WWII Army Aircorps Airman's Survivial Folding Machete...

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Here is the folding machete from WWII made by Camillus. It took me a while to find it in my collection of knives and swords. In pretty good condition for being 80 or so years old. I carried it in the woods a lot when hunting, too bad the original steel blade sheath is missing, some day I may make a leather one for it. It's a great chopper.

[Frosty]

A little bit like a bill hook. I like how a bill hook cuts brush, limbs, etc. it'd be a handy addition to the camp kit if the blade is heavy enough to split kindling.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

The blade has some weight to it. Splits kindling like a charm and cuts through branches with ease. The spine is 5 mm-3/16 in thick.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Today I decided to make a blade guard (sheath) so I don't have to worry about getting cut when opening or closing it. The only stock I had on hand that was thin enough is some aluminum roof flashing. Not the prettiest guard I've ever seen but it works like a charm.

 

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sails. ~ Semper Paratus

[Scott NC]

  Heres the dumb question of the day... Did you use al rivits on that?   I can't tell from the photo.  Or spot weld it.  I have never welded aluminum.  Looks good and serves it's purpose.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Not a dumb question at all. The aluminum flashing is so thin the end tab is just folded over with aluminum tape, too thin to weld. I took my trusty micrometer and it's 0.008 in. Not happy with the thickness, I used that guard as a template. I then searched through the whole garage and blacksmith shop for some sheet metal that was thicker but would still fit between the blade & handle. I found some galvanized sheet metal that is 0.012 in and will still fit on both sides of the blade into the handle recess. Cut the new one out with tin snips and folded it over then silver soldered the tab. After some file work mostly to remove sharp spots that would cut and to shape the end, I'm pretty happy with it. More importantly is Debi approves of it. Now to make a leather scabbard to hold it on the belt.

BTW: I did the silver soldering with my grandfathers big old soldering iron, not enough heat to effect the zinc coating.

 

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sails. ~ Semper Paratus

[Frosty]

It turned out nicely Randy. Aluminum tape or paste solder is a perfect solution, if you don't have resist to control the flow just make it longer than necessary and trim it after it's been folded and soldered.

I made a metal bayonet sheath for a friend 30+ years ago. IIRC it mic-ed around 18ga. and we used an old piece of stove pipe. Normalized and it formed easily, I just rolled a lap seam and crimped it tight. He was really happy with it and as far as I know it's still working.

I just taped leather folded over his blade and used it as the bending form, the edge was a tight-ish fit where I crimped the sheath together. It would've been easy enough to put a sharpener in it but like me he much prefers to sharpen his own blades. The leather came out before crimping of course and it didn't rattle

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[Scott NC]

  Thanks, Randy.  It looks good.  Grandpa's soldering iron worked well.