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How To

How to Make a Knife Out of Bone

Contributor
By Andrew Cangiano
eHow Contributing Writer
(2 Ratings)
An example of a well-made bone knife.
An example of a well-made bone knife.

A detailed description of how to turn an ordinary bone into a functional knife. Bone knives can be used as a weapon, but are not good for cutting or chopping, which can cause the knife to break.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging
Instructions

Things You'll Need:

  • Suitable bone, such as leg bone of a deer or another medium sized animal.
  • Small hammer, chisel, or rock.
  • Piece of hardwood.
  • Sturdy string or rope.
  • Sketching or drawing paper and a pencil with eraser.

    Making a Bone Knife

  1. Step 1

    In creating a custom knife, such as one made of bone, planning must come first. Ideally you would like to create a template of how the knife will look, including its relative dimensions. The drawing should convey the knife's size and shape. This will give the creator a mental image of the knife they are trying to create. Obviously, in a life-and-death survival situation, this step can be skipped.

  2. Step 2

    Lay the bone on another hard object, such as a rock, pavement, concrete, or any other firm surface. Ideally, the surface upon which the bone is being laid should be relatively flat.

  3. Step 3

    Next, shatter the bone using a rock, chisel, or small hammer. One blow may be sufficient or several may be necessary to break the bone into several pieces.

  4. Step 4

    From the shattered pieces of bone, select a suitable pointed splinter. The size of the knife blade can vary depending on the size of the bone used and which piece is selected. You can further sharpen and shape the splinter by using a hard-surfaced rock. If the splinter is small, no extra sharpening may be needed.

  5. Step 5

    Select a piece of hardwood for the handle. Hardwoods such as coco bolo, rosewood and ebony are all excellent choices for the handle, because they are inexpensive and are easily shaped. Use chisel, rock or other sharp object to carve handle to desired size.

  6. Step 6

    Lash the bone splinter to the hardwood handle using string or rope. Three techniques that can be useful for lashing the bone to the handle are the split handle, forked branch and wrapped handle techniques.

Tips & Warnings
  • If you are not an experienced outdoorsman or knife-maker, building a functional bone knife may be a difficult task. However, if you are alone in the wilderness, this just may save your hide!

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