Homemade knives. How to make a good knife How to make a knife for hunting with your own hands at home Hunting knife scheme

A hunting knife is essential for every hunter. First of all, it is used for finishing off and butchering prey, but in addition, it remains a faithful assistant in a variety of hunting situations. Now on sale you can find a huge number of various models and modifications of blades. But, despite this, the need to make a knife for yourself may arise. Usually this happens due to the inability to buy the right blade, either in return for a lost or broken one, or seen from friends and liked, or there is not exactly the knife that you need for sale.

Making a knife from a 9HF saw

In this article, we will not focus on the shape and design of the blade, the type and width of sharpening, etc. We believe that finished project or we already have a sample and focus on the production itself.

A homemade hunting knife, so that it meets the basic requirements for such blades, is recommended to be made from high-carbon alloy steels. For example:

• 9HF- tool alloy steel, used for the manufacture of frame, band and circular saws, punches, trimming dies and a number of other tools. Usually, saw blades are taken as blanks;
• R6M5– high-speed alloy steel of high strength. It is used to make many types cutting tool, drills, saw circles, from the latter and you can make a blank;
• 65G- spring steel, with high wear resistance, can be blued and blackened. They make springs, springs, gears, etc. For blanks, in addition to sheets, rear springs are used. trucks. Considered one of the cheapest knife materials;
• X12, R3M3F2 and a number of others are also suitable.

The material for the workpiece can be taken from the above products, although now on the Internet you can order a plate for the workpiece from almost any steel. As a recommendation - take a canvas pendulum saw for metal, the usual dimensions are 400x30 mm, the thickness is 2 mm, the surface is rough, the color is black or gray.
If you want to make a homemade knife at home, in addition to the material for the workpiece, we need:

• corner Sander(Bulgarian)
• Circles for it, cutting off for alloy steel, for example inox A54S BF, sharpening and grinding.
• Drill or drilling machine
• Vise
• Pobeditovoye and other special drills
• Files and diamond file
• Sanding machine (very desirable).

The process of making a knife will be as follows:

The knife handle can be wound with paracord or made of wood, in the latter case, we drill holes in the handle according to a template, according to a sample or drawing. Holes are drilled with special drills with concomitant cooling with oil. It is more convenient to do this on a drilling machine.

To simplify the process, the holes are drilled first with small diameter drills, and then gradually reamed to the desired size.

Handle

Knives are made with different handles. The choice of material for their manufacture depends on the purpose for which the knife is intended, ease of use and the personal preferences of the owner. Below are two ways to make a knife handle at home.

Wrap the handle with paracord in a few minutes

Using a paracord cord as a knife handle is not only easier and faster, but also more practical. You will always have a couple of meters of cord with you, which can be used for a variety of purposes, when surviving in extreme situations.

For winding we need:

• cord, 2 - 2.5 m;
• thick tape or electrical tape;
• lighter or matches;
• scissors;
• gloves;
• screwdriver.

Before you start winding the cord, decide if you need a lanyard loop and, if necessary, where it will be, on the side of the blade near the stop or at the end of the handle. If it is available, in addition to the ability to hang a knife, in the first case, you can put your thumb through it to make it more convenient and reliable to hold the knife, in the second, you can remove the knife from its sheath, etc.

Winding paracord is done in this order:

• We wet the cord, while it stretches better, and when dry, it will sit no more monolithically on the knife.
• We seal the knife blade with tape or tape to avoid accidental cuts or cutting the cord. All operations are best performed with gloves.
  
• We press one end of the cord on the head of the handle so that 10 cm remains free.
  
• From the cord we form a loop laid along the handle so that the top of the loop protrudes a couple of centimeters beyond the cord winding zone.
  
• Then holding the knife in your left hand and pressing both ends of the loop with your thumb, right hand we begin to wind the cord around the handle, starting from its head.
  We make the winding tight, turn to turn, do not tighten it at all, we take into account that the cord will still sit down after drying.
  
• Having brought the winding to the stop at the blade, we pass the remaining end of the cord into the protruding part of the loop.
• We cut off the excess cord, leaving about 3 - 5 cm, and burn the end of the cord.
  
• After that, pulling the free end of the cord from the side of the head of the handle, we pull the loop under the winding until the end threaded into it disappears under the winding. Avoid fully stretching the loop, otherwise the entire winding will unravel.

The wrapping is complete. With this option, we will not have a winding loop for a lanyard. If we want to form it, the winding is somewhat complicated. Initially, two loops are laid on the handle on both sides of the knife.

To form a loop under the lanyard on the head of the knife, the end of the cord is pressed on the head of the handle and one loop is pulled up to the blade, then the cord is thrown over the headband and the second loop is also laid on the other side. The winding starts from the head of the knife. Having finished the winding, the remaining end is threaded into both loops near the blade and pulled under the winding by the loop in the headband, thereby forming it.

