[StixnCanes]

These are some of the knives, scrapers and miscellaneous tools I've made the last couple of years. Some are made of O-1 tool steel though most are made from concrete nails, as you can see from the blades' shaft. I stuck the nails in rough working handles until I finished the blades. I rough ground them first and finished them with a Dremel using various bits. Some I carefully shaped, keeping the nail cool with constant water dipping to avoid having to re-harden them. Others I heated until red and let cool slowly, rough shaped them, finished them and then hardened and tempered them. The method I used was similar to the small tool tutorial presented by TStering, which I still enjoyed reading.

The "scoop or spoon" blade is my own idea. I use them for scraping or cutting concave areas. I made them by first grinding flat the top 3/4" of the nail tip to about half the diameter of the nail. Then I shaped the under side of the scoop, and finally used a small diamond ball to carefully gouge out the inside of the scoop. A lot of polishing with a rubber tip and abrasive compound.

Initially, I tried to make nice looking handles and set some of the blades in with epoxy. However, as my hands got weaker, it was easier to just drill a hole down a dowel and pound the nail in. It worked very well, providing a working and a finished handle at the same time.

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[toscano]

superb!
thank you Ron
-t

[Janel]

Hi Ron,

You have had fun with making your handles! I really enjoy the face carved into one of them. He must be a friendly companion. Thank you for posting these images of your tools.

Janel

[StixnCanes]

toscano, on May 1 2008, 05:02 PM, said:

superb!
thank you Ron
-t

Hello Toscano,

Thank you. I saw your website. It's very impresive, even incomplete. Can't wait until it's done.

I like the picture of Stella and Iris, too.

After seeing you tools, I'm going to check out the thread and make some for my own use.

Thank you.

[toscano]

Ron,
thank you for the kind words. 'incomplete' is a fair description for a lot of things I do
Stella and Iris wave hello from their beds.

Good luck with making those tools. It's a fun project.

-t

[Gene G]

A great item to use for making small chisels and knives is steel street sweeper bristles. You can find them in parking lots that are cleaned by street sweepers. They are already tempered and one bristle will yield several tools. Just grind them slow.


Gene