What is the best way to make a knife?

The choice of knives in stores is quite large. Kitchen, shoe, hunting, pen - the list goes on for a very long time. But there are situations when there is no cutting object at hand, and he is desperately needed. For example, travel is always full of surprises, any thing can be at the bottom of a precipice or lake. Or maybe you need a cutting tool for some special work? In a word, situations where such a home-made product may be needed are not so few. What is the best way to make a knife? We’ll talk about this, as well as how to make it better in a particular case.

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Where will you do it?

The need to make a cutting tool can arise anywhere:

• houses:
• in the country;
• on a hike.

At home, as a rule, they make knives for some special works, as well as gift or collection ones. If you are not doing this professionally, then you don’t have any special equipment yet. But on the other hand, there may be many suitable in the tool cabinet.

Many useful things will certainly be found in the country. Most likely, there is almost everything there - a broken hacksaw for metal, an old file, etc. If you were left without a knife on a camping trip, you will have to think and carefully look around. Oddly enough, the answer to the question of how to forge and make a good knife or blade with your own hands from beginning to end may be right in front of you.

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What can a good knife be made of?

What can a knife be made of? The material for making the knife should be hard enough and hold sharpening well. Suitable for this:

• metals;
• a rock;
• glass;
• mollusk shells;
• animal bones;
• wood.

Metal

Metals are by no means suitable. So what metal is better to make a knife from?

• It is unlikely that it would occur to you to bother with aluminum - with such a knife you are more tormented than you can work.
• The most suitable material is steel, best stainless.
• Ideal - hardened, but that's how lucky.

Important! At home, you can do the heat treatment yourself, on the trip - it is unlikely.

Stone, glass, sinks

In the campaign, you will certainly find stones that can give a sharp chip:

• obsidian;
• slate;
• quartzite.

Important! These are layered materials, and chips when separated by layers are quite sharp.

In the places visited it is not difficult to find a suitable piece of glass - here you have a simple solution of what to make a knife. Shells are found on the banks of rivers - for example, toothless. Exfoliating, they also give sharp chips, which allows you to make a good, albeit a small blade.

In case of urgent need, even a tree will fit - however, a wooden knife is suitable only for small kitchen work.

Bone blade

Bone is an ancient material for making knives. Many regions of our planet still use such tools. To make a blade in the absence of emery, cliches and other useful things, you need only a few stones. One of them should be roughened enough to sharpen the edge of the bone. The other two are necessary to give the workpiece a more or less suitable shape.

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What to make the handle of?

A grip is an important part of any tool. Convenience and safety depend on it.You can make it from different materials:

• plastic;
• a tree;
• ropes;
• wire.

Plastic

At home, the ideal material for the handle of a metal or glass knife is epoxy. However, a variety of compounds are now sold in hardware and construction stores, which, when solidified, turn into beautiful and durable plastic. It is possible that something remained with you after the repair of the apartment or the construction of the cottage.

Wood

Wooden linings - a traditional way to design the handle. The handle can be given any shape, it is convenient, does not heat up and is easily attached.

Important! Many peoples have knives with woven handles. You can braid with a cord or coated wire.

Homemade rope

It is possible that the traveler, who was without a knife on a desert island or even just on a long hike, lost a rope. There is nothing to be done, you have to get out of the situation. A rope can be made, for example, from nettles. She has quite long fibers:

1. Remove the skin from the stem.
2. Collect and dry the fibers (for example, around a fire or just in the sun).
3. Remember the fibers.
4. All that remains is to weave the rope from the “threads” - you don’t need much for a knife, half a meter will be enough - the shank is braided with a finished rope.

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What metal is better to make a knife from?

Despite the abundance of suitable materials, the best knives are still made of metal. This was understood in ancient times when they learned how to process iron. And now the vast majority of cutting tools are made of steel. For a homemade knife fit:

• hacksaw blade;
• broken saw;
• old file (better Soviet);

Important! The ideal option is a hacksaw blade for metal. This is the simplest material, which, moreover, does not need hardening and tempering.

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Good do-it-yourself knife

To make a small knife with your own hands, which does not need hardening, in addition to the hacksaw blade, you will need:

• sketch;
• marker;
• epoxy or other material for the handle;
• rivets;
• hammer;
• emery wheel;
• punch;
• drill.

Sketch

Any work begins with an idea. A homemade knife in this sense is no exception. First you need to sketch. It can be simply drawn, but it is much easier to find a suitable picture (so that the blade is no wider than the hacksaw blade) and print on paper with a self-adhesive layer.

Important! The method of transferring it to the blade depends on what material your sketch is made on.

Option 1:

1. Place the cut image of the blade with the shank on the hacksaw blade.
2. Circle the marker.
3. Grind along the contour on an emery - at this stage it is not necessary to maintain extreme accuracy, processing can be quite rough.

Option 2

In this case, the stencil is cut out, glued onto the canvas, after which the workpiece is turned on an emery.

Lever

The handle must be done before final processing. The workpiece should be comfortable to hold.

Plastic

The easiest option is to fill with epoxy according to the method of application indicated on the package:

1. Allow the plastic to harden.
2. Work on emery.
3. Grind.

Wood handle

The wooden handle is two identical pads, between which a shank is inserted. First of all, you need to cut 2 wooden blanks, exactly the same. Final processing can not be done yet - it is important that they just exactly match in shape.

The whole structure rests on two rivets, for which you need to make holes:

1. Mark the rivets on the wooden blanks and shank - when you assemble the handle, you should get through holes.
2. Drill holes with a drill.

