Sawzall Kitchen Knife

[Kevin Henry(Woodman)]

I have a few used sawzall blades and decided to make a kitchen knife. Originally I was going to use the Ambrosia Maple for the handle but I decided to use Ipe.
It's shown in my wife's hand. I told her not to get used to it because I owe Uncle Sam a few bucks and it will be going up for sale.
The blade thickness is .05" so it's a really fine slicer.

[Braz]

Looks good. I like the idea.

[HaMeR]

Cool idea for a used sawzall blade!!

[FS Custom Calls]

That blood on the ruler?  Must be sharp!  looks great, how does it hold an edge?

[Kevin Henry(Woodman)]

That blood on the ruler?  Must be sharp!  looks great, how does it hold an edge?

Yes, that's blood on the ruler and the weird thing about it is that it's probably been there for a couple of years. One of my fingers decided to run along the edge! Why the color didn't darken I don't know. Could it be the bourbon in my system?
As far as the edge holding up, my wife has only used it twice for making dinner. Whenever I get old steel that I want to re-purpose I test it by laying it on my garage floor and hitting it with a steel punch and a 3 pound sledge. If it leaves much of a dimple I discard it. If it's good and hard I then see what the sparks look like on the grinding wheel. If it throws a good spark from the spine or tang I use it. There's no sense in testing the teeth because they were probably hardened by the manufacturer. I'm sure this blade will still be in use when there's no spark left in me! :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spark_testing

[FS Custom Calls]

Ha ha.  My dad used to make knives out of huge power hacksaw blades.  He had some quenching system that softened then hardened them.  And you may be on to something.  My blood looks a lot like Molson Canadian!

[majordog]

Ok Kevin...I want to know who you cut the slot for the tang of the blade in that one piece handle.....

[Kevin Henry(Woodman)]

Majordog, to make the slot for the tang I put the handle in a vise and then with a pencil I make the letter I. Then I use a drill bit that's about twice the thickness of the blade to remove the wood necessary to get a good fit for the tang. I also put 1/16" of the blade into the slot.
Then I put the handle upright in the vise and squeeze 2 part epoxy down into the slot. When the level of the epoxy is about 1/4" from the top I mix it with a very thin bamboo skewer, it looks like a big toothpick. Then I put the tang in and take it out of the vise and visually make sure it's aligned properly with the flow of the handle. I then put the point of the blade against a block of wood and add enough force to seat it securely. All this can be done with the handle still in the vertical position so the epoxy doesn't run. Then I clean off any excess epoxy using small cereal box squares of greyboard. I slide a corner of the greyboard along the side of the blade to get a smooth joint. Then I use acetone to clean the blade and wood. I let it sit upright until it dries. If the epoxy settles down a bit into the handle I mix a little more epoxy and fill in any spaces by applying it with a toothpick.
Send me a message or email if I can be of help.

[majordog]

Thanks.

Tried my hand at making one of these this week.  I sort of figured it all out, except I didn't make my hole as large as you did, or use the drill press, I sort of "free handed" it with a drill, dremel, and a needle file.  I coated the tang in epoxy then, before sliding it into the handle.  I was pretty please for a first try but knew there HAD to be a better way...LOL. After reading your injstructions I can see where I failed.  My blade position is a little "off" and pouring the epoxy down the hole before mixing ahs GOT to be easier and cleaner.  Handle is a bit chunky, but I have large hands and made it that way on purpose.

BTW.....after grinding the blade, I tempered mine in the oven.  One hour at 400 degrees, then let it cool slowly, then the next morning, another hour at 400 degrees.  When I took it out of the oven, the steel was a lovely purple color

Gonna try another one next week, I've got a couple goose calls to turn right now, but it was definitely something fun to do while cutting, gluing, and drying goose flute blanks this week.

Thanks for posting it.

Don