I have been feeling under the weather for the past few days, so the usual deluge of springtime tasks are, as yet, undone. But being unable to just sit inside and do nothing, I found myself in the garage looking at a circular saw blade which had seen its last days and become too dull to use. As seems to happen to me when making things, I just kind of... started. I don't want to say that there wasn't any plan, but the order of things kind of went like this:
- I should do something with that saw blade instead of recycling it.
- I wonder if I could make a knife?
- Huh, I wonder what it would look like. I should draw something. I bet I could draw on the the blade itself.
- Errrr.... I hate that. *wipes with alcohol*
- That's better. Mostly. Good enough, whatever. Now, how am I going to cut it out?
- Dremel. When in doubt, Dremel. Wow, that's a lot of sparks.
- OK, that's done, one custom blank. And it's rough.... time for files. And sanding drum on the drill press.
- Hmmm. The blade is fat. And sanding is probably not the best idea. Grinding wheel? Sure why not.
- Right, that's sort of blade-shaped now. But ewww, round wheel plus flat blade equals ugly marks. More files and sandpaper.
- I guess I'll need scales for this thing. Let's go rummage through the wood shelf. Hmm, this will do.
- So...hmmm. Trace the shape on the wood? Why not, let's try it.
- How on God's green earth did that precise trace end up so much too big?
- Trim cut sand file trim cut sand file
- So... now... errr... how to attach them? Duck Tape...no... screws... no... pins... no way I feel good enough to put up with that... JB Weld it is!
- Will it stick? Maybe. Will it stick if I drill holes in the blank? Maybe a bit better.
- Clamp clamp drill drill unclamp unclamp reclamp reclamp drill drill drill drill
- Mix JB Weld with scrap of cardboard on scrap of cardboard. Spread epoxy on scales with scrap of cardboard.
- Obsessively position scales to be perfect despite the fact that they're still too big. Clamp scales on blade.
- Impatiently wait 24 hours cure time like a child waiting in line to get ice cream after wandering around a hot theme park for 8 hours.
- Unclamp and realize how much cut, filing, and sanding I should have done beforehand because dear goodness there is a lot of material to remove.
- Cut, file, and sand. A lot. Thank God for cheap Harbor Freight sanding drums for the drill press.
- Curse sandpaper manufacturers for not making a product that literally lasts forever.
- File and sand to get blade edge closer to the right shape. Bust out the rougher hones and oil (yes, OIL, not water!)
- Justify to myself that the blade surface appearance doesn't have to be perfect because it's a work knife
- Finish sand scales and cover with Ballistol.
- Final blade sharpening
- Cover scales with Ballistol
- Final blade sharpening
- Wistfully imagine what it would look like if the blade surface appearance was perfect despite the fact that it's a work knife.
- Take photos after finding the light which makes the handle look the best and minimizes the blemishes on the blade.
- Final blade sharpening
- Idly wonder if I should have performed some kind of heat-treatment before assembly.
Here's how it turned out:
So... obviously I can't know how well the edge will hold since I haven't gotten a chance to use it, but I'm betting it will handle "reloading bench duty" OK. Was it silly to use an old saw blade? Would heat-treatment have even done anything?
I didn't make this based on any design I had seen before, I just wanted something straight-bladed because sharpening curved blades with flat surfaces is annoying. It's weird to me that so many knives have curved edges.