How to Make Your Very Own Jason Voorhees Machete From Friday 13th Franchise

This isn’t the first and most definitely won’t be the last, but this is MY Jason Voorhees Machette. I have done something a little different with mine and used various species of wood with a deep red/orange edge.

Jason Voorhees is my all-time favourite Halloween character. I feel the unstoppable juggernaut is one of the best-made characters that will go down in history.

If I were you, I would start by watching the video so you can see what the process looked like. This was one of my favourite projects to do and I love the end result.

Below is a list & links to all the materials & tools I used. Some aren't the exact tools but they are close enough.

Materials

• Padauk
• Oak
• Walnut
• Cherry

Machines

• Dewalt DW745 Compact Table Saw
• Triton TSPST450 450 W Oscillating Spindle and Belt Sander
• Triton TPT125 Thicknesser
• Axminster AC2305B bandsaw (not the exact one as it has been discontinued)
• Rutlands Bench Surface Planer
• An old school belt sander
• Axminster Trade Parallel Clamps
• Branding Iron
• Osmo Polyx Oil
• Titebond Original Wood Glue

Note: If there is a link above it is an affiliate link. This means, at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission if you click through & make a purchase.

So, I got the machete template for this from Steve Ramsey who runs Woodworking For Mere Mortals YouTube channel. He has a free plan for this build machete on there so you can make one yourself. Ever since I saw him make his own, I have wanted to do this myself, but I didn’t want to make a replica. I wanted to make a beautiful hardwood version.

The template is set up very well and fits just on one side of A4 paper. I used a knife to cut the template into 3 and as advised in his video I taped it to a window and lined up the edges. The template was slightly larger than I thought it would be, but I was really excited to get building.

For this project, I decided to use the left-over stock of padauk for the core of the blade. I would then use oak as the side of the blade & some walnut as a darker handle.

I started by cutting the stock to roughly the right size for the machete. I didn’t want to use all of the board or have lots of excess that would be so small it would be unusable.

I ran the boards through the table saw to size them up and then ran them all through my Triton thicknesser. I had to split the oak in 2 so I used the Axminster AC2305B bandsaw. This was the first time I had to do a longer cut like this and as I didn’t have the bandsaw set up properly there was a lot of drift.

I didn’t want it to be too thick and heavy so had to drop each layer to a manageable thickness, this also meant I could get the oak back to a uniform thickness.

Once I had sized all the timber up to what I need I glued it together using my Axminster trade clamps. These are very good clamps for getting even pressure across the whole workpiece. I used a lot more clamps than I needed but I didn’t want any gaps. I used Titebond original wood glue for this project as it shouldn’t get wet or have food on it so won’t need that level of protection.

I then ran the newly glued together boards over the planer to get a nice clean spine for the back of the machete. It was then time to put it through the thicknesser again to get a nice clean blank. At this point I was looking for the final thickness, this was difficult as I couldn’t put my hand around the big blank, but I could get a feel for the weight and size. I wanted it to have some heft to it, but I didn’t want it to be too heavy you couldn’t carry it for a long time.

Once I was happy, I got the good old Pritt-stick out (I couldn't find any spray adhesive at this point) and stuck the template down. The tricky bit was getting the handle lined up so it would only have the one type of wood. I didn't want the oak to be part of the handle at all.

This was the scary bit, if I screwed up here, I would have to start again and that is something I didn’t want to do. Not only because it’s a lot of work but because I don’t have enough padauk left.

I took the blank over to the bandsaw and started the slow process of working my way around the template. I was so nervous about cutting too close and ruining it. I cut the blade and handle out but left a few mm so that I could sand it to the line.

I used my Triton osculating belt sander to take it close to the line and finalise the thickness of the whole piece. This was a time-consuming process but the satisfaction of seeing it come together was brilliant. Just starting off with a board that turns into something I consider beautiful was amazing. This is definitely one of the best things I have made.

Once I had the thickness sorted it was time to put the bevel on the blade. I didn’t want a lot of the padauk showing as it was only meant to represent blood on the blade. I used the movable table to put a 45º angle on the blade. This was really easy with this function as I could keep the side of the blade flat on the table and move it into the belt. This meant I could keep the tip of the blade straight down the middle as well. I was worried about having a wavey edge.

I had nearly finished, I was happy with it, apart from one thing. The handle just wasn’t what I wanted. I wasn’t happy with it at all. Because I made the blade and handle the same thickness it just didn’t feel right at all. Because of this, I cut up some cherry that I had leftover from another project which was already a similar size to the existing handle.

I glued a couple of scales to the handle to bulk it up a bit. This added the size I needed to make it a much more comfortable fit. Unfortunately, this meant that I needed to do more sanding. I had to bring out the old belt sander as it was a more comfortable position to do the handle in and I felt I had more control. Once I had finished it looked amazing and felt great in the hand.

Into the final steps now and near the finish. I had to add the makers mark, but I couldn’t put it where I wanted. I wanted it either on the handle or at the base of the blade by the handle. The problem is it wasn’t wide enough. I had to add it to the blade at the tip, it doesn’t look as bad as I thought I would so it’s not the end of the world.

I wanted to bring out the colour of the wood and make it a little darker which is why I went with Osmo polyx oil. I use Osmo a lot as I love the way it looks when it's all finished.

This ended up looking really good, I am so happy with how it turned out. The size and weight is just about perfect. I plan on making a box to put it in as this is going to be going into the Makers Central giveaway. I had entered it for the 2020 giveaway but with stupid COVID ruining everything it will have to wait till 2021. If you want to win it all you have to do is come to Makers Central 2021 and join the fun.

I really enjoyed making this and testing my skills. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. If you did you might enjoy following me on social media:

• BrookesWood Builds YouTube Channel
• BrookesWood Builds Instagram
• BrookesWood Builds Facebook Page

If you decide to make something similar, I would love to see what you did & how it turned out. If you have any questions please feel free to ask any in the comments and I will be happy to answer them.