Blade Length

[Subal das]

http://www.britishblades.com/forums/forum.php

great place to go for advice on knife making

reading British Blades I got inspired and made this karambit



it made from NKT bearing, and even do not rust, local blacksmith straighten outer piece of bearing, then I drilled finger hole and rest I cut myself with files. Before temperature treatment steel is quite soft and can be worked out quite easy. After temperature treatment you can get very hard blade and sharpen it.

[Rajat]

Nice work Subal!

What is the diameter of the finger hole and what (tools) did you use to drill it. Thanks.

[Subal das]

Nice work Subal!

What is the diameter of the finger hole and what (tools) did you use to drill it. Thanks.

all holes were drilled in steel fabricators workshop. I scaled down in photoshop 5.11 Tarani folder karambit, redesigned it for fixed blade up to hand of my wife. She like it more then any other knife. I always trying to get her some nice one, but she resist. In fact, I cant imagine better knife for woman's defense. In Malaysia it is very common that woman and girls too carry a karambit.

[Rajat]

Thanks for the information buddy!

[Bruno22]

Still it's great work.

Bruno22

Buddy you have got me wrong. I did not make these or claim that I can make these. I got these made from a local blacksmith / knifemaker a long time back. This is just an example of what can be done locally.

I do have more locally made, in front of me, knives too.

[goodboy_mentor]

I am all set... only thing is searching for a blacksmith...can u tell me exactly where in which shop i will find this Leaf Spring... can i get in Spare part shop??

Plenty of broken leaf springs of long distance interstate trucks are sold off as iron scarp in truck garages where these trucks are repaired. If you do not know about any of these garages, go to any automobile spare parts shop that sells any spare parts for trucks, ask them the location of such garages, they can even introduce you to the owners of such trucks who will be able to provide you with a piece of broken leaf spring. The mechanics who change the leaf springs or increase the curvature of the leaf springs of trucks by hammering them are called lohars(iron smiths). You can have a word with them, they will probably be able to tell you about other lohars who deal in creating knives etc. In north India knives etc. are also made by nomadic tribes called baazigars.

[prasanjit.baul]

I am all set... only thing is searching for a blacksmith...can u tell me exactly where in which shop i will find this Leaf Spring... can i get in Spare part shop??

Plenty of broken leaf springs of long distance interstate trucks are sold off as iron scarp in truck garages where these trucks are repaired. If you do not know about any of these garages, go to any automobile spare parts shop that sells any spare parts for trucks, ask them the location of such garages, they can even introduce you to the owners of such trucks who will be able to provide you with a piece of broken leaf spring. The mechanics who change the leaf springs or increase the curvature of the leaf springs of trucks by hammering them are called lohars(iron smiths). You can have a word with them, they will probably be able to tell you about other lohars who deal in creating knives etc. In north India knives etc. are also made by nomadic tribes called baazigars.

Thanks very much sir... i will certainly go find out a leafspring dis sunday... n keep u updated....

Regards..

[abhrankash]

You can find these in automotive junk yards or car / truck repair workshops. No need to buy a brand new one.

OH no sir, don't go for new ones they are very costly in comparison to old ones,I think you can get old leaf spring in kg rates from any junk yard or from near by garage.

[essdee1972]

@ prasanjit.baul - pls let me know if you got the leaf springs and craftsmen in Mumbai.

Folks,
I had once (more than 12 years ago) made a decent knife from a broken mechanical hacksaw blade. These hacksaws are typically used to cut thick (at least 30 cm dia) metal blocks used for making dies for forging, casting, etc. The broken blades used to lie around the factory, and the workers used to make flat knives for cutting veggies, etc. out of them. I preferred to make a Rambo-type knife.
The blades are typically about 2-4 cm wide, about 3-5 mm thick, and the particular machine used 50 cm long ones. You need only a fixed rotating grinder to make the blade (might try a Dremel type tool on them, but safety precautions need to be much, much more). Just hold the blade against the grinder, and slowly grind away till you get the shape / size / sharpness you desire. (Careful! wear protective glasses, etc., do not wear loose clothing which can get caught, etc., etc.). For further sharpening, you can use finer grade grinders (use the rough grades to get the basic shape and size and blade angle, then move to progressively finer grades for the edge part. Finally can use sandpaper, but remember the steel is extremely hard!
If you need to keep the serrations, do not grind that part. I got the typical Rambo-type shape, the serrations opposite the cutting edge. Sharpening the serrations is quite tough and has to be done manually using a triangular or square file. You may not need to do this, as they are quite sharp anyway.The blades are discarded if broken, or if the serrations are not sharp enough to cut hardened steel used for making dies. They are still good for wood, normal MS, Al, etc. You can create a tang, and then affix handles, pommels, etc., I went for a full metal handle (continuartion of the blade), cut finger grooves (using the same grinder), and wrapped woollen thread (flicked from my mother's knitting supplies!) around that. All the work, materials, etc., were done by me - I had access to the blades and the grinders, as I used to work at that factory.
Only drawback is that this rusts very easily. And once I left home, it got thoroughly rusted and got junked.
I still miss it!! (at that size, it would have been illegal anyway )
Cheers!

