have the time and ambition, make one each way and see what you prefer.

what is the desired dimension of the blade front to back and the desired thickness at the spine?  A 4" log could profit from a larger drawknife as you can move across it to access sharper sections and so sharpen it less often.  The problem with leaf is it can be quite a lot thicker than needed and so a lot of hammering to get to proper cross section. Do you have a way to cut it into strips lengthwise?  Coil can be a problem to get the width of the blade (not the width of the drawknife)

I would probably go with the leaf spring unless it is grossly too large. It already has a cross section similar to that of the draw knife and it's uniform in cross section.

The drawknife front to back dimension isn't critical, nor is the thickness. The main thing is the working edge.

In stead of forging the handles from the ends of the blade, you might consider forging he handles separately and then riveting them to the blade.

In stead of forging the handles from the ends of the blade, you might consider forging he handles separately and then riveting them to the blade.

That's one I hadn't thought of, but it makes a lot of sense.

I have a commercial drawknife where the handles are bolted to the blade and can be rotated around the bolt and set at differing angles for use 

I seen one like Thomas describes where the handles rotate around to form a sheath when not in use also. More of a protective cover then sheath.

I've been hunting for the blueprint for a draw knife but when I go to the blueprints section it says I don't have permission to access them.

Mr. Donner,

Try these articles,  http://www.bamsite.org/Index/Newsletters/2008/JulAug2008.pdf  and

http://www.bamsite.org/Index/Newsletters/2012/NovDec2012.pdf

Regards & welcome to the forum.

SLAG.

http://www.iforgeiron.com/index2.html/blueprints/

Mr. Donner,

I tried the 2012 reference and it worked fine. But the 2008 reference did not work.

You can get the article by using bamsite .com and then directly searching the site using their search engine and the term "drawknife". The two references show up. Click on the 2008 citation and it will show up. I checked it.

I tried Mr. wpearson's  I. forge reference and did not get any specific article. In general, I have been unsuccessful trying to search "blueprints". The Hofi articles come up but the rest do not.

Regards and happy forging.

SLAG.

2 hours ago, SLAG said:

I tried Mr. wpearson's  I. forge reference and did not get any specific article. In general, I have been unsuccessful trying to search "blueprints". The Hofi articles come up but the rest do not.

Regards and happy forging.

SLAG.

if you scroll down about two pages and click on one of the three sub catagoies

Wpearson san,

Thanks,

SLAG.

Try http://totallyharmless.blogspot.com/2013/01/forge-and-drawknife-photos.html

For good pictures, & an excellent narrative.

Also Alexanders Weygers book  The Complete modern Blacksmith" is a must own book for anyone who wants to smith woodworking tools. Mr. Weygers was an accomplished wood sculptor and a very good smith. He made his own tools. Also, he was a marine engineer

Edited July 2, 20169 yr by SLAG
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