How to Make Homemade Knives

Many specialty woodworkers, boat builders and cabinet makers find it necessary to make their own edge tools to have the proper implement for a certain job. Working with their basic techniques, a good homemade knife can be made with a surprisingly small amount of equipment and expense. Many home workshops will already have all the material necessary to craft a serviceable knife. Those items you can't find in your shop can be purchased at your local hardware store.
The steps described below are basic and will yield a utility knife useful in the shop and around the house.

Things You'll Need

• Wood stove or charcoal grill
• Insulated work gloves
• Safety glasses
• Reciprocating saw blade
• Long-reach pliers
• Metal pan at least two inches deep, large enough to hold blade lying flat
• Sand--enough to uniformly cover bottom of metal pan to depth of one inch
• Bench grinder
• Metal file
• Five-gallon bucket with at least four gallons of room-temperature water
• Kitchen stove
• Wet/Dry sandpaper (400 grit)
• Two 1/2" by 1" by 4" pieces of hardwood
• Epoxy glue

Instructions

Anneal and Temper Your Blade

1. Start the wood stove or grill with sufficient fuel to allow for a three-inch bed of coals. Once coals are glowing uniformly, put on insulated gloves, grasp reciprocating saw blade with long-reach pliers and place blade on top of coals near center of coal bed.

2. When blade turns red (usually about 30 minutes) remove from coals with long-reach pliers and place in metal container on top of sand. Allow blade to cool for one hour.

3. Grind blade to desired shape on bench grinder and grind initial edge with a 35-degree bevel. Finish shaping blade with metal file and remove all burrs.

4. Using long-reach pliers, place blade back on top of coals. When blade turns red, remove from coals and immediately quench in five-gallon bucket of room-temperature water. Blade should be cool enough to handle and transfer for final tempering after about five minutes

5. Remove blade from bucket and place in 400 degree oven for one hour. Turn oven off after one hour. Leave blade in oven until it has returned to room temperature.

6. Remove blade from oven. Polish with fine sandpaper and/or buffing wheel.

7. Trim hardwood blanks to desired size and shape for knife handle. Epoxy hardwood blanks to blade. After epoxy has cured, you can sharpen the initial bevel on the knife to a working edge.

Tips & Warnings

• When shaping your blade, be sure to leave at least four inches of material for the knife handle. For satisfactory results, do not skip or skimp on any of the heating stages. The first heating and cooling cycle softens the blade enough to shape with a grinder or file. The second heating/cooling cycle hardens the blade again but makes it too brittle to be useful. The third cycle should bring the blade back to the proper balance of hardness and flexibility to hold an edge but not snap under normal working pressure. Transfer blade from quench bucket to oven within one hour of cooling. Allow epoxy to cure for at least 24 hours before sanding or finishing handle.

• Observe all safety precautions at all times while working with fire and/or power tools. Blades will be extremely hot while tempering. Please be sure to wear proper clothing and safety gear. Remove all flammable material from your working area.