angiolino Posted December 14, 2019 Share Posted December 14, 2019 hello I would like to try my hand at building a knife. I thought of a kukri I think originally from Nepal or a Yatagan, of Russian origin I think, you would kindly have pictures or drawings, what material do you advise me to use, have some friend friends built these specimens? I just a few rudimentary machetes. if I can I would like to make a big bowie knife later, which they tell me is an indestructible knife. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted December 14, 2019 Share Posted December 14, 2019 Ah, the Kukri! I think it's awfully large for a first knife project but I've been tempted to take a dip on the dark side with one myself. A friend has one and we did a head to head comparison against my machete. Even though his Kukri is smaller and a lighter it was a lot more effective cutting brush: tag alder, willow, wild rose, etc. I'm not a bladesmith so I'm not going to offer suggestions about the steel to use. As a blacksmith though, I do suggest you use better hammer control than the fellow who forged the one pictured. A Kukri is a swung blade and subject to impact and flexing, the fewer surface defects the less likely it'll break in use. No knife is indestructible, not really, though a well made Bowie is a tough customer. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angiolino Posted December 14, 2019 Author Share Posted December 14, 2019 I tried to make a machete with a crossbow sheet truck it is very rudimentary and rustic I use it to clean up the soil from the bushy bushes shrubs. I can't make the ergonomic handle ... thanks anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted December 15, 2019 Share Posted December 15, 2019 8 hours ago, angiolino said: I tried to make a machete with a crossbow sheet truck Your translation program did something weird here. . . Again. I don't think any machete on Earth has ever had a "crossbow sheet truck." When you're making things like this you can alter details to fit you. The handle on the machete drawing would be uncomfortably small for my small hand. The trick to this ergonomic aspect and others is to just cut the handle section larger than called for. That way you can grind it to a shape you like. For myself I'd change the back slanting guard to more perpendicular to the line of the blade and grind a curved finger stop. so, rather than have that sharp angle back to pinch my finger it'd be a nice curve to snuggle my finger instead. Make sense? I'd also round off the pomel; the whole back end of the handle so it's all smooth. I'll bet after making and using your Bushmaster machete you have your own ideas for improving the next one. There's nothing wrong with making a few so you can refine it to what you like. The not so perfect ones make nice gifts too. Yes? May we see your machete please? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angiolino Posted December 15, 2019 Author Share Posted December 15, 2019 disappointed, right? I'm a real landslide an amateur I have a lot to learn, do I hope to become a master knife maker knife sharpener? in a few centuries maybe and after so much elbow grease fatigue and sweat ... let me know where I'm wrong, thanks, I'm a real recruit, no doubt about it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLAG Posted December 15, 2019 Share Posted December 15, 2019 Mr. Ang …, One member of this site, master knife smith Jim Hrisoulis (JPH), has written an exhaustive tutorial, with many pictures, on making a kukri knife. It can be found in book one, or two of his three volume set. (volume number four is in the works). The SLAG highly recommends it, SLAG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted December 15, 2019 Share Posted December 15, 2019 We all have a lot to learn though some folk aren't smart enough to know it. That's quite a spread of blades and it's easy to see the improvement, I think you're doing well. I don't see anything to be disappointed about, even your photography is well above average, the blue bench is an excellent background color for photographing metal. The only thing I do NOT like to see . . . EVER is a pipe handle on an impact tool, your double bitted axe in particular. An axe doesn't do the joint damage a pipe handled hammer does as an axe doesn't stop and rebound hard like a hammer. Still impact shock WILL be conducted without reduction through a steel handle and no amount of wrapping it will make it safe for your joints. Until I built my 2" x 72" belt grinder I sharpened axes and machetes with a draw file. I carry a pocket sized fine draw file just for the purpose when I'm brush whacking and I still draw file the machete. A sharp blade is a joy to use and so much safer than a dull one. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angiolino Posted December 16, 2019 Author Share Posted December 16, 2019 I did not use the ax with the iron pipe as time passes, I use the one with the yellow handle and the machete to clean the garden of shrubs from bushes that form spontaneously. I had to interrupt the construction of blades. before I went to my uncle who had a machine shop with machine tools and equipment, since he died and the workshop is closed I built a small workshop in my house, but I don't have the comforts of a mechanical workshop. I have a banquet and some tools, so the results are modest. I can't shoot the blades on the anvil. I just cut out the shapes of the blades on sheet metal cuttings and then sharpen and polish them. therefore the result is modest. thanks for the right suggestions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenskpr Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 Angiolino, read up on the hardening process and metallurgy in general as well. For as good a blade may look to you, if your steel isn't up to the task it's designed for, your knives will disappoint you. Over time you'll get so good at hardening and tempering that your only worries will be design and aesthetics, which is a never ending search with many many paths. Make more, make more, make more. Dont worry about what equipment you don't have, work with what you have and make the rest. In time it'll come. And if you can find a knife maker to shadow, or go to a demonstration, workshop, or clinic, you're skills and desire will advance exponentially. . Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 That last video (from BackyardBowyer) is a nightmare, an accident waiting to happen. Rather than cutting around the hole in the middle of his blank, he simply hammers it shut, leaving a ~2 cm cold shut right at the bend in the blade. That's quite possibly the highest-stress part of the entire knife -- why on earth would you deliberately START a crack at that point?!?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angiolino Posted December 16, 2019 Author Share Posted December 16, 2019 thanks for the valuable advice. I have a modest equipment, like steel I use the elliptical sheets of old truck springs, I don't have a forge I have to find a way to make up for it with foirtuna equipment thanks again sorry for the trouble, thank you .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 50 minutes ago, angiolino said: thanks again sorry for the trouble, thank you You are WELCOME Angiolino, You are NO trouble at all. Heck my Italian Brother I enjoy trying to figure out what your translation program did to what you write. I love good problems, life without worthy challenges is just processing food and air. Let's see, safety first. I can't agree with John (JHCC) more about that Youtube how to Kukri video from (Backyard Bowyer). The number of DANGEROUS mistakes is almost . . . the whole video. I don't think he gets much of anything right. Please do NOT do anything that clown does! Leaf spring is good blade steel and it's pretty forgiving in the heat treat. Can you use a charcoal BBQ where you make your blades, maybe in a park or wilderness area nearby? If so you can straighten the springs easily using a cooking fire for heat and wrapping the straightened blades in even fiberglass insulation to let it cool slowly (annealing) though even air cooling (normalizing) will make further work much easier. Straighten several or all your leaf spring at the same time, maybe make a camping trip out of it. Once annealed or normalized you can cut leaf spring with a hack saw. Brush the rust and dirt off it first though, the dirt and grit caught in the rust will dull saw blades quickly, even carbide Bimetal blades. Same for drilling it, normalized and cleaned off and you can use inexpensive HSS drill bits. It's also much easier to hand file or grind. Once you have it formed to your liking take it back to the charcoal BBQ and harden it. An oil quench will be the trickiest thing to pull off if you have to go to a park and if you do it at home FIRE SAFETY is a major must. Heck, fire safety is super important anywhere, an out of control oil fire is a B A D thing. Once you have it hardened take it home and put it in the oven and temper it, the sooner the better. Heat treating is a lot easier than it sounds though it is a skill that needs to be practiced to master. Greenskpr has the right of it. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angiolino Posted December 17, 2019 Author Share Posted December 17, 2019 thanks for the right suggestions, unfortunately I live in the suburbs, you understand that I can't emit combustion fumes, my neighbors, too close to each other, would complain or worse, they would report me to the authorities in charge. , first I went to my uncle who had a mechanical workshop, around me parts of the blacksmiths no longer use the classic coal forge even with gas, now they buy the iron bars and the elements already forged and stamped by the factory, segmantano the they assemble and weld, from blacksmiths they have evolved into welders, they don't even have a blowtorch flame, I have to find an ingenious DIY solution that is home-made and safe and cheap to manage. thanks anyway for the right suggestions. I have to investigate heat treatments, temper annealing, nitriding cementation. Thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 Have you looked into induction methods of heating metal stock? No flames or combustion whatsoever. Pnut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenskpr Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 I lovevthe idea of going to a park to have a "bbq" when you can't do the quench at home. That's perfect. ITS JUST FRYING OIL OFFICER.. or whatever the Italian equivalent is of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 Now I’m wondering if there’s any Italian tradition of cooking al fresco. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenskpr Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 (edited) 'Kukri Carbonara' Edited December 17, 2019 by Mod34 Excessive quoting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angiolino Posted December 17, 2019 Author Share Posted December 17, 2019 pic nic , scampagnata in the Roman dialect the people who make the picnic call them "fagottari" they bring the food cooked from home and make revel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 Ah, but bringing the cooked food from home, not actually cooking outdoors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 17, 2019 Share Posted December 17, 2019 In the Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi they show a lot of outdoor cooking equipment used in Italy; of course that was published in 1570! (I've replicated a number of pieces show in it.) Here in America it's quite common for people to own propane or charcoal grills and cook food outside their house or apartment and many of the fire regulations have a "loophole" in them allowing this. This loophole has sometimes been exploited by blacksmiths wanting to use a forge at home..."for cooking purposes Officer" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angiolino Posted December 18, 2019 Author Share Posted December 18, 2019 make a virtue of necessity. the need sharpens the ingenuity, we don't make grilled sausages and steaks, we eat baked pasta, parmesan cutlets brought from home, contained in bundles brought from home that's why bundles, bundles that contain food like sack breakfast. all the original Italians, especially the Neapolitans, experts in the art of getting by with little they have and lots of imagination and inventiveness https://youtu.be/85vtAPZPK2U https://youtu.be/HaKi7oeYZEo The Ottoman and Balkan yataghan sword/knife https://steemit.com/crafty/@elvis.stepcic/a-blade-from-a-not-so-far-past-meets-my-wild-idea-and-so-a-hybrid-is-born-indigo-recurve-yatagan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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