In order for the loop to be near the stop, we do everything the same, but on the contrary, we begin to lay and wind from the stop, in the same place we pull the loop to tighten the clamped end under the winding.

Making a false handle as an alternative to paracord

If you are an adherent of the classics and want to make a regular handle, use a tree for this purpose. It is more accessible, easier to work with, the wooden handle is more pleasant to the touch, does not cool, slips less in the hand, and if properly processed, does not take moisture. The knife handle can be made of oak, beech, maple, birch, walnut or mahogany. In order not to waste time and effort on preparing and drying wood, there are two simple ways get her. The first is parquet, you can buy it in special store, there, by the way, expensive varieties are sold by the piece. Second - old furniture, in the attic, in the garage, in the country, with friends, you can always find unnecessary household trash and use it.
For the handle you need two dies if you have a hand standard size, then 10 - 15 mm thick, this is with a margin for processing, so that the thickness of the future handle is about 20 mm. The length of the workpieces is 150 - 200 mm, so that there is room for their fixation during initial processing.

In addition to the tree, we need:

• dowels made of aluminum, copper, brass, iron according to the number of holes of the corresponding diameter;
• drill with drills or drilling machine;
• drills according to the number of holes in the handle of the same diameter;
• grinding or grinding machine, it can be replaced by a file for wood and a lot, a lot of time;
• electric jigsaw or manual jigsaw, or see the previous paragraph;
• engraving machine or file with a file;
• emery cloth of different numbers up to the smallest;
• epoxy adhesive;
• linseed oil;
• thick tape or electrical tape;
• vise, clamp.

We make the handle as follows:

1. Before starting work, we wrap the knife blade with tape or tape to avoid accidental cuts.
2. The first step is drilling. We put the knife blank on a wooden plate, press it with a clamp or, at worst, wrap it with tape and drill holes. To make the hole neat, first drill with a thin drill, and then drill to desired diameter. After the first hole has been drilled, we insert a key or a drill of the same diameter into it, this is done to fix it so that the die does not move. Let's move on to the next hole.
   
3. We drill the second die in the same way.
4. After drilling, we assemble the dies on the knife, using dowels or drills, to make sure all the holes match.
   
5. Then, attaching alternately the dies to the knife with the help of dowels or drills and clamps, we outline the contour of the handle along the contour of the knife. It is advisable to mark the handle with a small indent, 1 - 2 mm, for further processing.
6. After marking, we cut out the handle with a jigsaw-electric jigsaw or grind it on a grinding wheel, in extreme cases, a file in your hands.
   
7. Dowels are ready. To make the homemade knife look aesthetically pleasing, we will not rivet the keys, but glue them. To do this, we make chaotic cuts on the dowels with an engraving machine or a file, in which the glue will solidify and seize. At the ends of the dowels, we remove the inclined chamfer under 450.
   
8. Since after gluing it will be inconvenient to process the cheeks of the stop, we finish them and polish them with emery.
9. We carefully grind the halves of the handle on the sandpaper from the inside so that they fit snugly when glued to the plane of the knife shank.
10. Before gluing, we make the last test assembly.
11. Gluing itself is carried out according to the instructions for the glue. The assembly order is as follows, we lubricate the inside of one half, insert the dowels smeared with glue into it, put a knife on them, and then the greased second half.
    Clamp the assembled handle in a vise and remove excess squeezed glue. We leave the clamped handle for a day.
12. After the glue hardens with the help of files, emery, a grinding wheel, and so on, we finally form, grind and grind the knife handle.
    
    
    
13. When the handle is fully polished, it is time to impregnate. It is best to impregnate the tree with linseed oil. You can buy it at the artist's shop, they breed it oil paints.
    The handle is kept in oil from three days to a week. The process can be accelerated by boiling the handle in oil for a couple of hours, but you need to strictly monitor the temperature, otherwise the glue may leak.
    
14. Then the handle should dry out at natural temperature for about a month, during which time the oil will polymerize, and the wood will harden and become immune to moisture.
15. After drying, the handle is finally polished with a soft cloth.

Sharpening for beginners

Before talking about sharpening a hunting knife, you need to recall that homemade knives, made from the metals recommended in the article, are very difficult and take a long time to sharpen, since the alloyed steels used have high hardness. This must be remembered when using the knife for other purposes.

Now about the sharpening itself. AT living conditions knives are sharpened on special whetstones. Such stones are ceramic (the cheapest and most common), diamond, natural and from Japanese sea stones. The principle of sharpening on them is approximately the same, so in the future, by default, we will talk about the most common, ceramic grindstone.
In order to sharpen a knife with high quality, it is desirable to have either two whetstones of different grain sizes, or, more often, a whetstone whose sides have different grain sizes. For the convenience of sharpening, the size, or rather the length, of the stone should be greater than the length of the knife blade.

