A trusty hunting knife is a crucial gadget not only for going hunting but also for camping. It assists in whittling wood to set on fire, splitting branches and preparing your game meat.
While there are plentiful options on the market to pick, many hunters would like to make their own tools. This way, they can personalize a blade to suit their fav hunting types.
How to make a hunting knife most straightforwardly? Here we are to give you a thorough guide!
Hunting Knife Overview
This ancient tool belongs to the era of weapons and tools after stones.
Early people used hunting knives to catch and butcher animals for fur, skin, and meat. Besides, a blade was important when they were in the jungle. There might be predators or warring tribes suddenly showing up.
The first hunting knife material was bronze (in 2000 B.C. – the bronze age). Then during the iron age (around 1000 to 800 B.C.), people manufactured knives using the iron.
Over the last century, the design and materials of the hunting blade have experienced changes. Advancements in metallurgy have provided knife producers with new alloys, which contribute to the finish, durability, and rigidity of their product.
How To Make A Hunting Knife For Exciting Hunts?
You can take advantage of a blade blank to remake a new hunting knife. Otherwise, there are four methods using bare materials:
- Attach handle
- Knap
- Bone blades
- Shape & Reshape steel
With A Blade Blank
Actually, how to make a hunting knife doesn’t need to be too complicated. You can cut it short by taking advantage of a pre-made hunting knife blade or a blade blank.
Blade blanks are available in a broad range of different styles, sizes, and steels. They’re a good start if it’s your first time making a handmade hunting knife.
What Size Is Right?
As long as you can hold it comfortably and make good use of it, it’s the right knife size.
In particular, the blade should be long enough to function but not too long for a hunting game. The standard blade length is typically around four inches.
You can go a tiny bit shorter to conform to the local laws or longer to give out longer strokes. It’s up to your purposes and personal preference.
For the handle size, the handle should fit your hand size perfectly. If it’s too long or too short, you may struggle to use the knife precisely.
What To Do?
As you’re going to work with a blade blank, the deal of this project focuses on making the handle and fitting it.
There are loads of materials to make up the handle, such as wood, antler, stone, leather, or micarta. We chose the antler since it adds a wild look to our knives.
You need to follow these steps:
- Use a pencil to mark where you’ll cut the antler and cut along that line with a hacksaw.
- Hollow out the antler’s center with a drill.
- Put the natural glue into the hollow and push in the tang.
- Wipe off excess glue and let the knife air dry.
Once dry, the knife is ready to use.
With Bare Materials
Affixing Handle
We recommend three ways of attaching your handle:
- A through tang: It extends all the way through the entire handle and protrudes out the end, which is screwed into an interwoven pommel. That screwing and the epoxy will attach the handle to the blade.
- A full tang: A full tang blade requires you to make a scale for either side of the handle. You just need to cut one piece of material, shape it, then sand it smooth until it fits nicely in your hand.
- A partial tang: It’s similar to the through tang but extends partially from the blade and is covered by the handle’s body.
Knapping
We can apply this method to make a knife out of flint, obsidian, chert, or any kind of stone. In particular, we hammer the stone to shape it into a blade, causing small pieces to flake off. Once you flake off pieces, a freshly sharp edge is produced.
Some hunting and outdoor tool suppliers sell stone knapping kits, which help you shape a stone into a blade. You can also buy various flintstone pieces to make arrowheads and gun-flints.
Bone Blades
The method of making a blade from bone included two basic phases: shattering the bone and sharpening the edge.
- Select a bone with a nice flat side
- Cut the material in half using a table saw so that you can separate the bone’s flat side and round side.
- Shape the flat length into a blade and form the edge with a belt sander
- Finish the edge using sandpaper.
Forging (Shaping & Reshaping Steel)
Forging a hunting knife involves shaping the metal by heating it in a fire or furnace and hammering it.
- Heat: Heat the steel in a forge of 2100-2100 degrees F until yellow and take it out with your tongs.
- Shape: Hammer its corner into the shape of a blade point, tapering either side of the metal.
- Flatten: Hammer out its flat edge to shape the bevels. You can use a belt sander instead to create bevels.
- Heat and cool: Bring it to a temperature of 1420 degrees F, let the air cool it off, and bring it back to a temperature of 400 degrees F. Repeat this step three times.
- Sand: Smoothen the edge by sanding the blade
- Harden: Reheat the blade and soak it into the oil until it cools down to room temperature. This process helps strengthen the steel.
- Reheat: Move the blade to the quenching quickly. Then, slowly reheat the quenched blade at a lower temperature.
- Make the handle: Attach a handle to your blade.
- Sharpen: Sharpen the knife precisely using a whetstone and fine file.
Takeaway
Understanding how to make a hunting knife is critical to your self-sufficiency skill set. With such professional techniques, you can totally immerse yourself in a wilderness lifestyle.
A homemade hunting knife adds fun to your adventurous games. However, stay aware that this tool can only be your companion in the hunting sport, not in real hunts. In the case of animal attacks, your blade can’t cover you with adequate defense.
So now, it’s time you created your own unique hunting knife and took up thrilling challenges.
Conclusion
Hopefully with the above information, you have been able to solve your concerns about the method to make a hunting knife. Thank you for reading!