Custom Knife - Bowie with Ring & Glass Breaker

[Lynx]

I'm not sure what to call it, really. It's a blend between a Tom Brown Tracker and a Karambit. Skip the curved blade part.
Ever since I got scared shitless by something angrily growling at me when I was alone in the middle of a dark field, I decided that I needed a bigger and more versatile knife. The Tom Brown tracker is a nice knife, but I sure as hell did not want to pay 200 USD for it. Goddamn Tops Knives, chill. So I decided to make my own. Also I want my knife to be able to fend off wild dogs/boars. We'll see how it goes.
By the way, the big pointy thing at the end offers me a non-lethal way of disabling anyone who wants to chase me. I already tried it on myself - stabbed myself with it full force in my quadriceps, shoulder, shoulder blade, ribs (half force) and forearm. Needless to say, it was painful as motherfudge. The muscle was disabled for a while. In case of my ribs, Jesus Juan Christ Iglesias Nachos Monte Kristo that hurt. Hitting anything (or anyone) with that point will near-guaranteed mess them up big time.

Here is my original stencil, which I cut out in paper and then outlined it on the metal. Then cut it out with an angle grinder and a cutoff wheel.

Here's the stencil - please improve it and stuff. I'd love to see variations of it. The line is a Size 2 line in Paint.NET.

http://i.imgur.com/ZLHRg28.png

Total Length: 27 Cm
Blade: 13.5 Cm
Blade Thickness: 3 Mm (0.11811 Inches)



It's full tang, not sure what kind of steel. Picked it up at a welding shop, it was a simple plate of steel. Already hardened, insanely tough - took me 30 minutes to drill a hole in it to be able to file on the ring. I drilled 4 holes total, so 2 hours to drill the starting holes. Then it took me another 5 hours to make that rough ring. It works great now, but not all too pretty. I'll still have to sand it inside. Also cutting it out with the cutoff wheel took me a good 8 hours total. It's hardened steel, as I said before. Tough to work with.

The edge is at a fairly high angle, so It's more adapted to chopping rather than cutting. I beveled the edge with my angle grinder as well, then filed it straight and at last used a kitchen knife sharpener to spruce it up. It's far from razor sharp though, but it can cut through paper fairly easily on a good day. Tested it on wood - works very well with carving, chopping and so on. The jimping and the ring work well for various grips, the ring grip being better for chopping - your hand is farther back, so more of the blade is brought down in the strike. The glass breaker works... well, as expected. It breaks glass and thinner objects such as cutting boards and plywood.

I polished the blade and removed the galvanized coating, so that I can dunk it in boiling motor oil to blacken the blade. Then I'll make a nice textured micarta handle for it and possibly make a kydex sheath. A bit tight on budget, so I might simply line a MOLLE pistol holster with hard plastic and have it on my leg during ops.

Yep, so to do list:
1. File away the rough parts.
2. Darken blade.
3. Make micarta handle.
4. Make sheath.

Any thoughts? Also Xana, I know you never believed in me, but I did it. And for all you haters who thought my knife was a dumb idea from the beginning, you hate us cause you ainus.

[Xanatos]

Might be a bit late, but I'd add a small handguard of some sort to stop your hand from sliding up onto the blade when not using the finger ring. Even just a small protrusion like this. You'll definitely want to tune up the finger wells in the grip like on the Hoshu budget karambit otherwise it's not going to feel too comfortable in the hand. As well as smoothing out the finger ring into a less jagged polish, you'll want to bevel the rim of the ring into a more rounded shape so that sharp right angle of the ring's edge doesn't rub uncomfortably against your finger. Speaking of bevel, you need to draw out that edge bevel a lot more and add a false edge along the back:

Alternatively, you may want to thicken the shaft and expand the tip for better penetration. And add a pair of rounded sections towards the pommel for a better grip like on a medieval bollock dagger:

[Lynx]

That's a really nice design. I love the thickness of the edge, as well as the double pommels at the bottom of it. I might get myself another one of these, I really like having them on me at all times.

Already filed up on the finger wells, they're a bit deeper now.
Also I'm scared of messing up with the beveling. I use the angle grinder by hand, so... There's nothing "guiding" it per se, other than me. Surely there's a better way of beveling an edge with an angle grinder? I could just, you know... practice. It's my first time using one of those.

Also, for the micarta. What sort of material do you recon I should use? I'm thinking of a rougher cloth, maybe jeans or burlap with a low epoxy to cloth ratio.

[Xanatos]

I'm no expert on Micarta, I'd have just used wooden handle scales of a reputable species. Or perhaps just take the simple route and paracord the thing.

[Psychlonic]

For grinding bevels, practice makes perfect with an angle grinder. I freehand my own edges, just C-clamp the stock down to a surface with the edge hanging over a bit and grind. I usually detail up with a flat file and sometimes to a little round file work as well. As for micarta, I haven't made any myself but Biohazard who no longer really posts here showed me a great example he made using black denim and gray epoxy. Turned out really nice on a file knife he made.

Just speculation, but I'm betting the steel you have there is a tool steel of some fashion which makes for an excellent "shorter" blade as you have there. Basically any blade that doesn't have to endure shock from chopping.

[Lynx]

Yeah, practice really makes perfect with the angle grinder. I learned that the hard way.
I was beveling the edge like Xana proposed, and accidentally ended up with a round tip. So now I'll have to file the spine of the blade back into a tip... Reducing blade width, sadly. But oh well.

