# My homemade fighter



## Mountain_Man (May 1, 2010)

I made this to be a fighting knife. Its heavy, long, and completely ignores the common knife laws and political correctness of todays times. I learned blacksmithing from my dad, and while my work is still rough, its strong sharp and works well. This particular knife was made from the leaf spring of a 1954 GMC pickup, and holds an awesome edge. I wouldn't trade or sell this knife for a million dollars, it was made for one particular purpose which is fighting, and if it comes down to a true knife fight I plan to have this in my hand, and using it to stop the fight as quickly. I also try to train an hour a day with it, to make sure if I do ever have to use it, that its quick and nautral in my hand. Let me know what you think.

http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee356/tnplowboy07/Combatopsandknife006.jpg
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee356/tnplowboy07/Combatopsandknife007.jpg
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee356/tnplowboy07/Combatopsandknife008.jpg
http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee356/tnplowboy07/Combatopsandknife009.jpg


----------



## Omar B (May 1, 2010)

Leaf spring, that's aggro as all f!  Looks awesome man, has that Rambo 5, DIY vibe I dig.


----------



## kaizasosei (May 1, 2010)

Awesome!  Keep at it!   Looks wild.  Cool curves.

Not even a million??


----------



## seasoned (May 2, 2010)

Nice, very nice.


----------



## Carol (May 2, 2010)

Welcome to Martial Talk, Mountain Man.  

That's quite a blade.  I have the feeling you are going to be making more blades in the future, I hope you post your handiwork as you go along. 

Why a 1954 pickup?  There must be a story there.


----------



## Mountain_Man (May 2, 2010)

Omar B said:


> Leaf spring, that's aggro as all f!  Looks awesome man, has that Rambo 5, DIY vibe I dig.



Yeah I'm pretty backwoods lol



kaizasosei said:


> Awesome!  Keep at it!   Looks wild.  Cool curves.
> 
> Not even a million??




Ok maybe a million......  



Carol said:


> Welcome to Martial Talk, Mountain Man.
> 
> That's quite a blade.  I have the feeling you are going to be making more blades in the future, I hope you post your handiwork as you go along.
> 
> Why a 1954 pickup?  There must be a story there.



I've made several blades with my dad, and by myself, but I'm currently stationed in San Diego and nowhere near a forge, so for a while my bladesmithing is over.  I'll post some pictures of a couple of others knives when I get the chance. And the reason why we chose that certain leaf spring, is because leaf springs are known around old black smiths to contain very good, high carbon steel that makes awesome knives. Other good stock is files, and saw blades


----------



## Omar B (May 2, 2010)

Cool man, I like it a lot.  From looking at it I can guess that there was no folding at all involved.  It looks like you just beat the thing flat.

Tell me about the leaf spring.  Is it a metal you like to use?  Is it hard to work?  Ever try doing a whole sword of it?


----------



## frank raud (May 2, 2010)

Omar B said:


> Cool man, I like it a lot. From looking at it I can guess that there was no folding at all involved. It looks like you just beat the thing flat.
> 
> Tell me about the leaf spring. Is it a metal you like to use? Is it hard to work? Ever try doing a whole sword of it?


 
Kukris are typically made from leaf springs, they can be considered a short sword(or a LONG knife).


----------



## lklawson (May 3, 2010)

frank raud said:


> Kukris are typically made from leaf springs, they can be considered a short sword(or a LONG knife).


Depends and depends.

Kukris are made from whatever the smith wants and has available.  Those made for the Indian government on contract are made from self-steel specifically purchased for the contract.  The steel is good and so is the workmanship but it's not "collectors grade" by any means.  Small independent smiths use whatever they can get their hands on that is acceptable quality steel.  This includes:


Leaf Springs
Saw Blades
Files
Railroad Tracks
There is a semi-thriving trade in the custom knife community for certain saw blades (high end, high carbon, factory-use - not the saber-saw blades you get from wal-mart) and are often used to make steak-knifes, kitchen-knives, pairing-knives, and small "skinners."

There are challenges for the smith with using any of these "less expensive-to-free" alternatives to virgin self-steel.  Leaf Springs often have a "set" to them and require careful re-forging to remove and then an even-more careful re-heat treating.  Files have to be re-forged then deliberately tempered down because of their very high base hardness.  Railroad Tracks are often not high enough in carbon or have the wrong chemistry.  Saw Blades tend to be too small, oddly shaped, or need to be combined with others (good for making pattern-weld), and need to be carefully sourced to make sure the smith gets "the good stuff."

Smithing is very, very cool but requires a lot more then just hammering on hot metal.  

