Whittling Knife

John Heisz has done several videos on really simple techniques for making knives.  I have really enjoyed these, and this last video he made on the subject inspired me to try my hand at making one.  I wanted a knife that was a bit longer for rougher shaping and whittling work than the design he made in the video that inspired me.

John used a new sawzall blade, but he had mentioned in previous videos and articles that one could use old circular skillsaw blades as well.  I had several old dull circular blades around, so I decided to use one of these.  You can see I've laid out the shape of the blank I'm going to cut out.

And here is the blank cut out from the circular blade.  I used a handheld angle grinder with a cutoff blade to cut these out just like John did.

 Then I freehand cut an approximation of the final shape I wanted with my angle grinder to minimize the shaping I had to do later with the belt sander.

I ground the rough bevel shape on the belt sander the same way John shows in his video.

Then I heated the blade using a propane torch.  You may notice the bend in the blank in the picture below.  It's actually a different blade than the rest of the pictures, but this was the best picture I could find to show.

After quenching the hot blade in water, the blade is covered in scale and discoloration. I tempered the blade in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes per John's instructions.

I sand the blade down to 320 grit to shine it up.

I made my handle out of a piece of an old broken laminated maple cutting board that someone gave me.  One of the planks on the end had split off because the glue joint failed after years of service.  You can see the legs are still on the plank in this picture.

I drilled a hole through the blank longways like John shows in his video.  Then I cut the shape out roughly at the bandsaw, and sanded it down to final shape on the belt sander.  The blade is installed using a split dowel and glue just like the video I was working from.  I think John used epoxy in his video, but I didn't have any epoxy on hand so I used polyurethane construction adhesive.  For the record, the epoxy is probably a better choice, but I think what I did should hold up fine.

Here's the finished knife.  I just applied boiled linseed oil to the handle for a finish.

I have since bought a Morakniv 106 carving knife.  To be honest, the blade I bought works better than the one I made.  Comparing the two is a great way to learn something about what makes a good whittling knife. Here are a couple of side by side pictures.

Purchased blade on top.

Purchased blade on top.

Purchased blade on top.

In the pictures above, you can see that there are several noticeable differences between the knife I made and the knife I bought.  The purchased knife is shorter, more curved, and made of thicker metal.  The purchased knife also has no secondary bevel  I think all of these differences contribute to the purchased knife being more effective.

The curved shape of the blade allows less of the knife to be making contact at a time during a cut.  This makes the knife easier to push through the cut.  The purchased knife blade is about 3 1/8 inches long, but the homemade version is about 3 3/4 inches long.  The difference in length also works in the purchased knife's favor.  There is just enough difference in the length to make the homemade knife catch the tip of the blade at the end of the cut whereas the purchased knife does not.

The thickness of the steel is, I think, a relatively minor factor in terms of effectiveness.  The homemade blade is about 1/16 of an inch thick at its thickest point; the purchased knife is about 1/8 of an inch thick at its thickest.  My homemade blade does flex more than the purchased knife during use, but this doesn't really cause any problem for me.  The lack of a secondary bevel on the purchased knife, however, is important.  The purchased knife glides on its primary bevel all the way to the tip where it is guiding what is essentially a tiny splitting wedge through the wood during whittling.  This gives me increased control and helps to form a straight cut. 

The handles are really pretty similar, although the handle I made is a bit more beefy.  I find both handles to be pretty comfortable.  But if I had it to do over again I might make mine a little thinner.

As you reach the end of this article, you may be asking yourself, "What is this guy saying, that I should just buy a knife rather than making one?"  Well, the answer is not necessarily.  I love handmade and homemade things, and if you want to learn about making knife AND end up with a useable whittling knife, absolutely you should make one using John's videos as examples.  If you just want to do some whittling and don't care about making a knife, then buy one.  You can't beat a nice knife made by a good blacksmith if you're purchasing one, but I have found the inexpensive one I purchased to be quite effective as well.  Incidentally if you're in Arkansas and looking for such a blacksmith, let me recommend Justin from JB's Forge.  He does commissioned work, and has been receptive to just about every crazy idea I've come up with so far.