Made a newer one

[joepaulbutler Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close joepaulbutler]

I've been working on improving my facial carvings skills. In some areas using flat narrow chisels has a tendency to crumble the wood, a narrow #3 gouge doesn't produce the effect I would like. My option make a new knife.

Started with a hacksaw blade,0.0215" Cut my 1/4" radius with my TomZ, slow and cool , then using the MicroPro powerhead with a grinding stone ground the curves in behind the head. Grind to a count of three cool in the water for a count of three. Once the curves were cur in cut the back of the knife down to 1/4' wide at the spine, then Grind the teeth off. The blade is 2" long, handle is made from poplar that I was making when I was turning some handle for my Flexcut gouges, I put a piece of 1/2"D x 1" copper pipe to strengthen the tang end. Overall the knife is 4-1/4" long

This allows me to slide in the cut-off areas, and being thin, a good flicker

All C&C welcome, questions will try to be answered

[4ND3R5 Western Washington Find all posts View Profile Close 4ND3R5]

Nice work Joe. Let us know how you like it. I've heard about people making knifes out of hacksaw blades....seems like they would be extremely flexible.

[Brian T Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Brian T]

Nice work, JP. The day comes when you don't have and can't find the blade you need.

Hack saw blades make fantastic fish knives with the flexibility for a 4" - 6" blade.
Wood carving? What do you need? Maybe an inch? Maybe 2 inches?
A reciprocating saw (eg SawzAll) has a tough and thick blade for a rough-out knife.

I'm quite fond of crooked blades that I bash out of worn down farrier's hoof trimming knives.

[joepaulbutler Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close joepaulbutler]

Anders, thank you, some are more flexible than others, I look for the stiffer blade, and keep them short & as much shank as can be kept & still what you're want to do

Brian, thank you, I've found that some hacksaw blades are stiffer than others. The ones I'm using now came from Brazil.

I like a certain amount of flex in my clean-up knives, easier to get those facets off

[Nebraska AKA Ed Find all posts View Profile Close Nebraska]

Nice skew knife Joe.

[NoDNA Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close NoDNA]

I've been working on improving my facial carvings skills. In some areas using flat narrow chisels has a tendency to crumble the wood, a narrow #3 gouge doesn't produce the effect I would like. My option make a new knife.

Started with a hacksaw blade,0.0215" Cut my 1/4" radius with my TomZ, slow and cool , then using the MicroPro powerhead with a grinding stone ground the curves in behind the head. Grind to a count of three cool in the water for a count of three. Once the curves were cur in cut the back of the knife down to 1/4' wide at the spine, then Grind the teeth off. The blade is 2" long, handle is made from poplar that I was making when I was turning some handle for my Flexcut gouges, I put a piece of 1/2"D x 1" copper pipe to strengthen the tang end. Overall the knife is 4-1/4" long

This allows me to slide in the cut-off areas, and being thin, a good flicker

All C&C welcome, questions will try to be answered

Joe: I like that one, I have several made from that old hacksaw blade too, and I really like the flex on some of the harder woods, mostly to get into those "hard" spots. I think my longest blade is about 1.5 inch long an looks like a fish knife and it doe's a fine job of shaving those ripples down. The shortest is about 1/2" and very scary for me in a small tight spot. But hey thanks for sharing.
I just made me some "eye" gouges one 20 Penney and down to an 8 penny nail, now the fish and birds will look different.
Cheers
Chuck

[joepaulbutler Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close joepaulbutler]

"Nice skew knife Joe", Ed, it's more of a radius than skew, like a 1/4 of an ellipse

[Just Carving WhittleBear Carver Find all posts View Profile Close Just Carving]

So, you created a skew-bullnose chisel. Good idea! I've used a bull nose chisel for various tight corners so to speak. I've made a few over time. All of these are from files except for the smallest one. That's from a bristle off a street sweeper. It's about 1/16" wide.

210524_0000.jpg image_24271.jpg

Thanks for sharing JoeB.

BobL

[DiLeon Senior Member Hawaii Find all posts View Profile Close DiLeon]

Also just a thought.....I found with small area breakage,...especially some woods I will burn out the area and then cut it, this prevents blunt force on the thin weak areas. It is not the edge chisels often that breaks the wood but the force of a chisel causing wood grains to break. Some woods have to use power such as micro motor or smaller to prevent pop out with some woods power is the only way to go with breakage and pop-outs. I do make my own tools also...but go back to these methods when the wood starts breaking. Prime wood does not break out, but you do get the ones that are less quality and they can be a bear to carve.