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk


----------



## frank raud (May 3, 2010)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfGkjd_rC5A&feature=related

A video on what is claimed to be the largest manufacturer of kukris, including for the army and police using leaf springs as their base material.

Kirk, I cant see a file being used to make a kukri, don't believe it would be enough material. Can you make a knife from a file? Absolutely.

When I said typically made from, that is actually what I meant. Not exclusively, but commonly made from a leaf spring. Himalaya Imports prides themselves on the fact their blades are made from a leaf spring.

I used to sell power hacksaw blades, they would occasionally get re shaped into blades.

http://www.mytoolstore.com/starrett/hack04.html  Plenty of material to work with on a power hacksaw blade.


----------



## lklawson (May 3, 2010)

frank raud said:


> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfGkjd_rC5A&feature=related
> 
> A video on what is claimed to be the largest manufacturer of kukris, including for the army and police using leaf springs as their base material.


Lots of different folks claiming lots of different things.  I'm loath to argue about it, to be perfectly honest.



> Kirk, I cant see a file being used to make a kukri, don't believe it would be enough material.


I was speaking more generically at that point.  Sorry for the confusion.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk


----------



## lklawson (May 3, 2010)

Mountain_Man said:


> I made this to be a fighting knife. Its heavy, long, and completely ignores the common knife laws and political correctness of todays times. I learned blacksmithing from my dad, and while my work is still rough, its strong sharp and works well. This particular knife was made from the leaf spring of a 1954 GMC pickup, and holds an awesome edge. I wouldn't trade or sell this knife for a million dollars, it was made for one particular purpose which is fighting, and if it comes down to a true knife fight I plan to have this in my hand, and using it to stop the fight as quickly. I also try to train an hour a day with it, to make sure if I do ever have to use it, that its quick and nautral in my hand. Let me know what you think.
> 
> http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee356/tnplowboy07/Combatopsandknife006.jpg
> http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee356/tnplowboy07/Combatopsandknife007.jpg
> ...


P.S.,

Reminds me a great deal of some Trade Knives (French, I think, but I could be misremembering), except on a larger scale.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk


----------



## Skpotamus (May 5, 2010)

Awesome knife man.  Very non PC and functional, I prefer a straighter blade for thrusting, but I imagine that would have some serious cutting power.  :bangahead:  Truck Leaf spring's make awesome knives.  


Sidetrack:  
My actual Nepalese Kukri's are WAY too thick to have ever been made out of a file, sawblade, etc.  All three are close to a half inch thick.  Every authentic Kukri I've seen was around the same thickness.  

The video posted previously is made by the Kukri House, which is a group of retired Gurkha's who started making and selling their Kukri's to the governmental regiments of Gurkha's.  Highly recommend them if you're hunting for a Kukri.


----------



## lklawson (May 5, 2010)

Skpotamus said:


> My actual Nepalese Kukri's are WAY too thick to have ever been made out of a file, sawblade, etc.  All three are close to a half inch thick.  Every authentic Kukri I've seen was around the same thickness.


There appears to be some confusion here and it is my fault because of a poor segue.  When I was speaking about "salvage steel" for knife making materials I was speaking very generically.  For instance, RR track was used by Japanese smiths as far back as WWII to make katanas, wakazashis, and tantos.

However, if a single salvage steel item, such as a saw blade, was insufficient, a competent smith could forge-weld multiple pieces together.  A talented smith could do pattern-weld.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk


----------



## Bikewr (May 27, 2010)

In one of William Gibson's books, he mentions a knife forged from a motorcycle chain.  I thought this was just an invention of the author  till someone posted pics of one over at Bladeforums.

Modern steel is generally excellent; much of the highly-vaunted medieval techniques of folding and forging were to cope with what was actually a pretty poor grade of metal.
You had to go through all that forging and such to get the impurities out...Very labor-intensive.
Now, a blade-maker can simply go buy a billet of very high-grade material indeed.

My only criticism of the OP's blade is the lack of a good point; as mentioned it would be a good slasher but one really should have both capabilities.


----------



## lklawson (May 28, 2010)

Bikewr said:


> In one of William Gibson's books, he mentions a knife forged from a motorcycle chain.  I thought this was just an invention of the author  till someone posted pics of one over at Bladeforums.


I've seen pics before.  Acid etched it brings out a wonderful pattern-welded pattern.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk


----------



## knuckleheader (May 28, 2010)

Nice looking. Of course you can work on it more an maybe "pretty it up".

Hope you never end up in a knife fight, that would mean having to be in a very violent confrontation. We all hope we nevr have to actually face one.

Look forward to your next creation. Metal work, cool.


----------

