Machete from a hand saw.

[K191145]

Always wanted to make a machete or knife so a few weeks ago I bought an old hand saw at a yard sale for $3, used a pack of Dremal cutting discs to cut it out, had a piece of cherry for the handle and sanded and blued it. Kept the saw teeth on top, cut a clip on top, made the sheth last night. It's a little flexable even for a machete but I made it just for the fun of it, probably will never use it for anything. I might try a smaller knife from a circular saw blade someday.

 

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/JMH42/media/Machete1_zps872cb030.jpg.html][/URL]

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest sL1k]

That is pretty sweet! I wonder if 2 blades together would work better for rigidity?

[MacGyver]

I like that saw-toothed top.  Nice leather work as well!

[TrickyNicky]

That's pretty BA right there, killer job.

[K191145]

Thanks, I was thinking more of a survival tool with the saw blade, I know those survival shows, Duel Survival, Survivor Man, etc. are sometimes silly but I still like to watch some of them, that's where I got the motivation and mainly just for fun.
I wonder how to fuse two blades together to make it more ridged. I do some leather work, I can make things a little more fancy but i,ve never had the patients, I want to make something fast but at least I make it functional.

[K191145]

I've heard some good steel to use for making a knife is a leaf spring from a vehicle. Sounds like a lot of hard work, it would be nice to have a lathe and a milling machine. I took a metal class in high school, I sometimes I had advanced my education in that area.

[Spots]

I've heard some good steel to use for making a knife is a leaf spring from a vehicle. Sounds like a lot of hard work, it would be nice to have a lathe and a milling machine. I took a metal class in high school, I sometimes I had advanced my education in that area.

Most older leaf springs are 5160 or 6150. Those are two different metal types, Im not confused lol. They average 2.5" wide and 3/8th thick and take a lot of heavy forge work. Stock removal would be even harder and they make a good blade but its heavy.

Tapatalk ate my spelling.

[Dolomite_supafly]

One of the easiest ways to cut out any type of steel, especially hardened, is with a plasma cutter. While they are expensive they are a whole lot cheaper than any lathe or mill. And the time it takes to cut out a piece would be minutes and not a lot longer if using a mill. On a piece as thin as a saw blade you could probably cut it out in about 30 seconds because you can go FAST on material that thin.

 

I have seen plasma cutters for sale in the $300 range. They are not for constant, industrial use but for the home they would be perfect.

[Guest Broomhead]

Plasma cutters will work, but they'll ruin the temper/hardening on any steel along where it's cut. You will have to grind away that area to get back to usuable steel. Even with unhardened steel, you will have an area where the carbon has been burned out of the steel making that area useless for knives, like haz when using a cutting torch. Now, you can plan for this and cut your blank well oversized to account for the haz, and then grind down to your desired shape.

 

As for fusing two blades to make one, the only plausible way is to forge weld it. I'll let Spots go further with an explanation on how to forge weld if he desires.

Edited July 2, 2013 by Broomhead

[Spots]

Btw the knife looks really good, great work. As far as fusing two blades, the only way I know of would be forge welding as broomhead said. Basically you pull both pieces of metal to welding heat, flux and hammer them together. It would be just like making damascus. Itd be much simpler to buy thicker steel as that much weldind would be hard. Though you could use that and some mild steel and make it into forge welded damascus and it would make a great blade.

Tapatalk ate my spelling.

[Guest Broomhead]

Oops...Forgot to mention the OP's blade in my earlier post. :blush:

 

Very nice work. It looks professionally done. That handle looks very comfortable. I would suggest taking it out and trying it out on various vegetation. My panga machete is fairly thin and flexible yet works quite well, it just needs a new handle.

 

If you fused three pieces of steel, with the knife quality steel in the middle and two pieces of another alloy on the outer sides, then you'd have a San-Mai blade. San-Mai is similar to Damascus but without the patterns in the steel.

Edited July 2, 2013 by Broomhead

[peejman]

Very nice blade and sheath. 