It is advisable to sharpen the knife with both hands, so it is advisable to place the grindstone on a separate board, fixing it either in a recess specially cut out for this, or with the help of six nails driven in on the sides.
Knife sharpening begins on the roughest stone. At this stage, the grindstone can not be wetted. We place the stone on the table arbitrarily, the main thing is that it is convenient for you to sharpen on it.

The whole process of sharpening consists in giving the edge of the blade an acute-angled shape. When doing it, you need to remember a few basic rules:

• you need to choose the optimal angle of sharpening the knife and stick to it throughout the entire process;
• the knife is driven along the stone with the blade forward, as if cutting off a thin layer from it;
• in one movement, you need to carry out the entire edge of the blade for uniform sharpening;
• the edge of the blade must always be perpendicular to the direction of travel;
• each next time the blade must be turned over and held on the other side so as not to shift the center of the bevel of the blade;
• movements should be smooth, without pressure;
• it is better to sharpen both sides with a unidirectional movement, either towards oneself or away from oneself, since the movement of the hand away from oneself is always worse and weaker than the movement towards oneself.

Now with regard to the angle of sharpening. It can be from 450 to 300, in the first case the knife will keep sharpening longer, in the second it will be sharper. It is better to sharpen a hunting knife exactly under 300, this is easy to achieve, just when sharpening the knife, guide it as if you were cutting a thin slice of butter or cheese.

After you have screwed in the initial sharpness by deducing the angle of the edge of the blade, you can move on to a stone of less dispersion. It is advisable to periodically moisten it with water so that the edge of the blade glides better, and metal dust didn't clog pores.
You can finally sharpen the blade to a mirror shine and razor sharpness by straightening it on an old leather belt with GOI paste. main feature editing with GOI paste is that the knife is led back to the direction of the blade, i.e. butt forward.

Making a scabbard (case) from leather

One of the necessary accessories of a hunting knife is a scabbard. They are needed to protect the blade from dulling, and everything around from cuts and damage to things.

You can make a homemade sheath yourself at home, from a small piece of leather about 3 mm thick.

For this, in addition to the skin, you will need:

• scissors;
• a sheet of thick paper for the template;
• a pen;
• an awl (it can be replaced by a sharpened nail or cloves);
• small cloves and a hammer;
• universal glue;
• fork;
• paraffin candle;
• fine emery or grinding machine;
• kapron thread and one or two large needles;
• pliers;
• button closure;
• wax or cream.

The procedure for making a cover will be as follows:

1. We make a template. Having attached the blade of the knife to a sheet of paper, we circle it along the contour.
   Then, around this contour with a centimeter indent, draw another contour, it will be the main one. Cut out the template along the outer contour. Separately, we cut out a T-shaped part for the fastener, the width of the straps of which is about 20 mm, we measure the length of the straps by the handle of the knife.
2. We mark the details on the skin. Having attached the template to the skin, we circle the part for one side of the scabbard, then moving the template to the side by 5 - 8 mm we circle only one side to get the part on the half of the insert.
   Then, turning the template over, we repeat the steps, outlining the second side and the second half of the insert. Attach and outline the T-shaped part of the fastener.
   
3. We take scissors and carefully cut out all the details from the leather.
   
4. Having attached to the knife, we try on all the details for a match.
   
5. We rub the ends of the insert on the clasp with paraffin candles, and then grind them on emery.
   
   
   
6. We attach the fastener to one half, and with the help of an awl and carnations, we outline and punch holes for the thread, in two rows.
   
7. We sew on the fastener, the thread can be pre-lubricated with paraffin.
   
8. For the convenience of subsequent stitching, we glue the parts together. We cut out a part from the template along the contour of the blade itself. We put this part on the half of the scabbard and coat it with glue around it so that the glue does not crawl out of the inserts. We glue according to the instructions on the tube. Lubricate and glue the inserts.
   
9. At the tip of the scabbard, between the inserts, we cut a groove for ventilation.
   
10. Glue the other half. We put the sheath under the press for a while for high-quality gluing.
    
11. We check how the knife enters and sits.
    
12. On the emery we process the edges of the scabbard.
    
13. With the help of a fork, drawing two prongs along the edge of the scabbard, we outline the contour for stitching. With a fork, we mark the places of the holes for the thread.
    
14. If you want, you can mess around by cutting a groove in the front of the sheath for the thread so that it is flush with the skin. In this case, it will then need to be polished with wax or cream in the same color as the scabbard.
    
15. We punch holes for the thread with an awl.
    
16. We sew the cover. You can sew with one thread, or with two threads, threading them into the holes one at a time.
17. Attach a button fastener.
    
    
    
18. Finally we grind and polish the scabbard with wax or cream.
    

The scabbard is ready.

