I had a chainsaw bar laying around and thought I'd try my hand at making a knife. It's my own design for a large skinner, it's going to have a 5" blade. I heard that chainsaw bar steel is good material for this. I used an angle grinder for cutting out the blank and also used it for removing most of the material. I'm also using a bench grinder for a small portion and a good file to make sure the profile is even. Here's a few pics of my progress so far. I wasn't able to drill the holes for the handle with cheap carbide bits so I'll have to find something better. I have one side mostly profiled. Took me about 3 hours so far. Anyone have some good handle material?

 

No, but I have wanted to. We have some stainless at work that I wanted to attempt it with.

 

Make sure to grind slowly so the heat doesn't ruin the heat treat.

 

Yep, I've been going slow and steady on an anvil with water in between to dissipate the heat.

 

nice!!

 

As far as materials, leaf springs, lawn mower blades, saw blades of any variety. I've made a few, nothing worth posting.

 

btw mail it to me and ill duracoat it for ya!

 

Check out this thread on making edged weapons: The DIY how to make a edged weapons - Pirate4x4.Com

 

Duracoat a knife? How would that work? I'm thinking about cold blueing the steel.

I've been working on the knife today. Picked up some maple and some cherry flooring scraps as well as some brass 1/4 inch rod for the handle. I have the other side profiled and am working toward an edge. Symmetry is the hard part but it's looking good so far. Will post some updates as I go. I'm going to polish it up real nice. I know getting the tool marks out is going to be a bitch.

 

Progress...