 

You might consider adding a stiffener bead or two down the length to help make it a little more rigid.... viagra for blades.

[gunwhatgun]

I like it. Just be careful knife making becomes addicting. Just ask my wife, you can't open a drawer in our house without finding one of my knives lol.

[xjsnake]

Nice looking blade!

[K191145]

Thanks again, I am already thinking about a smaller knife made from a carbon steel circular saw blade, that should be some good steel. I.ve got a good Makita grinder I would like to find a good cutting disc for, that Dremal wont do the job on thicker metal, it took a loooong time and many discs just to cut a thin saw. Cutting it out with a grinder shouldn't overheat the steel, I keep a wet rag to cool it down after I cut a little.
I know I can buy quality knives or machete but it's kind of satisfying to make something yourself. I just need to practice patients and not feel that I have to rush things.

[Spots]

Thanks again, I am already thinking about a smaller knife made from a carbon steel circular saw blade, that should be some good steel. I.ve got a good Makita grinder I would like to find a good cutting disc for, that Dremal wont do the job on thicker metal, it took a loooong time and many discs just to cut a thin saw. Cutting it out with a grinder shouldn't overheat the steel, I keep a wet rag to cool it down after I cut a little.
I know I can buy quality knives or machete but it's kind of satisfying to make something yourself. I just need to practice patients and not feel that I have to rush things.

It wont burn the carbon out but it will remove the temper from it unless you can keep it under 200 degrees. Basically if its hot to the touch its to hot. You reharden and retemper it after doing the grinding. If youd anneal it before cutting and working you wont wear out as many gridning disc

Tapatalk ate my spelling.

[Guest Broomhead]

If you want to anneal it and/or reharden it, my forge is always open. I'm just a hop skip and a jump from you. I can do up to about a 9" OAL knife in my forge, bigger if you just want to do an edge quench.

[Randall53]

AWESOME......I want one...!!!!!!!

[peejman]

We have one of these at work...  http://www.cpomilwaukee.com/milwaukee-6370-21-8-in-metal-cutting-saw-with-case/miln6370-21,default,pd.html?ref=pla&zmam=31282435&zmas=47&zmac=43&zmap=6370-21&gclid=CJGLtPGnk7gCFSJlMgodeVkAdg

 

It's absolutely amazing.  Cuts through 1/2" mild steel plate as fast as my Makita cuts through 1/2" plywood.  The metal doesn't get particularly hot either. 

[Pat]

What a neat idea! That honestly looks like a 100% professional job, as well.

[K191145]

What a neat idea! That honestly looks like a 100% professional job, as well.

Thanks, I had the idea of a rubber handle made from a piece of an old tire tread but when I cut a test piece out I couldn't smooth out the wire belt enough to keep it from poking through into your hand. The sidewall was too thin.

[K191145]

We have one of these at work...  http://www.cpomilwaukee.com/milwaukee-6370-21-8-in-metal-cutting-saw-with-case/miln6370-21,default,pd.html?ref=pla&zmam=31282435&zmas=47&zmac=43&zmap=6370-21&gclid=CJGLtPGnk7gCFSJlMgodeVkAdg
 
It's absolutely amazing.  Cuts through 1/2" mild steel plate as fast as my Makita cuts through 1/2" plywood.  The metal doesn't get particularly hot either.

Cool saw, I would have to get into serious metal work to justify buying something like that. I tried a metal blade in a recipricating saw but all that did was dull the blade quick.

[Guest Broomhead]

Cool saw, I would have to get into serious metal work to justify buying something like that. I tried a metal blade in a recipricating saw but all that did was dull the blade quick.

 

Yep, those sawzall blades are for cutting through soft mild steel like nails and even structural steel.

 

If I had plates of blade steel to cut into smaller pieces I'd buy one of those saws. After I replace my drill press I'm going to get a portaband metal bandsaw and rig it vertically for cutting blanks out.

[whitewolf001]

That's a MEAN lookin pig sticker.

[RED333]

Good job on the blade, and thanks for the idea!!!