A knife is a mandatory attribute of a hunter. The areas of its application are diverse - finishing off game, protecting against attack by wild animals, butchering carcasses, skinning, solving everyday tasks (for example, cutting branches or opening cans). Some functions are performed by universal hunting knives, while in other cases you will need a special knife designed for a specific job. If you wish and have the skills, you can make a hunting knife with your own hands.

Types of knives

Between the types of knives there are differences in the geometric shape of the blade. The purpose of a particular knife depends on the shape. With some weapons it is more convenient to make stabbing movements, and with some - chopping.

Hunter knives have the following types of blades:

• straight edge at the top;
• the upper edge smoothly descending to the centrally located tip (Drop Point);
• an edge going up and a blade located at the top relative to the axis of the tip (Trailing Point);
• a blade in the form of a Bowie knife, which has a straight, sharp upper edge with a steep descent at the tip (Clip Point);
• with a straight butt and a curved cutting edge (Skinner);
• with a double-sided wedge-shaped blade, like a dagger.

According to the type and size of the design, hunting knives are divided into the following groups:

1. Classic. Standard length - from 10 to 13 cm. Blade width - 3–3.5 cm. Weight - from 120 to 180 g. Blades of any type are allowed, except for bilaterally sharpened ones. The purpose of classic knives is long-term work on cutting carcasses, skinning.
2. Large. Size - from 13 to 17 cm. The blade can have any shape. Weight - from 180 to 300 g. A large mass should be accompanied by an appropriate guard and a thick handle. Large knives are used for slashing. For other purposes, they are not very suitable.
3. Folding. Sizes vary. Folding knives are equipped with one or two blades. They show themselves best when performing small, short-term work.

In order for the blade to gain sufficient rigidity, grooves are made in the metal. They have another name - valleys. The presence of fullers not only increases the rigidity of the blade, but also reduces the weight of the knife.

The best option for a hunter is the presence of two knives. One is designed for finishing off large game, butchering carcasses. It should be long and heavy. The second is for cutting small game and auxiliary work (for example, cutting branches in the forest).

Blade materials

Not every steel is suitable for making a good knife. The material must be strong, but flexible, as well as resistant to moisture and low temperatures. In production, carbon, alloy and powder steels are used. Damask steel and Damascus steel perform well.

Damascus and carbon steel blades are prone to rusting. In this regard, a special treatment after washing is recommended. The blades are wiped dry, and then oil is applied to the metal. Corrosion does not develop on knives made of tool, alloy, powder and damask steel.

Making a knife for hunting with your own hands

Materials and tools

To create a homemade hunting knife at home, you will need a set of tools and materials.

List of materials:

• carbon steel (blade);
• wood (linings);
• sheet of brass (handle);
• pins (made of brass or steel);
• epoxy adhesive.

Tools:

• belt grinder;
• orbital sander;
• grinder and discs (cutting, grinding);
• grinder;
• electric drill or drilling machine;
• drill;
• calipers;
• blacksmith's furnace;
• oil for hardening metal;
• a hammer;
• sandpaper;
• blade sharpening tool.

Step by step instructions for making

You can make a hunting knife yourself in several stages.

Cutting a base profile

We prepare the material from which we will make the knife, and apply a template to it. You can find a template online. After scaling the picture, we make a printout on the printer. Cut out the resulting image.

Advice! It is better to use cardboard as a material for the template. It is durable, it will last more than once. In addition, the cardboard is hard, you can hold it in your hands, getting an idea of ​​\u200b\u200bwhat a metal knife will look like.

We transfer the template to the material. Glue the paper stencil onto the workpiece. Next, trim the template around the edges. For this we use a grinder. During cutting, the workpiece must be securely fastened with a clamp.

Cutting in straight lines is easy, but bending will have to be tricky. To cut the bends, we create transverse cuts and remove the metal by sectors.

Below are a few sketches for the independent manufacture of a hunting knife.

Throwing knife blueprint

Hole drilling

At this stage, you need to make a hole for the pins in the handle of the blade. Their number depends on the handle - the wider it is, the more pins you need. On average, holes for 5-6 pieces are needed. Under large diameters holes, first use a small diameter drill. For hardened steel, we use a carbide drill. The work will go easier if you apply lubricant to the drill.

Blade hardening

A forging furnace is required to harden a blade. In the absence of it, a household hair dryer is enough to inflate the coals.

Carbon steel gives off a yellowish glow. As soon as the glow becomes just that, the steel is cooled in oil. However, it should be borne in mind that there are many grades of steel and the hardening methods for them differ significantly.

A sign of hardened metal is that it cannot be processed with a file. Next, we make another vacation of the metal so that it is not brittle.

We remove the oil from the cooled blade. We do this with detergents in running water. If desired, you can polish the blade with fine-grained sandpaper.

Handle making

In this case, the handle will be combined - based on brass or wood. We start by creating brass linings. We need sheet brass, from which we will make 4 blanks: for the front and back of the handle.

