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Thread: Help - Thin steel stock for knife making

  1. #31
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    Aug 2010
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    Matthew, Thanks to this thread, and finding an old jig saw blade on my bench, I got motivated to make a marking knife for my general purpose use around the workbench. It was only intended to be something to try out the idea and I spent quite a lot of time wit the handle shape. So far it seems to work OK, we'll see how it holds an edge, but it sure does get sharp (with the help of my bench grinder, some 320 wet/dry paper and a piece of ceramic that I use for polishing edges) No heat treating involved. I cut myself a few time with this while tuning the handle shape and decided that an old piece of foam insulation I had laying around would be a necessary blade guard. Simple but effective.

    Jigsaw_blade_cherry_knife.jpg

    Sorry about the picture quality, and thanks again Matthew for the motivation!

  2. #32
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    Feb 2003
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    McKean, PA
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    My Father used to do quite a bit of Marquetry and he used scalpels to do most of his veneer cutting. He was able to buy handles and boxes of the blades he wanted. Now that he is gone, I have several boxes of the blades. The labels on the blades say Sterisharp. I have no idea where he purchased them, but they came in a box of 100, so they were pretty inexpensive per blade as I recall.
    Lee Schierer
    USNA '71
    Go Navy!

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  3. #33
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    Dec 2011
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pat Barry View Post
    Matthew, Thanks to this thread, and finding an old jig saw blade on my bench, I got motivated to make a marking knife for my general purpose use around the workbench. It was only intended to be something to try out the idea and I spent quite a lot of time wit the handle shape. So far it seems to work OK, we'll see how it holds an edge, but it sure does get sharp (with the help of my bench grinder, some 320 wet/dry paper and a piece of ceramic that I use for polishing edges) No heat treating involved. I cut myself a few time with this while tuning the handle shape and decided that an old piece of foam insulation I had laying around would be a necessary blade guard. Simple but effective.

    Jigsaw_blade_cherry_knife.jpg

    Sorry about the picture quality, and thanks again Matthew for the motivation!
    Thanks Pat! nice and natural looking knife too. personally I really like a longish simple handle about 1.1cm thick and and 1.5cm wide, slightly tapered in width and thickness towards the blade and with the corners chamfered.

    Thanks Lee, I just ordered a box of scalpel blades that are extra thick at 0.025". I will report back when I get them. also got some for marking knives. in the meanwhile I reworked the knives I made a little bit and they are working fine for now.

  4. #34
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
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    DuBois, PA
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    Quote Originally Posted by Doug Trembath View Post
    Call me crazy, but power hacksaw blades work great for larger marking knives, and jigsaw blades work wonderfully for smaller ones. Just use care not to turn them blue as you grind and sharpen. They are hard, edges last a LONG time, and they are easily found, worked, polished, and definitely appreciated!

    YMMV, of course. Check Derek's site for more. He presents it better than I, but I was using this stuff many years ago for carving knives, etc. Cheap and effective.

    Doug Trembath
    Doug beat me to it! Look for metal cutting blades-either power hacksaw or bandsaw blades. Usually made from HSS and also work very well for scraper blades.
    If the thunder don't get you, the lightning will.

  5. #35
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    Update- I purchased some Swann-Morton SM03 and SM01 blades. they are great. at 0.025" they are strong and rigid. they come very sharp, and swann-morton must know a thing or two about treating metal because they are hard but not brittle. great blades for both marking and cutting veneer, they cut leather very well also.


    the main difference is that the SM03 blade can be used with a pencil like grip, while the SM01 are almost identical to the Stanley blades P.Sellers uses, and are only comfortable with a upper hand grip with the index finger pointed forward.


    The SM00 handles are heavy duty and the blades fit snugly and lock tightly. but a shop made handle is perfect too.


    Thanks again for all the ideas, making blades is interesting, but this was a much more practical solution.

  6. #36
    Not to muddy waters...I really like a red bard Parker handle and a #25 blade...as do quite a few luthiers for rosette work.

    Also, I recommend the pointy replacement mill knife blade from lee valley as a decent cheap kiridashi blade.

  7. #37
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Liberty, SC
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    613
    Has anyone thought about using an old saw plate. I sent my brother some saw plates from the old Kingsland saw works in GA. He and a friend are planning to make some carving knives out of this material. Have an old D-115, which has been beat to death, and plan to try to make some scrapers and knife blade from it. Would like to know the thoughts on this.
    Joe
    You never get the answer if you don't ask the question.

    Joe

  8. #38
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Perth, Australia
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    I'm a little late here, but want to suggest that the best steel for a thin blade is a HSS jigsaw blade.

    These are just the right thickness, about the same as a dovetail saw kerf, and a good width - about 3/8" (off the top of my head). They have a little flex, which is great when you need to bend the blade against a wall. But most of all, they tolerate heat and do not require heat treating after grinding into shape. The existing hardness is excellent for honing. All mine hold an edge a long time. What more can one ask?

    Grinding a V bevel end is the best choice here, permitting left-and right use (such as for dovetail transfer). There is a jig for accurate grinding in my article, below.

    http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMad...Dovetails.html

    I've lost track of how many of these I made, mainly as gifts. Now Chris Vesper makes them (I gave him the design to use and do not have any financial interest):



    Regards from Perth

    Derek

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