Professional Grade Wood Carving Knife

Hello again! Welcome to my instructable for a wood carving knife. The concept of one of these knives is that while using it you have more control over the small blade via the handle that is bigger than the blade. This is a dandy little knife, and is good for many wood carvings. Although, these knives are very sharp, so be careful. Once I was at scout camp and I brought one of these for the carving merit badge and my friend asked if he could use it and I agreed. a half hour later, he went to the clinic for stitches because he had slipped. So please, be careful with this!

For this project you will need:

An angle grinder,

Drill bits (3/8) and a drill,

Scrap wood, (I used an old 2x4)

High carbon steel (Mine was an old band saw blade, try to find some that is pretty thin)

A pencil,

Epoxy,

A ruler, (Or calipers)

A table grinder, (Optional: with a wet stone and leather strop)

Shellac; (Or favorite finish)

Electric sanders and sand paper. (You don't need the electric sanders, they just make it way easier to finish)

P.S. Sorry if some of the pictures are fuzzy. :)

For this you will need to cut your wood to 1' x 6'. The total length is 5", but you may as well give yourself some leeway. Then you need to cut it out to this shape. I tried to draw out the measurements but it wouldn't save, so here they are. 5" in length, 1 4/8" at the thickest and 3/4" at the thinnest. I cut out on a band saw, but you can use anything else you have. TIP: if you cut it a little wider then you mark it, you have room to sand down the rough spots. Then you have to sand it down smooth and round the edges off. After this, the handle is done except for one thing that needs to be done later.

Now for the blade. First, decide on what type of blade you want. Here is a website that lists some of them, and you can search for more if you need to. Carving knife list

Use a high quality tool steel for your blade. I was lucky enough to get a broken industrial metal cutting bandsaw blade from a local manufacturer. It never hurts to ask...

Now measure out the size of the blade. The stem is about 3/8 wide and the whole blade is about 2 3/4". Don't forget to add little notches on the stem so it can grip to the glue better. Draw it out, then cut it out with the angle grinder. REMEMBER: give yourself some leeway for grinding on the table top grinder. Better to have more than enough room then not enough. After you cut it out, finish up the shape on the table top grinder and sharpen it. After you get the basic sharp edge, finish it with a wet stone and leather strop. REMEMBER THE NOTCHES ON THE STEM.

Now to join these parts together. First, drill a hole with a 3/8 drill bit in the center of the front face. Now take the epoxy and mix about half dollar sized puddle and pour a little into the hole. Then, stick the blade into the hole and squeeze the rest of the epoxy into the hole until it is full. If you need to, hold the blade straight until the epoxy is dry enough to let go. After it is completely dry, it is time for the next step.

Time for the finish. Take a scrap of string and tie it to the blade and hang it from a ceiling, or rafter, or something like it, and take your favorite finish and paint a coat on it. I used shellac. It is a sealer and puts a thick clear kind of shell on the wood. Polyurethane is good too, just keep in mind that it takes 6-8 hours for a layer to dry. Shellac drys pretty fast, so I chose this instead. Paint on several coats to ensure protection to the handle.

And that is it! You can turn some scrap metal and wood into a beautiful Wood Carving Knife! Please vote for me in the Knives And Blades challenge if you like it! Thanks for reading!