On Monday my dad called and needed help cleanin up around the house to get ready for a part this weekend for my brother who's bein shipped to Afaghanistan later this month. After cleaning for awhile, I accidentally found an old rusty file and a lil piece of steel that was hollow and I figured with very minor grinding the file could slip into the steel and make a nice knife with some wor. I grinded the file slightly and used a 15 ton press to press it into the handle, after a lil cutting, shaping, and sharpening, I ended up with what you see in the 1st picture, about 45 mins of work invested at that point.
I asked my mom for some help (im only 20, so I asked her for help alot, lol) with making a handle and scabbard/sheath/holster. She brought me a bag of shoe strings and I grabbed some orange and black shoe strings and thought i'd use them to make a cord handle. I found an old leather belt that I had outgrown and my mom suggested it'd work to make a "scabbard". She gave me some heavy duty thread and some upholstery needles and I headed home. I cut the belt up and came up with a little belt holster for the knife and I started sewing it with the thick thread. It took about 45 - 60 mins to finish it. After finishing the holster I immediately started trying to figure out how to use the orange shoe string to make a cord handle. After about 5 mins of tinkering I came up with an idea based on how nooses work (something I learned accidentally while a freshmen in highschool). Another 10 mins and I had it wrapped nice and tight.
The knife with the shoe string cord handle.
The knife in its leather belt holster.
So about 2 hours of work invested into a bunch of old stuff I had lying around the parents house. Tools used were a 4.5" grinder (cutting, grinding, and sanding discs were used), a bench grinder, and a 15 ton press. Materials used in the knife were an old file (pre-tempered) to form the blade, lil piece of galvanized steel for the handle, shoe string to cord wrap the handle (lighter was used to melt string ends), an old belt and thread & needle to make the holster. Time to whetstone it even though it's rather sharp from the 120 grit sanding disc.
thank you to 7x57chillmau, Todd A, and HSO for pictures and info about cord handles!
sorry for the crappy pics, all I have to use is my camera phone. And the knife isn't that small, I just have big ol' hands.
I hope you guys like. It was my first knife and ALOT of fun, way easier than I thought it'd be!
I asked my mom for some help (im only 20, so I asked her for help alot, lol) with making a handle and scabbard/sheath/holster. She brought me a bag of shoe strings and I grabbed some orange and black shoe strings and thought i'd use them to make a cord handle. I found an old leather belt that I had outgrown and my mom suggested it'd work to make a "scabbard". She gave me some heavy duty thread and some upholstery needles and I headed home. I cut the belt up and came up with a little belt holster for the knife and I started sewing it with the thick thread. It took about 45 - 60 mins to finish it. After finishing the holster I immediately started trying to figure out how to use the orange shoe string to make a cord handle. After about 5 mins of tinkering I came up with an idea based on how nooses work (something I learned accidentally while a freshmen in highschool). Another 10 mins and I had it wrapped nice and tight.
The knife with the shoe string cord handle.
The knife in its leather belt holster.
So about 2 hours of work invested into a bunch of old stuff I had lying around the parents house. Tools used were a 4.5" grinder (cutting, grinding, and sanding discs were used), a bench grinder, and a 15 ton press. Materials used in the knife were an old file (pre-tempered) to form the blade, lil piece of galvanized steel for the handle, shoe string to cord wrap the handle (lighter was used to melt string ends), an old belt and thread & needle to make the holster. Time to whetstone it even though it's rather sharp from the 120 grit sanding disc.
thank you to 7x57chillmau, Todd A, and HSO for pictures and info about cord handles!
sorry for the crappy pics, all I have to use is my camera phone. And the knife isn't that small, I just have big ol' hands.
I hope you guys like. It was my first knife and ALOT of fun, way easier than I thought it'd be!