Also, I need it black. I really do. So what's the best way to go about that? I heard beeswax + soot, then motor oil bluing and linseed oil and this and that... Cold bluing bottles here cost a fortune, so I'd rather avoid that.

[Xanatos]

Not exactly sure. I'd suggest spray paint, but that'll flake off with use.

Why does it have to be black? If you're carrying it in a sheath, the blade won't shine anyway.

[Psychlonic]

It depends on your steels corrosion resistance but you may also be able to soak it in vinegar for awhile to give it a really dark gray patina. This tends to be tougher than most surface solutions and can be simply re-bathed when it eventually begins to fade from repeated use. Google can elaborate but basically you want to suspend the knife so all parts are soaked and then bring it out after it darkens and gently remove any mild surface rust that may have formed (it comes right off with a cloth).

[Lynx]

I'm trying the vinegar thing with a piece of metal that was left over from my knife. I just put it in a jar with apple cider vinegar.
So far, it works, to a small extent. It's noticeably darker - kind of a darker shade of grey. Not satisfied yet, so I'll try boiling it and then dunking my whole knife in there. Right after I grind the knife so that it has a point again. Also, thanks Psych! That really helped. I'll try oil bluing with another piece of metal, just wanna see how it goes.

[Lynx]

Alright, the knife looks really different now. I done goofed with the grinding, as I said before, so I made the tip differently. Still not pleased - gonna grind some more and make it needle sharp.
And for some more good news, I now have a lot of high carbon 4mm metal that I can use freely. So if anyone has any ideas for a new knife, or anything they want made - albeit in a very ghetto way - I'll do my best to recreate your request. Armed with an angle grinder, a file set and a garage full of whatever I can make do. So don't be shy! Sketch something up (no matter how radical) and I'll probably give it to you at NOPCON if I ever come along.

[Xanatos]

'Spose you don't have enough for a longsword, do you?

[Lynx]

'Spose you don't have enough for a longsword, do you?

If you promise to op with a big ass black longsword slapping around, then yeah!

[Lynx]

Call me crazy, but I'm doing this one. 4mm steel with a hard temper. I'll see how it goes.



And I know this looks weird, but trust me, the final result will be good.

Edit... it will probably turn out vastly different in terms of blade shape.

[Lynx]

I always wanted a Kukri around for when I do ops in the bush, which happens most of the time.



Xanatos wanted me to make a longer, front heavier blade. So here's my suggestion.
I think this will turn out very nicely. The hard part will be doing all of those curves with the angle grinder...

[Xanatos]

I'd suggest adding the edge bevel all along the front (including the front inward curve for finer tasks) and leave the spine blank for batoning.

[Lynx]

Far from done, but the rough outline is complete in 4mm steel. I'm not fully sure as to how I cut out those curves. And one of them isn't exactly round... I'll have to work on that.

[Xanatos]

Filing. Lots and lots of filing.

[Lynx]

Figured I would need this sometime... made out of the same steel as the unfinished Kukri above.

Basically I cut it out, filed away on the edges, brass brushed the rust off of it and spraypainted it matte black. I know it will 100% certain stop a knife. No way a knife is getting through 4mm of hardened steel.
But now I'm kind of wondering if it would stop a 9mm - that's standard ammo for police and security guards where I am, since they all carry either Glock 17 or 23.

Edit - and 9mm is the most available type of ammo illegally. So if a security guard doesn't mind me, maybe my local neighborhood thugs will.

It fits nicely into the front slot of my vest.

[Xanatos]

That's... a bit over the top.

[Lynx]

Eh. You never know.

[Shade]

You could probably set it up on a shooting range, as 9mm is standard ammo for just about every pistol, so you won't have a hard time finding some. It also depends an the gun and the point of entry, but it'd make a nasty surprise for anyone using melee there.

[Lynx]

My country has about two shooting ranges in total
Gun laws are pretty strict here, the only exception is hunters - who are allowed to own .22 rifles in safe boxes.

Other than that, I've tested the vest against punches, kicks, knees, hammers and knives (away from vest). Duh, it stops the knife. Punching the vest with the plate in is surprisingly not too painful - for both attacker and receiver. The vest has a few layers of thick nylon behind the plate, so that really dampens the impact. Same goes for hitting it.
Which means that it is great!

Next projects I'm working on (after I finished the Kukri) will likely be a dagger, as well as a push dagger. Just to practice. I have long leftover bits of metal that will fit perfectly for the role.

[NewbieNinja]

I've heard bluing and spraypaint to be toxic and is to be avoided on any knife to b used for food prep.
For me I like to latina my carbon steel knives as mentioned above.
I believe that stainless won't patina in vinegar, though I read of ppl using muriatic acid to force a patina. Might be toxic tho.

I like duracoat for stainless blades. Food safe and higher chip resistance than paint.
A bit pricey though

[Lynx]

Quick question.

Whenever I try to make something double edged with my angle grinder, the tip becomes round. Just round. "Sharp", but round. What the hell?

Been trying to make a dagger and a push dagger, both got rounded tips. It's annoying the hell out of me.

[Psychlonic]

Always leave extremities for hand file work. Draw a centerline with a sharpie and file away from that point on both sides, slowly closing in on your line until you have a good hard ridge there to strengthen the tip and keep it pointed. A good mill file will make short work of it, followed with a smoother file then stones/sander.

[Xanatos]

Exactly. Use machines for the heavy lifting, hand tools for polishing it up.