M14 Forum

taz7nads

i'm wanting to try to build/make a knife similar to one I've seen, and it's fairly large. Blade will be 8", overall about 14 or so. 3/16 is going to be too thin, wondering if 1/4 is too thick, and uncertain if they make 7/32 stock to make it out of. Thickness and material suggestions greatly appreciated.

RAMMAC

I have a BK2 and really like it.

http://www.survivaltopics.com/surviv...-for-survival/

The blade is thick and most people would probably say it's too heavy but I like the weight, it makes it easier to drive it in to whatever it is you are trying to butcher, cut, split, etc.

To me the length is just enough to allow me to use it for small carving work and yet still enables me to cut wood for a fire or open the carcass of a large animal. I've split pine and even oak up to 4" in diameter.

I also have used it to cut down brush and small trees for building camp equipment and fires. The heavier blade makes it pretty easy to cut branches and such. With it being freshly sharpened I can cut up to about 2 inch branches with one strong stroke (at the point where they join the main trunk of the tree).

huntinghawk

Alot depends on how the knife is going to be used.

HH

taz7nads

HH, good question, but I'm not sure I can answer it. It's a big knife, so mainly heavy hacking and slicing. Several years ago, I saw an article in a gun mag about Walter Brend, and really liked his "number 2" knife. I recently looked up his website, and found that the Brend #2 goes for $2400 (6.5" blade) to $2600 (8.5"), which is a little steep for a cop's salary. So, I'm playing around with trying to build my "closest that I can get" version....

Dave P

If you want a heavy, indestructible knife, ask HH about his! He gave me one a while ago, and I used it and his fearsome dark-ages hatchet to help down and split a couple of trees. Tough stuff!

nicholst55

I have a Cold Steel Trailmaster, which is a 9.5" long 1/4" thick blade; it's almost too thick for general use, but great for hacking and chopping. It's a fairly huge knife, but it's very nearly bullet-proof.

Can I ask why you think 3/16" is going to be too thin? IIRC, Randall uses 1/4" stock for a lot of their knives, but then they grind a lot of that away when they contour the blade.

Cold Steel Trailmaster

taz7nads

good question....it's not that I definitely think 3/16 will be too thin, just wondering. I was just thinking that with a blade length of 8.5", 3/16 might be too slim and have too much flex. I am convinced, though, that 1/4 would be too thick, so that's why I was wondering about 7/32; right in between the two.....

sac troop

A buddy uses a 12 in machete in the field to chop wood and other camp chores. The blade is 1/8th thick. With a convex grind to the blade it works pretty good on wood.

Bamban

Give the Steve Woods Hide Fighter a look. I have two of them and they are good as they get for a fair price.

http://www.knifeart.com/hidefighter.html

huntinghawk

A chopping blade & a slicing blade are two different things. For chopping you want thick, heavy metal allowing the blade to do the work. For slicing you want a thin blade as the wider the blade the more resistance when slicing.

Remember the old saying that no one blade will do it all.

HH

pilotc7a

Before goin to Vietnam in 68, I bought a Randall Knife.
I had my name put on it just to piss off the guy tryin to steal it.
I could shave with it then and I can shave with it now.

If you're goin to build one from scratch, get an old car spring. They say it's the best material

Zero0

Or a sawmill blade.

huntinghawk

Both leaf springs & old sawmill blades are high carbon steel & make quality knives done properly.

HH

Laporte

Try hitting a local machine shop for their worn flat files. I think they are called (flat *******).

War dog

The Ontario spec plus marine raider is 1/4" thick I think..