Re; Striking Knife

Re: Re; Striking Knife

Paul in NJ

>Mike,

For a dollar you don't have much to lose except for your time. If you are like me, any time I spend in the shop is great, it doesn't have to be woodworking. I once bought a large high carbon steel butcher knife and cut and shaped it to a 3 inch skinning knife for my brother. My only thought for you is whether you can soften or anneal the steel you have chosen to make it easier to shape. I am not sure about stainless but high carbon steel is pretty easy to anneal, harden, and temper.

I too was inspired by Adam's article to make a striking knife. Mine was made from an old Nicholson mill file. The worst part was grinding the teeth off. I used an 8 inch disc sander to do the grinding, it hasn't touched wood in years. One of these days I will splurge and get some store bought O-1 to try. I do get a kick out of recycling things like the old piano ivory I used for the scales. I bet a striking knife would be a piece of cake if you had a forge and anvil.

Paul Dzioba

Re: Re; Striking Knife

John Hoffman

>A friend of mine made one for me from a spade bit and it works great. He also ground the other end of the bit into a point to use with the grain.

Good luck

JH

Re: Re; Striking Knife

Mike G.

>I'm leaning towards the high carbon Sollingen blade. I'm thinking that if I'm careful when I gring the angle and bevel on the blade, I won't ruin the temper. Due to the shape of the blade and the tang, i probably won't be able to put the awl end on it, but I have several of those. I will probably practice on the used spade bit first. Thanks. That's a very nice striking knife paul.

Mike g.

Re: Re; Striking Knife

Don Thompson - Cutler Ridge, Florida

>I would think that a cheap knife would be too thin, and a good knife would have a heavily tapered cross-section, and would not be good either.

Used up planer blades work well

Chris McLaughlin

>I had one that is about 1/4" wide (really used up) and I snapped a bit off, ground some serrations into the shank to give some epoxy a grip and then glued it between a couple of cocobolo blanks. I then used my little disk sander to grind the blade.

I'll post a picture when I get around to it. It turned out quite well.

CJ

Re: Re; Striking Knife

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>If you read Adam's article carefully, "between the lines" perhaps, you may come to the realization that it is important for efficiency to have both the awl and and the knife end on the same tool. I don't yet, so I am speculating. I'm still building my first one.

I did have a chance to look at and use the one Paul built at CJWA last Wednesday. We also discussed methods of grinding an awl end on a piece of steel. I took the easy way out and chucked a piece of O1 drill rod in a Jacob's chuck in my lathe and ground it down with an angle grinder. I also use the angle grinder to shape flat stock for the other end.

Now for the important part: A third party, who I recollect may visit here, suggested the following trick. Instead of two pieces of steel and a Jacob's chuck, start with an old spade bit and hold it in your four jaw scroll chuck. (Centering it calls for a bit of fussing) and grind an awl point with the angle grinder. The other end can be ground to shape held in a machinists vise.

One more trick for a finishing touch, since the flat end of a spade bit is very short: Drill a hole clean through a blank of wood the same diameter as the shank. Turn it between centers and slide it over the tool for a comfortable handle. A little epoxy or thick set CA or even Gorilla Glue will hold the handle in place.