DIY survival weapons\tools

I had some time off of work today and thought I would give knife making o shot. So I grabed a old serculare saw blade and started drawing a profile and this was what I came up with.
Used angle grinder and cutting wheel to make the cuts.

Similar to Tom Brown Tracker


Saw blade cut out


Ceder handle that Im going to replace with walnut. Handle held in with 30min epoxt


Handle a little thicker on one side due to me


I left the carbide tips on the blade for breaking glass or chipping rock who knows what else.

Blade is not tempered due to it being my first so I could get the feel of cutting the profile.
From start to finish 3 hours with out temper. So show what you got would love to see.

I like it! It has a prison shank-esque feel too it but I like it. Well spent time off work I'd say. I made one out of coffee cup lids one time

reply to post by ga-`tv-gi


And another artist is born. Nice knife, I love the teeth on there. I've done a few knives over the years, mostly from railroad spikes and old files.

reply to post by ga-`tv-gi


Good starter, problem is, it is going to break on the arbor hole, guaranteed.
I would keep this more for presentation and not use.
You can get a good piece of steel from a leaf spring, older springs were smaller in guage and width and would be easier to work.
Try not to overheat the steel to allow it to keep it's temper.
Use alot of water.

reply to post by g146541


This may be a dumb question but an honest one at least : ) What is a leaf spring? Sorry, I have never heard that before.

I think it is awesome! I love the design & wonder how many you could make from one blade? I have always wanted to make one myself & a sword. I just can't find carbon steel. There are plenty of things to make a knife out of but, what about a sword? If I just got a piece of steel from Lowes that is not carbon, does that mean I just have to do the whole heating thing? I'm sorry if these sound like dumb questions, I just don't know the answers, I have never worked with metals before. Thanks for the share. I would flag except, I don't seem to have the little blue "flag it" at the top, I did star it.

Leaf springs are the flat (as opposed to coiled) springs used in car/truck suspension.

Pretty cool knife, but I agree that the hole is a weak spot. Nice start, though.
Oh, and it's "circular" for future reference.

reply to post by kaidec

Leaving the carbide tips on was a good step for most cutting and gouging.

Do be aware that they are only soldered into place and will likely pop off if used for prying or chipping.

carbide is very hard and will fracture and chip against rock and even steel if slamed hard enough.or dragged across rough edges with enough force.Carbide does not like hard force full impacts.Carbide once sharpened will stay sharp for a very long time if only used against wood and such.all but impossible to sharpen in the field. you would need a perfecly flat fine grained rock and lots of time and patience.once dull or fractured might as well grind and bust it off with a rock and reshape knife.you could plan for this when grinding out the shape of knife, so you would still have steel edge to use if you wanted.you can also make light weight hatchets out of circular saw blades, cut off the top and bottom of saw blade slit a groove in the middle of handle drill hole in handle ,nut and a bolt or rivet and your done.Lawn edger blades and lawnmower blades have good steel too,look for older lawnmower blades or the cheapo mower blades as they are flater than the new vacum type newer ones ,make big knifes or short swords.Leaf springs make great tools,and have the best steel, but they are very thick(1/4-3/8) and take a lot of work to finish, and when you are done you have a big Heavy tool.start with a thin circular saw blade and then do a edger blade and then you can decide if you want to spend the time on a leaf spring project. not all saw blades are carbide tipped.FYI these tips are brazed on but the common camp fire will not loosen them.. need a hammer? look for a 4 inch tree branch with a 1-2 inch branch growing out of it at about 90 degrees, do some sawing and youv got a 4 inch double sided wooden mallet.need a small portable vise? get a used door hinge, file a square hole in the center hole to fit a stove or carridge bolt ,run bolt through and put on wing nut, and you can tighten by hand..lacking that cut off a small tree 2-4 inches thick,drive knife or something into center ,remove and hammer part needed to be in vise into split groove.need a flat blade screwdriver??just take your belt off at home,the one with the square buckle and fire up your belt sander or bench grinder and shape one corner into a flat edge with 2 flat sides making a large flat screwdriver,also do the other corner a little smaller.get a steel buckle large and you can put stick or something through center hole to twist while pushing down also..all you folks that have seen the movie ThunderBolt and Lightfoot know this trick already..Field Engineering at its Best!!!!!!!!! .there is always a way you just have to figure it out, someone has done it before long before you . i read Backwoodsman magazine lots of good info there.