We cut brass with a grinder. Then we drill holes for the pins in the overlays. Install the handlebars. This is necessary to fit the plates to the shape of the handle. In order not to create dissonance, we use brass pins. So they will look like a single unit with overlays. We select the pins of such a diameter that they enter the hole with some effort. We complete the installation of the pins by riveting them.

We turn to the manufacture of wooden linings. We use small boards of suitable thickness. We cut off fragments of the boards of the desired length and drill holes for the pins in them. We fix the pads with epoxy glue.

For boards we use steel pins. Instead of pins, you can take ordinary nails. There is no need for riveting, since we used glue earlier.

We tighten the lining with clamps. We are waiting for some time until the glue is completely seized.

Handle grinding

The dried handle must be sanded. First, cut off the pins with a hacksaw or file. Then we grind the planes with a grinder. We also grind the handle along the contour.

There will definitely be areas where the grinder will not reach. This is where a drill with a sandpaper nozzle comes in handy.

Finishing

We install a polishing nozzle on the drill and process the surface until a golden sheen appears on the brass. In the same way, we polish the blade along the contour. Not all areas can be polished, so we additionally go through them with fine-grained sandpaper.

We also process wooden linings with a polishing machine. We apply oil to the finished handle, it will prevent the destruction of wood. The oil will also protect the blade, as brass will not be affected by oxidative processes.

The last thing to do is sharpen the blade. To do this, you will need Japanese water stones with different grain sizes. Stones are only useful if you pour water on them. Thus, dirt is removed from the stone.

Sharpening angle features

Sharpening the cutting section of the blade requires a lot of time and the availability of a set of whetstones with varying degrees of graininess. It is important to observe correct angle. It is the angle of sharpening that determines the further direction of use of the knife.

For different types tasks use the following angles:

• 30 degrees or more - hard work;
• 16–20 degrees - moderate work;
• 10–15 degrees - subtle work.

We start sharpening with coarse-grained stones. Gradually move on to smaller grains.

Conclusion

It is possible to make a knife at home, but this task is far from feasible for everyone. You will need not only materials and tools, but also considerable practical skills. It is easier to order a finished knife in an online store or personally visit a hunting store for a purchase.

Knives are currently popular not only in the kitchen, but also among people who have connected their lives with extreme outdoor activities - these are: fishing, hunting, tourism, etc.

On the market in modern times there are various knives: Variable models, different sizes and designs. But none of them can replace a knife that is made by hand.

How to make a knife with your own hands is often written on the Internet, and you should try to make them.

Knives: types and main properties

On the photos of the knife on the Internet, you can see that each product is a creative element created from various mechanisms.

There is a large classification of knives depending on their functionality: combat, tourist, folding (for example, a butterfly), knives designed for hunting, multi-tools, bivouac knives, as well as ordinary kitchen knives.

Kitchen knives are bought ready-made, but knives intended for hunting or for tourism can be easily made at home on your own.

There are also such knives as survival knives, the main task of which is to help with existence in conditions wildlife. This option is relevant for tourists and hunters.

The blade of such a knife is usually no more than 12 cm. This length is sufficient for cutting wood, processing game, cleaning fish, or other similar actions. The small dimensions make it easy to transport such a knife.

In the manufacture of such a knife, great attention should be paid to the material intended to create the blade. Steel is often preferred.

Steps to create a knife

To get a positive result during the manufacture of the knife, you must first sketch out the drawing of the knife. In this case, you can know in advance what exactly you want to achieve in the end.

Instructions on how to make a knife at home includes a number of rules.

Making a knife step by step

Cut out the blank for the future knife. Relying on finished drawing, cut out the shape for the knife.

You will need a knife sharpener. With its help, bring the base to the desired shape. And after that, an already understandable blank will be in the hands, where you can distinguish the places of the handle and blade.

Rough sharpening of knives. At this stage, you clearly need to know what your future knife is intended for. If it is made for hunting, fishing or hiking, then it is better to give preference to the blade type of sharpening.

And, if the knife is created to function in the kitchen or in the garden, then a razor type will do.

Do not expect perfect sharpening from this stage, because this is just a draft, intended to determine the future shape.

If the blade is pre-prepared, then you can start working with the handle. The handle is made using the most various materials- these are: wood, organic glass, bones, thick types of leather, etc.

Note!

Having cut out the workpiece to create the handle, you should check whether it fits comfortably in your hand, as well as its proportionality with respect to the blade. The handle for the knife is fixed using the riveting method.

The shape for the foot handle is attached using a grinding machine.

The knife is ground and polished on the basis of sandpaper.

The final sharpening of the blade is done after sharpening on a sharpener, also using sandpaper.

At the end, the finished knife is polished with velvet or polish.

Note!

As you can see, the process of making a knife with your own hands is not that difficult, so everyone can try their hand at this area.

