I made an antique brass knife as an experiment. Everything was done in half a day, and the pen was made the longest. With this knife, you can perfectly cut bread, vegetables, fruits, and he cuts sticks without any problems. With such a knife, you can feel like an ancient person, understand how our ancestors wielded with such knives from bronze. The knife is quite sharp, to the state of a razor I did not sharpen it, but it is very easy to sharpen.
I forged a blade from a brass tube from a moonshine. Of course, a sheet metal blade would be much stronger. Brass is forged very easily, we heat red hot and work with a hammer. Thin metal cools quickly, each heating is 5-7 forging seconds. But it also heats up very quickly, for about 15 seconds. My stove is improvised, ash, maple, and oak were thrown up as fuel as it burned. As a blower housing with holes from the shock absorber, as well as a regular hair dryer.
The handle is made of cherry, as a pin copper tubes from the fuel system of the car. Epoxy and other glue is not used. In the future I plan to cover the blade with varnish so that the metal does not oxidize, and the knife will look cooler this way. We begin to manufacture.
Materials and tools used by the author:
Material List:
- a piece of brass tube;
- lining wood - sweet cherry;
- copper tube for pins.
Tool List:
- ;
- drill;
- grinder;
-, hacksaw, etc. (to cut the lining);
- hammer;
- an anvil (I have a kitchen ax nailed to a part from a horse cart);
- blacksmith furnace or blowtorch.
The process of making a brass knife:
Step one. We form the main profile
We kindle the furnace and heat up the tube to red; in the furnace you will notice how the pattern “plays” on the metal. The tube collapses very easily, no need to knock heavily. It is highly desirable that the tube was initially straight, otherwise it will then have to be leveled, but this is not very difficult. If you heat the metal not on coals, but on a fire like me, it will be pumped up quite strongly, so it is better to wait until the fire burns more or less.
Step Two We form a blade
We need to make the blade as thin as possible and rivet the two sides of the tube together. To do this, heat the tube as much as possible and forge. I forged this part on a sledgehammer, since there was not enough kitchen ax for this business, it is springy. When forged, the blade will bend from internal stresses. I do not know how to avoid this, I probably need to heat more.
Step Three Grind
When you form the blade, take the grinder and cut off the excess. You can also form the tip of the knife, and if desired, it can be forged, but this must be done before the blade is formed. At the end, we grind the plane, and also walk along the contour. I used a grinder with a grain size of 180. If desired, you can handle it manually. Cut the tip of the blade on a jigsaw machine, cut perfectly.
Step Four A pen
I made pads of pens made of cherries; it just dried out in the sun. We cut the workpiece into two parts and grind the attached planes well. Well, then we drill holes and install pins - rivets. I used pieces of copper tubes. They rivet well, I used only a hammer, its wide part. Well, after that we proceed to the formation of the desired shape of the handle, cut off the excess with a grinder and then grind it on a belt grinder.
At the end, soak the handle with oil or varnish. If desired, we also apply varnish to the blade, otherwise it will darken. That's all, the knife is ready! Now it remains to grind, for sharpening I used sandpaper, the knife is sharpened perfectly.
The only drawback is that the blade can bend if you plan serious sticks, since it is quite thin. Non-ferrous metal blades are made thick, then they can withstand heavy loads. But in general, for cutting bread and other products, the knife copes with its task with a bang. Good luck and creative inspiration, if you want to repeat it.