My First Knife | Learning Metalworking

Inspired by the Beyond the Comfort Zone contest, I decided to try something that I had always wanted to do: to make a knife! I have extremely limited experience with metal and in this one project I have already learned so much. I'll go over exactly what I've learned at the end of the instructable.

For the Blade of this knife I used an old saw blade from my circular saw. There are tons of videos online about making knives from these blades so I thought I'd have a lot of reference material.

For the handle I used some hardwood that I had lying around. I have no idea what this wood is.

To attach everything together, I used CA glue and wood glue.

To cut the saw blade I used a Jigsaw and a hacksaw.

I used a bench grinder and a file to shape the blade.

I used a cheap set of sharpening stones to sharpen the blade.

I used a Rasp and Sandpaper to shape the handle, which was finished with Boiled Linseed Oil.

I drew out the shape of the blade I wanted using a permanent marker.

I cut out the blade using my jigsaw and hacksaw. I prefer using the hacksaw as I kept dulling my jigsaw blades.

I finished up the shaping of the blade using a combination of my bench grinder and a file.

I chiseled out a small area for the tang of the blade to sit in and I secured this with CA glue. Then I glued the two halves of the handle together with wood glue.

I shaped the handle using a rasp and sandpaper.

To finish the handle, I used Boiled Linseed Oil. This is one of my favourite finishes and really makes the grain pop!

So now that the project is finished, I have a pretty darn nice looking knife! I really enjoyed this project, and learned a lot!

• I should have gone more slowly with the jigsaw, as I dulled quite a few blades in the process of cutting the metal.
• The metal I used is not suitable for a knife as it cannot be hardened. This is something I learned after the fact, and will bear it in mind for the next project.
• I would like to use epoxy to attach the 2 halves of the handle next time as it would set up faster and allow me to get working more quickly.

This project was a huge learning experience for me, and I feel a lot more confident about working with metal now. Thank you for reading this instructable. If you've enjoyed it, I'd really appreciate a vote in the Beond The Comfort Zone contest.

Have a great day!