Let me know how We are doing (several pix)

[pintail_drake2004]

Howdy yall, my bro and i had a lil extra time after we got done working on the yard today. Tell me how we did. Still need to do the handles, but other than that....

the blanks we cut


a little grinding


This is our first time


the other blade


final product today

[OconeeDan]

What is the source of your steel?
So far, so good.  Dan

[kbaknife]

That's a start!
Steel type, and how you treat it, is important to final knife quality.
In Chicago, they say anything south of I-80 is "Southern Illinois".
Where are you?

[pintail_drake2004]

Im 25 mi north of Carbondale or about 1 hr south east of St. Louis.

the stock i used was a few old circle saw blades. Do i need to heat treat them?

thanks
pintail

[KHALVERSON]

did your circle saw blades have carbide teeth
if so  probably not good for knives
if not can you easly drill the pin holes in the tang ?  i see in the pictures that the blade turned colors when you  ground the edge  it may have removed the temper from the steel  it may need to be rehardened and tempered
like kbaknife said steel type and how you treat
it is very important .  i am not an expert by any means just need a little more info
if you have any questions the people on this forum will be more than happy to help in any way possible
thanks
kevin

[pintail_drake2004]

nope they didnt have carbide teeth. The pic is a lil tricky, the blade did not change colors during grinding I used alot of water on the blades. The dark in the pictures if from the light. The other blades are just dirty.

[Caveman IL]

Around ST Elmo or Effingham?  I'm from the Winchester/Jacksonville area.  Been seeing a lot of Illinois guys around here lately.
Looks like you're doing OK so far. As for drilling holes, just use a slow speed-- that helped me immensely.  Larry

[pintail_drake2004]

Larry we are in the Christopher/Zeigler area just a lil further south of that.

I was planning on heating the handles with a torch to soften the steel so i could drill a hole a lil easier. Would this be ok? i dont think it will affect affect the temper of the blade itself, but like i said this is our first attempt.