Saw blades for knifemaking

[silatman]

I am a brick paver and go through 14" diamond saw blades fairly regularly.
I was wondering if the metal in the saw blade would be suitable for making live knives.
Obviously I would be using the stock removeal method and was wondering if the metal would need to be heat treated once the grinding and filing was finished and also if you thought that the metal might be too hard to start with.
Any comments would be appreciated.

 

[Bill Bednarick]

I've made knives out of saw blades before and they tend to be a bit hard to cut.

You can use abrasive wheels to cut the blade to shape then grind it and heat treat it or, if you think the blade is hard enough you can simply sharpen it.
If you can find out the type of steel the blade is made of you shouldn't have much trouble rehardening the steel.

I made this knife out of a piece of old sawblade.

 

[silatman]

Cheers mate, now I just have to learn how to do the cross stringing for the handle, any links or info on how to do that will be appreciated aswell.

 

[Grenadier]

Nice craftsmanship, Bill. What kind of steel was used in that saw blade?

 

[ginshun]

Not that martialtalk members are not a great source of info, but if you are serious about knifemaking, your questions would probably be answered much better at one of these places.

www.bladeforums.com

www.knifeforums.com

There are makers forums on both sites that are frequented by tons of custom knifemakers. If anybody will know, its those guys.

 

[silatman]

Not that martialtalk members are not a great source of info, but if you are serious about knifemaking, your questions would probably be answered much better at one of these places.

www.bladeforums.com

www.knifeforums.com

There are makers forums on both sites that are frequented by tons of custom knifemakers. If anybody will know, its those guys.

Thanks for the links, there is definately more to knifemaking than taking a hunk of metal to a grinder hey!!

 

[theletch1]

My granddad made several blades from the blades of old cross cut saws. The steel in those things are very flexible and still hard enough to keep a good edge.

 

[Bill Bednarick]

Nice craftsmanship, Bill. What kind of steel was used in that saw blade?

Probably L6 which is a fairly common saw steel.

I have several 24" sawblades that I cut blades out of when I don't have any new steel to grind. They can be hard to work at times but it makes me really like the steel I buy new from the steel supply.

I have to agree with ginshun as to the value of both of the forums he linked to, as they are where alot of the knife making knowlege I have came from.

The rest of it came from practice and trial and error.
Sounds like the martial arts doesn't it.

 

[Bill Bednarick]

Cheers mate, now I just have to learn how to do the cross stringing for the handle, any links or info on how to do that will be appreciated aswell.

I'll take some pics if you want to see how I do it.
As far as the other people that wrap handles I'll give you some of my better links.

Here is an older one and very important.
It's on tsukimaki and is one of the best on the net. It shows most of the information you would need to tie a Japanese style sword handle
http://pages.prodigy.net/tlbuck/tsuka/tsuka.htm

Here is a page that shows 50 different styles of tsukimaki. It's good too.
http://home.planet.nl/~sebregts/

I'll post more links Monday when I am able to get to the links on my work computer, but these are some of the very best.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Hey Bill,

Those are some very nice links. I can definately vouch for Bill's skill with making aluminum trainers. Roughly a year ago Bill showed up to one of our Modern Arnis seminar's with a bunch of Aluminum trainers and after seeing the quality I immediately bought all of them. (I did give other people a chance to buy some though :ultracool )

Bill that is also a really nice picture of the blade you made out of an old saw blade.

I am curious because I do not believe I have ever handled a blade made out of a saw blade and I am wondering if it feels to light or flimsy? What about edge retention and it's ability to cut?

Brian R. VanCise
www.instinctiveresponsetraining.com

 

[Bill Bednarick]

I'll bring you one to play with next time I come down Brian.
It's made out of 5/32nds steel, so it's not real flexible.

Here is the greatest collection of knife making links in one place I have ever found
http://gbrannon.bizhat.com/old.htm

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Hey Bill,

That would be great. I am definately looking forward to seeing them next time you make it down. Never to old to see, touch and feel a new knife!

Brian R. VanCise
www.instinctiveresponsetraining.com