[Rajat]

@ prasanjit.baul - pls let me know if you got the leaf springs and craftsmen in Mumbai.
Only drawback is that this rusts very easily.

The other is that it is quite brittle because of the type of tempering given to it and its alloy composition.

[Subal das]

files brittle too, but before making knife of file you can heat it and make steel soft, easy to cut, then temper again at 200C for 1 hour twice in normal backing owen, and then it is not brittle at all.

[essdee1972]

Thanks, Subal, I neglected to mention that the workers who used to make normal knives out of the hacksaw blades would temper and harden them. (being a steel working unit, furnaces, quenching oils, all kinds of machines were readily available, as were the men to work them!!)
BTW, you had mentioned earlier that even showpiece knives can be tempered in microwave / baking oven. Can you pls explain? I am unable to remove the handle of a showpiece kukri (from West Bengal handicrafts).

[Subal das]

I'm not sure what kind of handle it is, if there is a pin you can drill it out. Also better make perfect as possible edge before tempering, it can be quite hard work to do after tempering.

steel cant be tempered in microwave, but in simple backing oven.

I'm not an expert in this filed, you can get much better advice regarding type of steel, temperature, duration and required hardness on britishblades.com

[abhrankash]

@ prasanjit.baul - pls let me know if you got the leaf springs and craftsmen in Mumbai.

Folks,
I had once (more than 12 years ago) made a decent knife from a broken mechanical hacksaw blade. These hacksaws are typically used to cut thick (at least 30 cm dia) metal blocks used for making dies for forging, casting, etc. The broken blades used to lie around the factory, and the workers used to make flat knives for cutting veggies, etc. out of them. I preferred to make a Rambo-type knife.
The blades are typically about 2-4 cm wide, about 3-5 mm thick, and the particular machine used 50 cm long ones.
I still miss it!! (at that size, it would have been illegal anyway )
Cheers!

Dear Sir,
ESSDEE1972,
In context to your writing in the above post kindly let me clarify you something,the hacksaw blades you are talking of are good to make survival knifes but they cannot be forged because due to the formation of a special material inside the steel called TOOROSITE and MARTINESITE,you need to have a aluminum girth wheel to grind it this use to be white in color and you can find them the small tool rooms.
If you want to make a knife out of hacksaw blade the go for the blade of power hacksaw as you have mentioned
If you want to drill holes to fix a handle that can be done also but special kind of drilling tool should be used i.e solid carbide drill bits these you can find only in tool rooms.
But you have to be careful while drilling due the brittle nature of the material.

[essdee1972]

Thanks, Subal and Abhrankash!

@Subal, the blade seems to be have a very narrow, pointed tang, which is stuck into some kind of black hard material (looks like solidified coaltar). I was wondering if the convection / bake settings in a microwave can be used. Now I will have to get my better half interested in baking cakes, so that she buys an oven ! Thanks, I will check out britishblades.com.

@ Abhrankash, just to clarify, I was not trying to forge the blade, they (the blades) were used to cut hardened steel to make forging blanks. I was working in a forging unit (does that make me a forger? ). Yes, we used white coloured alumina wheels to grind the blade. I used to be a metallurgical engineer in those days (God, the times I spent in mugging the martensites and austenites ), hence knew far more about steels, how to cut them, how to heat-treat, etc. etc...... than I do today! Will probably run miles if I see a furnace!! Thanks once more, your post sent me back a loo--ong way down memory lane.

Cheers!