Diy Saw Blade Knife Concept

Hi! In this Instructible I will be showing you how to make a knife out of steel from a saw blade. The knife I made is a Bushcraft Chopper measuring 7" overall. The blade is 3 3/4" overall. The handle ended up being a little small, but overall, it's a pretty nice knife!

• A Vise
• A Tape measure, Pencil, & Sharpie
• A Straightedge for marking
• A Drill with Hole bits and Screw bits
• A Jigsaw with a wood blade
• A 4 1/2" Angle Grinder with a Flap Disk (I used a 40 grit)
• A Dremel with cutoff and grinding accessories (I used a Worx Chopper 3" cutoff tool that worked perfectly but a Dremel would work too)
• A regular File

MATERIALS:

• A Saw Blade (any size will work as long as your knife design will fit on it!)
• Pins for the Handle (I used Deck Screws, but if you want to get fancy you can use brass rods or even Mosaic Pins!)
• Glue or Epoxy for the Handle
• Handle Material (I used 3/4" thick pine for my knife, but you could cast your own resin Handle blanks, or buy some, or even 3d print some!)

Draw your knife design onto the sawblade. You could make something as simple as a Neck knife to as complicated as a Ulu! I would suggest making a dotted line where you want the handle to stop by the blade, and make sure that you mark the pin holes. You should only need 2 pin holes unless you have a really big handle!

Before you cut out your blade, drill the pin holes. If you're using screws for pins like I did, make the holes a drill bit size smaller than the outer diameter of the screws. If you're using brass rods, or pins without threads, make the holes the same diameter as the pins. I had trouble drilling through the steel so it might be a good idea to start with a smaller drill bit and work your way to the appropriate size. I would also recommend drilling and cutting on a piece of scrap wood to save your workbench tabletop! Before we get to cutting, wear all necessary PPE (safety glasses, ear protection, etc.). Clamp the blade to your sacrificial piece of scrap wood prior to cutting. Start cutting on the spine of the knife first. Score the steel lightly on the marking before cutting deep so that your cutting blade has a recess to follow. Be warned that the sparks from cutting produce heat, so don't wear your favorite shirt! Also know that the sparks from cutting are teeny bits of metal and your cutting blade. Make sure that you wear safety glasses as well as anyone else that's watching you cut!

Now you touch up the blade by grinding the edges that's not the one to be sharpened. Your cutting might not follow the lines exactly, so this is the time to shape the blade to your liking. Try to get the spine nice and straight. Also try to get all edges except the one that's supposed to be sharp. After that, take a regular File and lightly file the spine and handle parts of the blade to reduce the sharpness after grinding.

Trace the handle portion of the blade onto your handle material. Don't forget to mark the pin holes! Drill the pin holes the same size as the pin holes in the blade. Make sure that you drill the pin holes before you cut the handle pieces. Try to make the handle pieces symmetrical, but know that they're probably not going to be perfect! When cutting the handle, go slow and air on cutting a little big rather than small. It may take a few tries depending on the shape of your handle, and when installing the handle, if you use screws for pins, the handle piece could split. Save the leftovers of your handle material in case disaster occurs!

If you're going to use screws for pins, first start the 2 (or more) screws in one handle piece so that the protrude 1/4". Then put your glue or epoxy on the inside of the handle piece. Then put your glue or epoxy on the inside of the other handle piece. Line up the screws in the blade's pin holes, then line up the pin holes of the handle without the screws to the protruding screws from the blade. Clamp this assembly in the vise tight. Then tighten the screws all the way, adjusting the vise as necessary. If there are still gaps between the handle pieces and the blade, follow this procedure:

Clamp the handle assembly in the vise tightly. Retract the screws completely from one handle scale and tighten the vise. Then drive the screws through the handle so that the tips protrude 1/4" from the handle piece.

If you are using pins instead of screws, all you need to do is put your glue or epoxy on the insides of your handle pieces, hammer your pins through the handle pieces and blade, then clamp in the vise to dry.

No matter what your pins are, the next thing to do is to let you're glue or epoxy dry, then cut your pins flush to the handle.

Next is using an angle grinder with a flap disk to shape the handle. First shape the handle flush to the handle portion of the blade. Then remove stock from the handle and round to your preference! The reason why I used a flap disk is because they're meant for wood as well as metal. This will help to keep the pins perfectly flush with the handle while also removing stock quickly.

Now you can put a rough edge on the blade and polish it.

Thank you for reading this Instructible! I hope you have learned a lot and feel free to comment about questions or future project ideas. Thanks again!