How do I make a bushcraft knife?

[st1vo]

I'm new to woodworking with a fixed blade knife, although I've been a joiner for many years and a boy-scout (played with pen knives etc..)
So I've seen some lovely knives by fallkniven and bison and on ray mears site etc..
However I'm not about to spend £300 on one!
I'm tempted the Fallkniven at £85 but it's stainless steel... no good I think???
I have a grinder, jigsaw, blow lamp, drills etc.... surely I could make one?
I just need some help.
So I signed up today!!

1. A good pattern, I think a 4" blade should do, I want something very strong and sharp. I will be woodworking with it.
2. Which steel, what thickness, where to buy and how to temper?
3. Where do I get brass rivets? I want 2 or 3 big ones!!

The rest should be OK, I can cut and shape metal and wood fairly well!

Thanks in advance, Steve

[Stew]

Hi Steve! :)

First off, the Fallkniven knives will be good steel. There are many stainless steels out there that are good, despite all the cruddy cheap stainless knives that aren't.

So anyway...

1. Just get drawing! :D
2. O1 steel will do you. It can be bought from http://www.cromwell.co.uk/ described as ground flat stock. Personally I would get 3mm thick. It's thick enough to be strong and thin enough not to be too clumsy. Tempering is only one step of your heat treatment process and can be found in more depth somewhere on here (I'll have a look for you later)
3. Don't know. However, you could just use solid brass rod and peen the ends over, if you only want a mechanical bond. A lot of knives here are held together with epoxy with a straight, unpeened rod going through to limit side stress.

[st1vo]

Thanks for your input so far Stew!
I'm tempted by the Fallkniven but like the idea of making my own one off piece!
Drawing one is not so easy, the shape of blade and handle are important so I'll copy a dedicated bushcraft knife I guess!
As for rivets, I may resort to nuts and bolts!!
Steve

[Stew]

Yeah, making your own is more fun. :D

Don't go for nuts and bolts! They'll work but they're ugly. :lol:

This may help you for rivetting just using a plain round and countersunk holes:
http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?13253-Leather-handled-knife-tutorial
(Rivetting starts at about figure 12)

You could also have a search for corby bolts and loveless bolts.

[EK5Matt]

+1 on making your own, it will make the knife that more precious and loved :)
as for steel I would recommend uddeholm 20C a simple 1% carbon steel with excellent edge retention, or you could try Japanese whitepaper steel, again a very clean high carbon steel that is laminated.

[Noddy]

There is a set of four youtube videos by a guy called GreenPete on making a knife in a kind of bushcrafty way - worth a watch in any case :)

Here's the first:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ysKd1cswlo

[agentc007]

Hi
Personally I find all my needs can be met either at the good stuff shop or at brisa. Paul strand is a great smith and you can pick up a nice stick tang scandi blade from £30. Poul's damascus is exquisite and great value.i ususally go for an epoxy bond and that does just great. Another road you might want to go down are the enzo blades or kits available at brisa.There is a great variety of kits available and you can use loveless bolts that sand down and dont look to ugly to attach the scales.
Both options will be soundly in your price range.

http://www.thegoodstuffshop.dk/product.asp?product=23320

https://www.brisa.fi/portal/index.php?option=com_oscommerce&osMod=product_info&cPath=119_103_133&products_id=1198

[Robevs73]

make it your self mate. I started with 3 knives (copy of bison knives, as i am a big fan) I used 01 tool steel and cut them out with a grinder , gave them to my mate who is an engineer and he took them to work and sent them off for HT with stuff from work (good luck that they were tempering to 58 rockwell, perfect for a bushcraft knife). I used old bed frame oak for the handles and brass pins and tubes from B&Q. Shaped on a bench sander then finnished by hand, I had been pottering about with leather for years making sheaths for production knives ,so sheaths were not a problem. I kept the first one and sold the other two, I am now addicted to knife making and often sell my knives on here and bushcraft forums (I think I have made about 100 by now!). best advice I can give is, when you design use another knife thats of the correct proportions as a guide, so many guys start off with huge bulky handles! All the best and I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

[Shinken]

Do a proper knife (one with stick tang construction)

https://www.brisa.fi/portal/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=15

[Shinken]

https://www.brisa.fi/portal/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20&Itemid=15