DIY Fixed Blade Knife 🔪🔪
by tristankrige in Workshop > Knives
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DIY Fixed Blade Knife 🔪🔪
The one thing you will always find a person carrying on a hike is a knife. Almost every boy has a knife. Knives are great tools for the outdoors. From protection to gutting a fish, you will always find a good knife handy. The one thing about buying a knife is how crazy expensive they can be. My friend bought a knife for R2, 000 or just above $200!! That's a lot of money to spend on a knife. This is why I created an instructable not only to save money, but also a great way to connect with teenagers (like myself) by making this knife. Let's get started.
Supplies
The stuff you will need:
- Angle grinder
- Screw driver
- Saw
- Marker
- Rope, I used twine because it was thin and easy to rap around. You don't have to use twine but make sure your rope is about the same size in thickness.
- Glue
- Metal Sheet 5mm thick
- Wood
- Screws
Measurements
Because I was only making one knife I was able to find some metal on a old seat. If you are making more than one knife you can go and buy some metal. But I do recommend getting one piece of metal for each knife as it will make cutting easier. The first thing we need to do is outline our knife. You can do the same blade size as me but you can make the handle bigger or smaller depending on your hand size. To do this just take a ruler and hold it with your thumb on zero and see where your pinky finger is.
Cutting
Now you want to start cutting. I used an angle grinder for this because it was easier to maneuver. You can put your piece of metal in a vice grip or anything else that it will be secure in but also easy to cut. Because I had the seat backing, I was able to rest it on some bricks. You can also weigh down one side of the metal that you're not cutting yet and put the other side over a ledge. Once you have secured your metal... Cut!!
Adding the Handle
I have to admit that I got this handle design from a DStv show called Forged In Fire. I also didn't really want to waste my time trying to create a wooden handle that might snap. So, what I did was drilled a hole at the beginning of the handle, making sure that the whole was big enough to fit the rope through. Then I tied a knot using the rope through the hole. Next, I spread some heavy duty glue over the rest of the handle. Then I wrapped the rope around the handle. At the beginning of the handle where the rope was tied I wrapped it around a few times so you could not see the knot. Then I left the knife to dry. Please excuse the handle as we have not done that yet.
Finishing Off Handle and Making Guard
After the rope had dried onto the handle, I drilled two holes at where the blade and handle meet. Next I took to little pieces of wood, the length of the wood the same as the width of the blade, and the width of the wood about 2 cm. The wood was about half a centimeter thick. I put them on the end of the blade. Then I glue them on and screwed them into each other through the holes I had drilled earlier and then cut off the ends of the screws.
Sharpening the Blade
Too sharpen the blade, I just used an angle grinder and went back and forth on the edge of the blade a few times. You don't have to do this, it was just the only way I could do it. It actually did quite a good job and I got the blade quite sharp.
Other Thoughts
Well done, you have finished your knife. It probably took some perseverance and courage (if you're new to the tools). I really like the outcome of the knife. The one thing I recommend no one does is try and throw it in the ground. It dented mind badly. Oh and if you're new on sharpening knives you can always go watch some YouTube videos.