I like upcycling junk and turning it into something useful. With a pile of beautiful walnut logs rotting away in my back yard, and plenty of saw blade material in my stock pile, I decided to make an entire set of carving knives.
These carving knives were envisioned as chip carving knives, but I've really enjoyed using the knives for whittling.
I started by drawing up all the knives in Inkscape, and then printing out the drawing on my laser printer. From here, I used spray adhesive to attach the paper to the saw blade.
Once that was done, I cut all the blanks out with a 4 1/2" angle grinder.
The next step was to prep the handles. I used solid blocks of walnut wood, and cut a groove in the top side of the blank with my table saw.
After this was completed, I returned my attention to the blades and I drilled the holes for the pins. After the holes were drilled, I was ready to put a rough grind on the blades. I ground the bevel on my small belt grinder. To get a consistent bevel, I made up a 20 guide block out of a piece of scrap wood.
This is my first attempt at heat treating anything, and I am not sure how well it went. Heated the steel up using a map gas torch to a cherry red color, and then quenched in vegetable oil.
After cleaning off the blade, it was time to assemble! I used an all-purpose 2-part epoxy to set the blade into the handle. 12 awg copper wire served as the pins to hold the knife.
The whole process is documented in the video, so be sure to check it out!
I've also been asked for the "plans" for these knives. I made a quick drawing in Inkscape, and as I recall I printed it a few different sizes until I had the correct size. As with all my free "plans", I will give you the free plan disclaimer: These are basically drawings that I used as a guide while building the project. I may have made on-the-fly adjustments, and there may be inaccuracies. Before you build this or purchase materials, I suggest double checking measurements to make sure everything will work.
Need something that will open SVG files? Check out Inkscape