You can also set the future knife necessary and desired design. Pay special attention to the handle during the design process.

knife design

Since it is by the handle of the knife that the rest can then judge your creative thinking and status.

Some write their names on the handles of the knife, draw certain patterns and sketches in the form of tattoos.

The simplest knife can be built in an emergency in the forest, the main thing is to find the materials necessary to create it.

Note!

It is worth finding only the cutting part for the knife, and then you should insert it only into the handle, which will be in the form of a piece of wood, ropes or leather.

DIY knife photo

Hunting knives are not just weapons for finishing off the beast. A good knife will easily butcher the prey, remove the skin, help with the arrangement of the camp, and at the same time it will “keep” the razor blade. There are special skinning, universal and carving knives. What qualities are inherent in the best hunting knives? To do this, you need to delve into the history of hunting knives.

First hunting knives

The first hunting knives appeared in the Stone Age. Unlike daggers, which were made of horns and were not suitable for cutting prey, the oldest hunting knives were made of flint and had a sharp cutting edge. Over the centuries, hunting tools have developed in parallel with military weapons, while their main difference has always been multifunctionality. Knives were used for cutting and skinning prey, for cooking. If necessary, the knife became a deadly weapon in skillful hands.

Over time, hunting knives began to differ from household ones. They began to decorate, exquisite hunting weapons were given to leaders and rulers as a sign of respect and reverence.

Fixed blade hunting knives

The best hunting knives are fixed blade knives. The choice of this design is not accidental, the hunter's knife must be ready to work in any circumstances. Folding knives lack this feature. In addition to the fact that the folding knife must be opened, on impact it can easily fold and injure your fingers. Due to the small size of the blade, folding knives are not suitable for protection from the beast. Nowadays, all-metal hunting knives with overlays on the handle have appeared. This design is very reliable, and it is almost impossible to break it. However, hunters prefer classic models with a blade-mounted or through-mounted blade. A good hunter will choose a more secure through blade mount.

Folding hunting knife

Folding models of hunting knives were widespread in the USSR. Almost every hunter had a model equipped with a cartridge case extractor. Such a product was completely unsuitable for cutting, since the steel of the blade was of terrible quality. Gradually, these knives migrated to the sons of hunters, and the fathers returned to the use of traditional fixed knives.

There is an excellent Wenger folding hunting knife on the market, represented by the New Ranger Hunter model. This model is equipped with an opener, a corkscrew, a saw and an awl. The blade of the Wenger hunting knife is made of high quality stainless steel. Such a knife is useful for cooking and for small jobs in the camp.

Blade shapes of a hunting knife

Blades of hunting knives have different shape but the most common are:

• Blades of the classical type. The most common blade type ever. For centuries, all knives, from north to east, had this shape (in the east, however, it was quickly supplanted by a curved shape);
• Blades upswept point (raised blade). Such blades are found on skinning hunting knives, it cuts well, but is completely unsuitable for stabbing;
• Spear point blades. They are great for stabbing, but they are inconvenient to cut.
• Drop point blades. One of the most convenient and versatile blade shapes;
• Clip point. This form occupies an intermediate position between the third and second options;
• Favorite form of "Pike" by the majority of hunters. She is Bowie. Despite its formidable appearance, such a knife is only suitable for finishing off big game and for intimidating hooligans.

For hunting the best choice the knife will be a classic blade or drop point. They are capable of performing most hunting tasks.

National knives for hunting

Each nation had national hunting knives. Some models are still popular and are used by hunters all over the world:

• Finnish puukko knives. This is a small knife suitable for cutting and chores. It is distinguished by the absence of a guard and a barrel-shaped handle made of birch. Not recommended for beginners due to the traumatic handle;
• Large Finnish leuku knives. This knife is used as a cleaver. They can chop brushwood and poles for a hut. If necessary, it turns into a formidable weapon;
• The Yakut knife is the most unusual knife, leading its lineage from the Stone Age. The shape is similar to a half of a large bone. Probably made from bone in the Stone Age;
• Scandinavian knives. They differ from Finnish knives in the shape of the handle.

There are many more varieties of national knives, but they are not so common.

Metal for hunting knives

Steel for hunting knives is used differently. Starting from brand 45x13 to expensive powder and damask. There are two positions when choosing steel for a knife blade. It should keep sharpening and at the same time be easy to correct:

• Steel 45x13 is not recommended for a hunting knife, it is too soft, although it does not rust;
• 65x13 is often used for inexpensive blades. Sharpness is usually enough for one hunting trip, after which it requires sharpening;
• 95x18 put on the blades of knives of the middle price category. With good heat treatment, such a blade will cut two or three exits without editing;
• Tool steels provide excellent cutting properties. Unfortunately, they are susceptible to corrosion and require maintenance;
• Hunting knives made of Damascus steel show excellent results;
• Damascus knives cut even better than Damascus knives. Only in both options, the properties depend on the composition of the package of steels used in the cooking of damask steel and forging Damascus;
• Powder steels (the modern equivalent of damask steel) have the best performance. Unfortunately, they are very expensive.

