We've always had an appreciation for real craftsmanship, especially bladesmithing. There's something powerful about carefully cutting, grinding, and refining a plain piece of steel into a razor-sharp knife. The knife is also a quintessential survival tool, so being able to make your own custom knife can be a fun and valuable skill. We've previously posted about making improvised knives from a wrench or a metal file, but the following project is in a different league.
The creation of this Bushcrafter's Dream blade was filmed from start to finish. Check out the videos below to...
While browsing the wilderness survival subreddit, we recently came across a post where a user showed off a custom knife he made. According to his post, he had initially asked some members of the bushcraft community on Reddit about design features they'd like to see on a fixed blade knife. He received suggestions on the following design considerations:
- Length of blade
- Size and shape of handle
- Steel choice, carbon steel
- The placement of the point of the knife (center of axis)
- Jimping on the tip, as well as on the handle/blade transition
- Recessed handle for batoning without handle damage
- Simple yet interesting handle material/execution
- Lanyard hole/tube
Based on the feedback he received, he sketched the knife on paper, and used it as a template to create the blade from scratch. The entire process was filmed and edited into a two-part video series on his YouTube channel, Eternal Improvement. The videos are definitely worth watching if you're interested in learning to make a knife, or if you just like watching a skillful craftsman in action.
Here's part one, where the host completes the blade of the knife:
Here's part two, where the handle is sculpted and added to the knife:
Finally, if you're curious about the cost and materials used, here's a rundown from the video description:
- Steel: 80CRV2 carbon steel tempered to 60 HRC
- Handle: Alumilite handle scale material by 5th Arrow
- Build time: TOO LONG I have no clue hours
- Video time: 35 hours
- Material cost: $78
To see more custom knife builds like this one, check out the Eternal Improvement YouTube channel or follow @eternalknives on Instagram.