The rivets themselves are best made from a copper tube from the heat exchanger of an old refrigerator:

1. Cut 2 pieces of copper tube - the length is equal to the width of the intended handle (2 layers of wood + metal layer) with a small allowance for riveting.
2. Fold the wooden pieces together with the shank in the middle.
3. Insert the rivet so that it protrudes slightly on both sides of the holes.
4. Rivet the edges lightly with a punch to slightly expand the ends.
5. Rivet the ends with a hammer (on a metal plate).

Wire or rope handle

If you know how to weave, it will not be difficult for you to make the handle out of wire (in isolation), or rope. You can use a leather cord.

Important! Any kind of weaving is suitable that makes it possible to obtain a voluminous object. For example, macrame.

You can make a temporary handle, extremely simple. To do this, just wrap the shank with electrical tape.

Lapping blades

When the handle is ready, you can begin to finalize and sharpen the blade. This is done on an emery wheel. The process lasts until the shape of the knife suits you.

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Homemade hardened knife

To make such a knife with your own hands, you will need a file.

Important! It is best to take the old Soviet one - in cheap Chinese models, which most often break, low-quality steel is almost always used.

Base Material

The file should have a width of 30-40 mm and a rectangular or diamond-shaped section. The second option is preferable - the knife will be more durable.

Instruments

Prepare the rest of the materials and tools. You need:

• grinder with grinding wheel;
• hacksaw for metal;
• electric drill;
• a set of drills for metal and wood;
• sandpaper with a large and small fraction;
• vise;
• brazier;
• coals;
• oven;
• rivet material;
• material for the handle.

Do it yourself

Start work the same way as in the manufacture of a knife without hardening, that is, prepare a sketch, cut the blade and shank. Then proceed as follows:

1. Clamp the workpiece in a vise.
2. Pre-sharpen the file.
3. Grind the surface of the workpiece with a grinder on the grinding wheel.

Quenching

An important point is hardening.

Important! This procedure is necessary because files are usually made of carbon steel - a rather brittle material.

We carry out the work:

1. Place the workpiece in a roasting pan with burning coals - the coals should completely cover it.
2. Hold for 20 minutes.
3. Remove the workpiece and let it cool completely.
4. Put the workpiece in the oven.
5. Preheat the oven to maximum temperature.
6. Set the timer for 60 minutes.
7. After holding the future knife in the oven for an hour, turn off the fire and let the entire system cool completely ..
8. Repeat the procedure.

Heat shield hardening

In fact, the ideal temperature for hardening is 700º. But it can only be achieved at the forge - neither the gas stove, nor the Russian stove give such heat. However, a way out can always be found. The space above the workpiece can be heated almost to the desired level, if you build a heat shield. This is just a thick metal plate larger than the file and rising 1 cm above it:

1. Put the file on a baking sheet.
2. Put a few nuts around the perimeter of the workpiece.
3. Place a thick metal sheet (such as a small cast iron skillet) on the nuts.

It is very convenient to calcine metal in an oven with a transparent door. If you see that the metal has become an even cherry color, then the process is going right. You can harden without a stage with coals, just in the oven. But then it will be necessary to keep it at a maximum of at least four hours. In this case, the metal must cool down simultaneously with the oven, that is, the workpiece must not be removed.

Important! You can use table salt as an indicator - as soon as it starts to melt, it will mean that you have reached the right temperature.

Furnace quenching followed by tempering

Nevertheless, the oven is not the most convenient device for hardening metals. This is an urban option. It is much better if you have a Russian stove.In this case, the heat shield is installed in the same way as in the previous case, but the metal can not only be quenched, but also released, which, of course, will improve the quality of the future product.

Important! You can use a magnet as an indicator. Naturally, it reacts to cold steel. As it warms up, it reacts weaker, and at one point it ceases to do this at all. And then you need to take the workpiece with ticks and lower it into a bucket of cold water. And you get a knife made of the best steel that you can think of. Such material leaves scratches on the glass.

That the blade does not rust

A good knife should not rust. In order to avoid corrosion, the workpiece must be processed in ferric chloride. A gray matte film forms.

Chloric iron is not always available, but it can be replaced:

• vinegar
• raw potatoes.

In acetic acid, lower the blade, raw potato - just rub. The effect will be the same as when treated with ferric chloride.

Further actions

After the blade has hardened, you can begin to manufacture the handle. It is done exactly the same as in the previous case. In extreme cases, you should make a temporary handle so that you can safely take the workpiece without fear of injury:

1. Strip the workpiece.
2. Make the final grinding.
3. Sharpen the blade on the emery.

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DIY glass knife

Making glass cutting tools is not very pleasant, but sometimes it is necessary, for example, in traveling conditions. You will need:

• a suitable piece of window glass;
• sharpening stone;
• rope or electrical tape.

Important! Window glass can be replaced with bottle glass if necessary. The main thing is that there should be a long piece with a more or less even edge. Too protruding chips should be repulsed immediately by laying the blank on a large flat stone and working with a smaller stone.

After you have in your hands a workpiece of approximately suitable shape, make a handle. When working with glass, this is especially necessary. You can just wrap the shank with something. Final sharpening is done on a flat rough stone. But in any case, this tool can be used more like a scraper, although you can cut it - meat, vegetables, etc.

Glass knife at home

At home, you can make glass a real masterpiece that will cut and decorate, for example, the kitchen. A product made of colored glass will look especially impressive:

1. Make a sketch - you can simply on the sheet.
2. Place a piece of glass on the paper.
3. Cut along the contour with a glass cutter.
4. Make a handle from transparent plastic and sand it.

Such a knife does not need sharpening and grinding, if you only cut it out quite smoothly.

Important! Glass is a fragile material, so you should not press such a knife too hard.

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Stock footage

Now you know what it is better to make a knife from in any conditions, how to do it, so in any unforeseen situation you will not be left without a cutting tool. And perhaps, using the tips and instructions from this article, you will begin to create real decorative masterpieces. And if so, we wish you creative success!