Hunting knife handles

Traditionally, natural materials are used for hunting knife handles. Wood, typesetting leather, horn, brass, copper. Knives self made they are made with exotic wood handles (zebrano, amaranth, padauk, etc.) using titanium plates. natural materials lie perfectly in the hand, and the leather type-setting handle does not freeze hands in winter.

Do-it-yourself hunting knife

If you are interested in how to make a hunting knife with your own hands, first you need to decide on its shape and download the knife drawing you like. The drawing must be carefully studied and the blade cut from the workpiece. You can try to forge it, but you are unlikely to like the first forging experience. Having cut the blade, you need to grind the descents. A drawing will help to make the desired geometry of the slopes.

You can buy a ready-made blade and just “dress” it. A hole is drilled in the handle where the blade shank is inserted. Don't forget the bolster. Without it, the blade will quickly loosen in the handle. The handle is given a shape that is comfortable for your hand, after which it must be impregnated with Danish Oil. After the oil has dried, the knife handle can be polished with carnauba or beeswax. Now you know how to make a hunting knife.

Sharpening hunting knives

Unfortunately, not everyone knows how to sharpen blades correctly. To sharpen a high-quality hunting knife steel, it may take about an hour and a set of water stones of different grain sizes. In order to sharpen a knife with high quality, it is necessary to strictly maintain the sharpening angle. Sharpening should begin with coarse-grained whetstones, gradually moving to a finer grit.

If you want the blade to be razor sharp so that it shaves off the hair on your arm, you need to sand the edge. For this on wooden block a piece of skin is attached, with the flesh outward. You need to rub the skin with GOI paste and grind the blade on this device.

If such a sharpening process seems very difficult to you, you can purchase a knife sharpener. Just don't buy a cheap kitchen or electric sharpener. Only the Lansky or Apex Pro system can sharpen a knife to razor sharpness. If you feel sorry for the money, you can buy a Chinese clone several times cheaper. Using such a system is easy. The knife is clamped in a special device that maintains the desired angle of sharpening the blade, and a set of bars of different grain sizes will help to perfectly sharpen your hunting knife.

One of best models hunting knife - Roselli Hunting.

A knife is an indispensable tool that is needed in any household. It is not very easy to choose the right product so that it serves for a long time and efficiently. However, you have the opportunity to make homemade knives that will not be inferior in quality to store ones. Let's consider this question in more detail.

Advantages of homemade knives

Among the advantages of homemade products are the following:

1. Free choice of knife type.

2. The use of improvised materials, which makes the cost of the finished item lower.

3. Possibility of self-design of the knife handle.

4. Satisfaction of creativity.

In principle, homemade knives, if you follow the manufacturing technique, are practically not inferior in quality to industrial products. Naturally, all stages of production at home must be strictly observed. Also consider that in the factory, instead of people, almost all actions are performed by machines. At self-manufacturing you have to do a lot of manual work.

Product varieties

Before you make homemade knives, you need to decide what you need them for. So, we can distinguish the following types of products:

• hunting;
• combat;
• household.

A feature of such products is that the first and second types require permission, if, of course, you buy them in a store. Also, homemade knives differ in the shape and length of the blade, according to the material used for manufacturing. The production process is the same for everyone. Sometimes there are only some nuances.

How to choose the necessary materials?

It is not very difficult to build homemade knives. However, this is a painstaking work that requires a lot of patience and time. Before starting work, you need to be sure to select those materials that will be useful to you in the process. So, you should prepare:

1. Steel, the thickness of which reaches 2 mm or more. Instead, a file or cable can be used.

2. Wood or other material from which the handle may be made.

3. Lacquer (if wood was nevertheless chosen).

4. Rivets for fixing the handle.

5. Fine sandpaper.

Need in additional material, of course, may arise. It all depends on what type of product you want to make.

A rope knife is very interesting. For example, you have the opportunity to get a very original handle from the shank. However, the most difficult stage is the welding of disparate wires, of which, in fact, the cable consists. Wherein this process for a beginner with no experience it will be very difficult. From the first time you will not be able to make such a product.

More preferred is the variant of forge welding. That is, the cable needs to be heated, sprinkled with borax, heated again, and then start hitting the material with a heavy hammer. The procedure is physically difficult.

What tool will be needed?

Now let's talk in more detail about what exactly you will work with. In order to make homemade knives, you will need the following tool:

• Vice. Thanks to them, you can fix the workpiece for further polishing and sharpening.
• Metal scissors or a jigsaw with an appropriate blade.
• Hammer (if you use a cable or file).
• Gas burner or other equipment for hardening metal.
• Drill and drill of the appropriate size. This is necessary to secure the handle with a rivet.
• Grinding machine with different nozzles. Naturally, you can use sandpaper, but it will not be as effective, and the work will be laborious.

