First knife grind

I decided to try my hand at knife making this week. Its with a 1/16" thick, rusty chunk of scrap metal I picked up, and cut to size along some pre-drilled holes for a width of just over 1".

The oal is around 11", and I think I'll be able to get about a 6.5" edge out of her.

I'm doing a wharncliffe blade and my thought is to give it a chisel grind so all I need to carry with it is a strop to keep it sharp. That may be subject to change though.

Here it is, still in rough form.
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/n...pstgftvitr.jpg

Just in case some of you aren't familiar with it, a wharncliffe design is what you see on utility knife razor blades. I'm just making a much larger, more gnarly version. I figure the length and grind would make it a reasonable compromise between a fighting and utility knife. A strop would also pack lighter than many stones. So goes my thinking.

I'm just gonna cord wrap the handle on this one.

Interesting... any idea of what kind of steel it is?

None whatsoever! Lol

so you could be playing with an A36/44W which would make a nice wall hanger, but would dull catastrophically while dicing grapes?

Yes, I could be. Lol. For a free chunk of steel and access to tools though, it was worth a shot. I have further ideas if I like this though

Yes, I could be. Lol. Is there any way to test it? For a free chunk of steel and access to tools though, it was worth a shot. I have further ideas if I like this though

it is a lot easier to play with crap steel and refine some techniques.

There is no way to tell what it is by looking at it, but how it handles a file or grinding disc can lend some clues to what it is. The only way for sure is lab work.

You can guess steel content from the way it throws sparks on a grinding wheel as far as high or low carbon.

My suggestion is move forward with your project and learn, theres a damn good chance its typical mild steel, which wont be a good blade.


Moving forward, check more details on google, youtube and forums... I learned a lot from them.


I read things such as saw blades and lawnmower blades tend to be better than typical mild steel.



There are also sources for knife blanks...


GL,
EB

Old saw blades and lawn mower blades are good. Newer blades not so much.

You grindeded gud. Nothing wrong with any type of project like that. Have fun and learn.

Did not grind so gud today, but I didn't do it on the knife I'm making for myself. A coworker wanted one too. I'll give him my first attempt and use what I learned on mine to keep it cleaner

Ah typical taking care of others first. You are like the mechanic whose car doesn't work because he is working others.......

An old Ford leaf spring is 5160 tool steel, suitable for either forging or grinding a knife. After it is shaped, but not sharpened, you'll need to harden it and then temper it to 58-61 Rc hardness to make it suitable for a knife edge. Then you can sharpen it to a razor sharpness. A whole leaf spring will also give you dozens of knives. Cheaper is an old file or rasp which can be made into a nice knife for a lots less money.

Rasps and files are good hard steel... but very brittle.

grind slow, and keep it cool!