If you decide to try yourself in blacksmithing, this homemade should like you. This is a simple example of how to make a beautiful decorative machete sword out of junk. Such a sword can be presented as an original gift, or even engage in their sale.
The bulk of the material for such homemade products is located at the scrap metal collection points, where you can buy it. Among other things, homemade allows you to get some skills in the field of working with metal.
What the author needed for homemade:
- First of all, the author went to the scrap metal collection point to start the search for materials for homemade work. Usually metal is sold here twice as much as it is accepted, but all the same, it’s a mere penny compared to buying material in a store. So the author spent only 5 pounds and bought metal to make 10 knives, and when buying material in a store, I would have to pay 50 pounds.
The author immediately chose a piece of metal that closely resembled a machete in shape, which significantly reduced the amount of work. If you can’t find such a piece, you can take a closer look at the steel corner, various plates, and so on. In extreme cases, a machete can be made from a car spring if it is heated and then leveled.
Of course, since the sword is decorative, you can find thin steel sheets, it will be easier to process, and it will cost less.
- You will need a grinder with cutting and stripping discs, you may need a stripping nozzle made of steel bristle.
- Sandpaper coarse and fine grain.
- It would be nice to have a belt sander.
- For such home-made products, a forge is required, but in an extreme case, you can get by with a big bonfire.
- A hacksaw or other tool for cutting the handle.
- Good glue, the author used the Evo-Stick.
- A piece of wood to create a handle.
- A piece of durable tape for making a pen (will not be visible).
- Miscellaneous junk for decorating pens (laces, leather, rings and so on).
The process of making a machete:
Step one. We cut ...
First, you will need to work as a grinder and cut out the desired shape of the future sword from a sheet of steel. It is important to be careful here, since when working with a grinder, strong sparks fly, apart from a possible rupture of the cutting disc, you need to work with glasses and with protection for the grinder. You can also cut off steel with a hacksaw, if it is not very thick, but with the author it is as much as 5 mm.
Next, you will need to bring the form to perfection, here you will need a sharpener. But if you know how to handle a grinder well, then everything can be done to her. For processing, you can buy a stripping disk (it is thicker).
Step Two Remove rust
In any case, the metal will have to be cleaned of all dirt or rust. The only question remains is how to do this carefully. If the sword needs to be given “antiquity”, shells formed by rust, or even some layers of rust, can be left on it. The author also needs a mirror shine, so he completely removes all the rust. For such purposes, you will need a grinder with a nozzle in the form of a wire brush.
If the metal is already too much eaten up by rust, then it cannot be brushed off with a brush, a large emery will be needed here, and with it you will need to remove the top layer of metal.
Step Three Create a blade profile
Now you will need a belt sander, with the help of it such work is best done. In extreme cases, you can use a grinder and a vice, but here you must always remember safety. At this stage, you need to create the desired machete blade profile. In principle, since the sword is decorative and they don’t need to chop anything, the profile can be set by eye, so that the sword just looks beautiful.
When processing, it is important not to forget that due to friction, the steel heats up very much and sometimes it is difficult to hold the material because of this with bare hands. Thick gloves will be needed here. Also, if the metal heats up too much, it will begin to oxidize and, as a result, will darken, this also cannot be allowed.
You need to work in clothes that you do not mind throwing away, as there will be a lot of dust in the form of metal that cannot be washed, and it has a persistent smell.
Step Four Hardening the sword
In our case, the sword is decorative, so it can not be tempered. But since this is a sacred custom, you can try. Thanks to hardening, the metal hardens and the sword will no longer get nicks when it hits a branch and so on. But it is also impossible to overdo it, since at a high temperature of quenching the steel becomes too fragile.
The author tried to harden with a burner, but it won’t work out to harden the sword, since the heat is concentrated at one point and the steel is not heated evenly. A wood stove came to the rescue. To get a high temperature, the author made an additional air supply, but this greatly heated the stove, since it was not intended for this.
You can determine the hardening temperature by the color that the steel emits when heated. Such diagrams can be found on the Internet. The author chose a purple color, this temperature is about 270 aboutC. Well, then the steel sinks into the water to sharply fix the crystal lattice.
As a result, the author somewhat overheated the steel and spots formed on it. However, most likely, low-quality steel just came across. As a result, the blade had to be ground again. At the end, at this stage, the final shape of the blade is formed and shine is given to it.
Step Five Making a sword pen
The author made a pen from what was found at home. It took pine pinch, cord, ring and fabric for the outside to choose from. First, the handle must be cut out of wood, come up with an original shape, processed on a sharpener, smoothing the burrs. Next, you need an evo-stick, they are glued to the two halves of the handle. Above is the installation of a coating of leather or other fabric. Finishing with woolen threads looks interesting, so the sword looks more exotic. You can also install a ring on the handle, as the author did.
Conclusion
That's all, our gorgeous sword is ready. If it is made of thick steel and hardened, they can even be chopped (but this is a secret, between us;)
As you can see, everything is done quite simply and at minimal cost, unless of course there is the necessary tool.
The resulting chips can be conveniently collected with a permanent magnet.It’s also quite funny, you can see a fancy pattern formed by magnetic fields.
