How to Design and Build a Knife

By John Vivian
Published on April 1, 1996
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1. Rough shaping blade on grinding wheel.
1. Rough shaping blade on grinding wheel.
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2. Fine-shaping on belt.
2. Fine-shaping on belt.
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3. Shaping antler handle on belt.
3. Shaping antler handle on belt.
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4. Final fitting handle to blade.
4. Final fitting handle to blade.
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5. Making a full-tang riveted handle.   
5. Making a full-tang riveted handle.   
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6. Shaping on disc sander.  
6. Shaping on disc sander.  
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7. Riveting scales to blade.
7. Riveting scales to blade.
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8. Polishing on sand block.
8. Polishing on sand block.
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Handmade blade with one-piece handle and two-part neck sheath.
Handmade blade with one-piece handle and two-part neck sheath.
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Skinner, walnut scales, and mountain man silver-studded sheath.
Skinner, walnut scales, and mountain man silver-studded sheath.
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Punching holes for sewing the sheath.
Punching holes for sewing the sheath.
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Trade knife and belt sheath.
Trade knife and belt sheath.
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Parts for a 16 inch
Parts for a 16 inch "Bowie": blade blank, scales marked on red oak hilt, brass rivets, and sheath.
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Fastening sheath with sinew, using two needles at ends of thread.
Fastening sheath with sinew, using two needles at ends of thread.
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Cutting sheath leather with wheel knife.
Cutting sheath leather with wheel knife.
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Hunting blade, stag antler handle and stitched sheath. One plain and one with steel awl/punch and
Hunting blade, stag antler handle and stitched sheath. One plain and one with steel awl/punch and "palm."

First lessons in the Old-Time cutler’s trade. Design and build a knife using these step-by-step instructions. (See the homesteader’s knife photos in the image gallery.)

How to Design and Build a Knife

A minor but sudden and distant family emergency had me rushing toward a boarding gate at Boston’s Logan Airport, a few essentials hurriedly thrown into a suitcase, and still wearing old jeans, field boots, and Levi’s jacket. I emptied my pockets on the conveyor beside the metal detector and walked through the arch without setting off any alarm that I could hear. But suddenly I found myself surrounded by uniformed cops with little radio-phone-plugs in one ear. Feeling like a perplexed Harrison Ford falsely accused in a movie mystery, I had to produce ticket, boarding pass, IDs and all before learning that I was suspected of trying to board a civil aircraft carrying a lethal weapon.

“Lethal weapon?” I said. “You mean the knife?” My pocketknife was sitting beside keys, loose change, and assorted country-pocket junk on the conveyer.

A cop reached for the knife with a latex-gloved hand and nodded grimly.

But “I … I live … in the country” was all I could say. I showed them my hands with their assorted scars, a couple of finger-ends lopped off by farm machinery, and purple urchin spines under the skin from when I skin-dived after conch and rock lobster in the Caribbean. “Its not a weapon;” I said. “Its a tool. I use it to do everything;” and I started describing how I’d been splicing up a rope halter and lead for my daughter’s new pony when called away.

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