You will also need sketches of knives that you can draw yourself. Wherein Special attention pay attention to all parameters if you are going to build a military weapon. In addition, now you can find a ready-made drawing that will meet your requirements.

Step by step instructions for making

Before you make a knife, you need to thoroughly prepare. If the drawing and all necessary materials If you have the tools, then you can start working. And you can do everything in the apartment or in the garage. However, keep in mind that the work is noisy and dusty.

Naturally, before work, the metal should be hardened. So, the manufacturing process itself consists of the following steps:

1. Cutting out the workpiece. Its length is 20-25 cm, and its width is 2-3 mm. You will need a vise to work. First, a rectangle of given dimensions is cut out on steel. Next, the outline of the future knife is drawn on it.

2. Processing the workpiece on a grinding machine. And it is necessary to work with the edges. As a result of the procedure, you should get a division of the future knife into two parts: a handle and a blade.

3. Roughing on a plane. Naturally, first you need to choose the type of sharpening. It can be bladed (used in the manufacture of hunting knives) and shaving (for the production of household products).

4. How to make a knife, its blank, you have already figured out. Now let's start making the handle. For work, you can use wood, plexiglass or other material that can be easily processed. To begin with, it should be marked and cut. Next, a hole is made for the rivet. Now the handle can be processed with a grinder to give it the appropriate shape.

5. Using sandpaper, the product should be sanded. Naturally, polishing is also required.

6. Sharpening and grinding of the blade. This action is performed using a machine and sandpaper.

7. The final stage is the polishing of the product. For this, felt and a special paste are taken.

Combat knives and ordinary household products are produced in this way.

Features of manufacturing a product from a file

Now it is necessary to consider the production process using other materials. For example, you will learn how to make a knife from a file. In principle, this process is practically no different from the instructions already given here. However, it has its own characteristics.

First of all, know that a file knife will turn out to be strong enough and of high quality if everything is done correctly. For example, it is necessary to harden the workpiece so that it does not break or crumble.

It is very important to remember to leave the metal. Thus, you will relieve the internal stress in the workpiece, which can lead to its damage. In order for the future knife to be smooth and beautiful, an etching procedure is also needed. Pre-sharpening of the product can be done using a machine. But finishing should be done with ordinary emery.

How to harden the workpiece?

From what to make a knife, you already know. Now we should consider the sequence of the hardening procedure. So, first you need to thoroughly warm the workpiece at a temperature of 600-700 degrees. Hardening time - 4-6 hours. You can heat the product in the oven, in the oven or even on gas stove. However, the latter option requires the construction of a special structure above the burner, with the help of which the temperature will be maintained.

The future knife should cool down together with the oven. Periodically during hardening, you can sprinkle the product with salt. After cooling, it is necessary to temper the metal. This procedure is very simple. It is necessary to place the workpiece in the oven, heated to 200 degrees and leave it there for an hour and a half. The knife should also cool down there. After that, the hardening process will be completed.

As you can see, building a knife at home is not so difficult.

Etching features

To carry out the procedure, you will need:

• Knife preparation.
• A container in which the liquid will be poured. In this case, the workpiece must be placed in this vessel.
• Regular table salt.
• Nail polish (color doesn't matter).
• A tool that women use to remove manicure from their nails. It will be required in order to subsequently process the knife.
• Charger for mobile phone.

In principle, all this can be found at home. So the procedure will not be difficult and lengthy. Please note that the process itself is quite rapid. Therefore, choose a deep container.

It should be noted that this procedure is necessarily carried out if you want to get a beautiful pattern on the knife.

Features of sharpening the finished product

This process is very important and requires some skill. Otherwise, you can simply ruin the workpiece or contribute to its breakage, the appearance of irregularities on the blade. Rough grinding should be done with a machine. This will save you time. However, don't overdo it.

Finishing must be done carefully. It is best to use an ordinary grindstone for this and carry out the entire procedure manually. After sharpening, the blade is polished with a special paste and felt.

What to make a knife from, we examined. But the procedure has a number of nuances that should be considered. The following tips will help you make a quality product that will actually be used.

1. If small irregularities or burrs remain on the workpiece, then process it with a needle file.

2. In order not to injure yourself during the installation of the handle, wrap the blade with electrical tape.

3. When choosing a material, try to pay attention to its evenness and the presence of microcracks. This can greatly affect the quality of the future product.

4. Blade slopes must be pulled out very carefully.

5. If you decide to choose a tree for the handle, then you can use a regular parquet board.

6. The manufacturing process of this product is quite noisy. Therefore, it is advisable to carry it out in the garage, and not in the apartment. In addition, work clothes must be worn.

Now you know how to do good knife at home. Good luck!