Today we are going to show you how to make a shave sharp kitchen knife with all the good qualities that you would normally expect from a kitchen knife and for 50 cents.
For our knife we chose to make use of a power hacksaw blade. Power Hacksaw blades are made of High carbon stainless steel, and High carbon steel normally refers to higher-grade, stainless steel alloys with a certain amount of carbon, and is intended to combine the best attributes of carbon steel and ordinary stainless steel.
High carbon stainless steel blades do not discolor or stain, and maintain a sharp edge for a reasonable time.
Most ‘high-carbon’ stainless blades are made of higher-quality alloys than less-expensive stainless knives, often including amounts of molybdenum, vanadium, cobalt, and other components intended to increase strength, edge-holding, and cutting ability. Exactly the same qualities that we would wish our kitchen knifes had isnt it.
First of all we will draw an outline of the knife shape on the blade using a pencil. Remember you should draw the shape on both sides because you will find it necessary later on when you are grinding the blade. A good way to do it is to cut out the blade’s shape in a piece of paper and then keep the paper on the blade and draw.
We used a grinding wheel atached to a motor to do our job. You may also use a small angle grinder or a belt sander.
Always remember to wear protective glasses while grinding and also keep a pot of water handy to dip the blade from time to time inorder to prevent it from heating up. If high carbon steel heats up then it loses its ability to hold an edge.
Okay now we have our knife taking shape and its time to break off the top part we just thought adding this photo will get you a better idea as to how it is done.
Now we have our knife looking good and ready for the handle.
There are many materials that we could use to make a knife handle like wood, plastic, composite or steel. each one has its own advantages and disadvantages.
We chose to use wood because wood handles provide good grip, and most people consider them to be the most attractive. Take a piece of wood, make use of a planer to get it to the desired size and shape. Even if it is the right size planing makes it look fresh and attractive.
Next step is to split the piece into two. Draw a line using a pencil or a ball point pen and cut along the line.
Next keep the knife’s handle on the piece and draw the shape do it to both the pieces.
Now we need to cut out the shape using a chisel. But before doing it you may want to even out both the sides because as the wood piece gets smaller and fragile this task will get difficult. So first use a sand paper and even out the pieces and then cut them into shape.
So now we have both the pieces of the handle in shape ready to be fixed on the knife blade.
Before bonding the knife blade and handle a quick graphic design.
We used a synthetic rubber based contact adhesive that has excellent bonding strength and is used to bond variety of substrates such as painted metal, Mild steel, glass, galvanized steel, chip board, PU sheet, leather, leather board, cementatious flooring, GRP, Rigid PVC board, synthetic fabrics etc . The adhesive dries to a tough, flexible film with good resistance to water and aging.
After bonding the knife and handle its time now to apply a coating of quickset glue over the wooden handle. It gives it a laminated feel and also protects the wood from water.
The knife handle once we have finished our lamination process.
The finished product.
And yes our little knife passed the quality check with flying colours.
If you try it out do not forget to leave us comments.