Letter Knife
May 7th, 2009 in blogs
Derek Cohen, member
3 users recommend
This article accompanies "Coopering a Box Lid", which described a box that I built to house a letter knife. Here are a few images to guide you through the creation of a similar knife.
At the beginning of last year my family and I were touring around Tasmania. We visited the Salamanca Market in Hobart, where I found a whole bunch of Stanley #4 blades. Now Stanley used to have a factory in Hobart producing planes and blades. This closed down about 20 years ago. These blades were old stock. Interestingly, they were not heat treated, and for me this was perfect since I wanted them for knife blades and the steel would not need to be softened in order to shape it.
For those of you who are not quite so lucky to find unhardened steel, and have an old worn out blade to use, heat your plane blade to cherry red (over a fire using coals, or with torches), then leave it to cool down slowly. Allowing it to cool in a dying fire will achieve this goal.
It is not necessary to reharden (anneal) the steel later for a letter knife. The edge is not going to be ground and sharpened. It will be left slightly rounded. The aim is not so much to slice paper as to tear it.
So one half of one of these blades became the letter knife. You can see this below.
The other items in this picture include the turned She-Oak handle and a brass ferrule.
The steel was first marked with a template, then cut out with a Dremel mini-grinder. It is best to use a half-template and then flip it over so as to ensure symmetry.
The blade was then ground to shape on a disk sander with a 80 grit disk. Just work slowly, taking long strokes along the spinning disk. Dunk the blade in water when it heats up otherwise it will be hard to hold for long. I do not use grips here as I need to feel how the grind is progressing on the steel. Wear protective gloves and eye protection!
You can also use files if you wish, particularly once you have reached a point where you are uncomfortable using the disk sander further. I chose to switch to a 120 grit disk on the disk sander. This was followed with a fine deburring wheel (on a drill press) ...
The result is a knife blade like this ...
A tang was now cut with a hacksaw, and the handle drill to fit it. A little two-part epoxy secured the parts. Finally, the blade was buffed with green rouge on a cloth wheel.
I hope yours will be as much fun to make!
Regards from Perth
Derek Cohen
posted in: blogs
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Comments (1)
You make it look so easy, and with simple (woodworking) tools too! I have some old 8" jointer blades I'd love to make some knives from. One day... Posted: 2:58 am on August 12th