I made this first hunting knife as a gift. This really isn’t the first knife I ever made, but it’s the first one after thinking I might want to actually make knives as a hobby.
This knife was made out of a truck leaf spring. It was a heavy spring, so it was too thick.
I cut the spring to length on the band saw and then heated it and flattened it. I had already started dabbling in blacksmithing, so I had the forge, I just wasn’t ready to start flattening and thinning a piece of metal, so, I cut the piece in half on the bandsaw and cut the rough shape. It was shaped with the belt sander and I did some filing and hand sanding.
Heat treating was done the way I described, and it seems to work. The scales were made from hophornbeam. It’s one of the hardest wood’s native to New England. It doesn’t grow very big, but it makes great tool and knife handles. I’ve grown up knowing this wood as hardhack.
This knife shows what can be done with minimal equipment.
I gave this knife as a gift. It was instrumental in skinning a white tail who’s antlers became part of the series You can see the knife in a future post.
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