Bushcraft: “Budget knife”.

Here is a quick write-up (not necessarily a tutorial) of how I made an inexpensive knife. This is by no means an original idea, just my take on the concept. – hope you enjoy.
Here I’ve collected some basic materials for the job.

• Scrap pieces of leather.
  
• 3/16” poplar dowel rod (leftover from another project).
  
• Some leather cordage for the lanyard (leftover from another project).
  * You may use whatever is on hand.
  
• An unknown species of hardwood that was used for an old deer drag rope handle.
  
• 2 bone buttons (I decided not to use these as the project progressed).
  
• A 7” reciprocating blade (cost: approx. $3.00).
  

Blade:
First I marked out the basic blade shape (somewhat difficult to see). I used a small bench grinder to shape the blade, and hand files to rough in the cutting edge. Be careful here that you don’t overheat it and ruin any temper the blade may have. Keep some water for cooling the blade nearby. As a general rule if the blade is too hot to hold your affecting the temper.

I also center punched my dowel hole locations; location is based on your preferred handle size.

Also the tail was rounded as that will be exposed.

Handle:
I had cut my hardwood scales a little too thin so I added some plywood veneer to the backside to increase thickness. I used 30min epoxy and clamped everything up to cure.
Note: in the photo, you can see the blade after being sanded and dowel holes drilled out. Also the blade edge has been hand filed.

My camera died here so I wasn't able to take pictures of the handle assembly. But the process is as follows.

• Glue up scales (after trimming to rough / basic shape).
  
• Drill dowel holes in scales using blade as a template.
  
• Glue scales, blade and dowels together – clamp till cured.
  
• Once dry, using a small coping saw trim as close to blade body as possible than sand remainder of handle to final shape.
  
• Finish sand and coat with polyurethane or varnish.
  

Sheath:
I started with 2 pieces of “tomato stake” cut approx. to 8”.

Next, I carefully scored two parallel lines using a coping saw. Basically I set the saw edge on the face of the stake and slowly dragged it across until you have a line about 1/16” deep. The next step was to take a chisel (a 1” was the smallest size I had) and carefully notch out the material between the score lines. The thickness of the knife blade will determine the cut depth.

Note: go slow! The part in this picture was my second attempt as I went way too deep on my first try.

Here you can see the two pieces nested together to create the blade pocket. Sand accordingly to accomplish a proper fit. You want the blade to fit snugly but not bind.

In this photo we have the glue up of both pieces. I used the same epoxy as on the scales. After it dries add any creative elements or shaping then stain and varnish.

P.S. – The cell phone pics of the leather work turned out horribly! I should have checked the settings first. I really need to get a handle on my camera situation.
The leather work is as follows:

• Hand sew a belt loop to the large piece that wraps around the sheath.
  
• Pre-sew the sheath wrap, leaving the stitching excessively loose (creating a sleeve).
  
• Place the sheath in the leather sleeve and soak the assembly in extremely hot water (NOT boiling) for a few minutes.
  
• Carefully begin to pull stitching / lacing tight, working your way down. This will cause the leather to gently stretch around the sheath.
  
• Once the leather dries it will “shrink” and you won’t be able to separate them without using inappropriate force.
  

I added a small piece of leather cord (soaked in mineral oil) and a wooden bead (stolen from my daughter) for a blade keeper.

Conclusion:
I think this turned out really well given the materials used. And my cost was right around $3.00 (depending on the materials you have to purchase your cost may differ). As for performance – it will take a keen edge but it does dull rather quickly; but a few passes across one of those cheap “V” sharpeners brings the edge back, so it’s not a big problem.

I initially made this for outdoor / bushcraft use and it does “ok”. It can skin a squirrel decently if kept sharp. And light cutting tasks are easy to execute. Surprisingly I had difficulty in making feather sticks (my thicker bladed knives performed better) I’m not sure if it’s the blade or my skill level? It does work wonders for food prep though. And as a result has become my go to kitchen knife.

All in all this was a neat little project given the low cost. If you've never attempted to make a knife, this would be a great project to cut your teeth on. I hope you enjoyed this write-up; and if you have questions, ask away.

Luther.