"Toothpick" Necker

[4est trekker]

Had some small pieces of sawblade steel laying around and hated to see them go to waste. I made up 4 of these little "toothpickers".  This is the first, and is a bit rough but still functional.  It has buffalo horn scales and a sheath that uses the neck strap to hold it in place.  It works really slick.  You just have to pull down on the sheath to secure the little strap under and around the blade.  

It still shaves after its breaking-in period, during which I wasn't too nice to it.  I have small hands, but might add a lanyard strap to it to give me a little more to hold on to.  But, it faired well on a recent outing where I used it for every camp chore, including cutting and preparing my fire bow set from natural materials.  

Blade is 1" long, 3 1/4" overall.  Thanks for looking!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kevin Evans]

[L. Harris]

That is way cool, are you selling any of those?

[Steve Nuckels]

Curt, that's a slick package!  Lots of very nice details!  I love the size. nice handwriting on the sheath, you can tell from that your an artist!

Very nice work!

Steve
--------
Potomac Forge

[TroyH]

That's real nice.
I have a question though.
I've made a few knives from saw blades.  Did you anneal and temper the steel or just go straight from the blade as is?
Also, was that a circular saw blade or what kind of saw?

[skullworks]

Very nice!!!!

[4est trekker]

Thanks all for the kind comments.  Troy:  Yes, it's steel from an old circular saw blade.  Can't remember the year or make right off hand.  It was one of many that my granddad had.  I took it to a friend of mine who is the master blacksmith and knifesmith at the Stat Historical Park where I volunteer.  We worked with it and found it had sufficient carbon to hold a good working edge for the small knives I wanted to make from it. No meat cleavers or    We also helped to identify a suitable quench.  

I do anneal the steel first.  I use a cut-off wheel to rough the shape out, then a series of drum sanders to bring it to final shape.  Then I heat it up in my little "po' boy" charcoal forge to critical and quench it.  I temper it in the oven for an hour at 450 deg F.  Hope that helps.

[bjansen]

Very nice 4est!

[K.Morgan]

I love it, I must have one...Let me know if you are selling.

[stickhead]

Very cool and creative.