After hurting my arthritic fingers using an old folding knife, I decided to try making something that would better fit my hands. Here is what I came up with.
I started with an old rasp
Some work on a bench grinder brought it down to the rough shape I was looking for.
I worked the blade into shape on successively finer grades of sand paper.
Followed by wet/dry sand paper
And finally a leather strop with green polishing compound.
To create a handle I started with two pieces of maple grooved out to allow room for the tang. These were epoxied together.
I shaped the handle with a Dremel, a newer rasp and sandpaper.
The result was a carving knife with a handle that is easy to hold – even for arthritic old fingers. I worked a pretty good, shave-my-arm-hair edge on the blade. Whether it will hold that edge remains to be seen. It was a fun project, anyway.
-- Dave K.
2 comments so far
TopamaxSurvivor
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#1 posted 07-25-2013 05:33 AM
Looks good from here! Hope the edge holds well ;-))
-- Bob in WW ~ "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence
gfadvm
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14940 posts in 4143 days
#2 posted 07-26-2013 12:44 AM
Looks like a good knife to me.
Old recip saw blades make good knives and require a LOT less grinding.
-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm
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