I've been using triangle "pelters" for many decades. The new generation, however, seems to have very poor (soft) steel (Bolen, Dexter-Russell, etc.) Even though I don't use them to the extent I did in the past, I still go through the "store-bought" knives way too fast. I've tried the Wiebe, Havalon, etc., replaceable-blade knives and like them, but I dislike throwing things away, and, after a couple of sharpenings, the blades are replaced. I don't like that.

Had a couple of broken sawmill blades hanging in the shed. About 2 weeks ago, I wondered if the steel in those broken blades would be good for scrabbling together a couple knives. Today, 50 knives later, I think I kind'a got the hang of it. The steel is high-carbon, high-tensile steel and I'm finding is perfect for the knives (two coyotes start-to-finish without sharpening).Scales are old leftover chunks of black walnut that I had after milling some for a friend, or, better yet, are from old, fire-killed mountain mahogany (which is like iron-wood) which is available real close to my place, although I need a hacksaw to cut the stuff.

Nice how are you mounting the handles? Are there rivets or screws on other side?

Mac

Nice. I use a triangle pelter with a slightly rounded off tip for the tails.

Jack, those knives are gorgeous. I could really use one of your knives dealing with my deerzies !

Perfection work of art. I like both styles. Ill take two of each

Those are super sweet looking knives, great job! I'm jealous

I get the point !


Gonna give Toby some competition ! Nice work.

Mac. One of the pitfalls of the hard steel is that without spending a fortune on good drill bits, I cant drill through the steel (without heat-treating). The second knife I put together, I ended up doing 2 coyotes, 2 marten, and caped my wife's whitetail before I finally sharpened it. Then, just as a test, put it through the dishwasher to see if the scales would pop off. Currently, just clamping with Gorilla glue and thus far, no problems at all. Perhaps in another year or two?

oldtrapper. Never tried slightly rounding the tip. Sounds like a good idea, especially on mink, marten, and weasels. I'll try it.

Jack

I'll bet she had to stand real still for that !! Prayers sent !!

Sharon. I have your mailing address. Couple of knives on their way.

bass10. Many thanks, man!

white17. Dropped one on the concrete floor, and found the whole exercise was pointless....
Toby builds quality and beauty. I build utilitarian. I'll never be able to compete with him.

I ain't touching that one, Ken (so to speak)....

You mentioned not being able to drill through the tang, you could try submerging the blade part in water or oil (vegetable oil) holding it there and heating the tang with a hand held torch to where the steel looks grey or dark blue/purple. Then let it cool while blade is still submerged. That would take the hardness out of it. I haven't played with any of the sawmill blades yet so you may try experimenting with a strip to see if the alloy would get brittle at the water line. I have used this method on a couple of knives I have forged to create a differential quench leaving the spine soft and the cutting edge hard with success.

Jack,

I would love that- Ill get with you on details, and how best to properly maintain it .

I too, have had a variety of knives and the majority by far, just haven't been satisfied .

Yours look to be shaped to do anything precision and close up, a perfect fit for my hands.

Thank you ! I appreciate the care you have put into the creation of each one.

Jack,you can get a "heat stop paste" to protect the blade while you anneal the tang.The stuff is reusable too.

I attempted to build one of these earlier this year... and failed
I will be trying again.

Those above look to be of excellent quality, thanks for sharing and inspiring

Jack, those knives look great. Nice job!!

Great looking knives.

When I was a knife maker for a few minutes back in May, I annealed the entire deal, drilled my holes then heat treated em. Obviously, you’re not looking for pointers from a knifemaker with tens-of-minutes of experience like myself, but I thought I’d mention it.


Mighty nice knives sir

Those are a work of art, from a working mans perspective
Very nice

very nice,spent 20 plus years makin pocket knives for cutco and kabar.

Not as nice as Lee's. Lol.

Lee?

Steinemeyer? Lee Steinmeyer?

Yes, but I was joking. I don't want to start a storm. I had a joke going around for a while that he was making pelters. Lol.

I've been told that once John aka USMC47 retires to Montana that he is going into the pelter business. Already has a shop set up for it and everything.lol Couldn't help it John. Lee isn't here to harass you so I thought I'd take up the slack.

You can grind a hole to put a pin or rivet through. Have done it several times. The hole ends up being egg shaped but still better than no hole. Grind from each side works the best

Nice looking knives and great craftsmanship!

John I was just foolin’ As well.


Lee’s a good egg in my book

Heat-sink putty on the blade might allow you to anneal the tang for easier drilling.
How hard is it to sharpen the edge once the knife is dull?

For drilling those holes try a carbide tipped masonry bit. A guy told me about doing that for drilling holes in car leaf springs. He said if you want to lubricate, use dish soap. He worked in a auto parts store for years and they had a mountain of odds and ends leaf springs. He used the leaves to make rocking horses.

I understand that John is going to black smithing school to learn forgery so's he can make his own pelters, and shoe horses.

That's the word on the street.

Forgery

You can annealing the steel by heating it up to nonmagnetic and letting it slowly cool in hot ashes or vermiculite. The saw blades are probably L6 steel if they are older. Carbide tipped bits still come in handy though. Once you have your holes drilled the hardening process isn't too complicated. Them you can temper in your oven at 400 degrees for 1 hour, let cool, check blade and temper for another hour if the steel is too hard.

bought a place in Montana just for it the streets here say.

in the factory,all holes in the tangs are stamped out,drilling knife steel can be very frustrating i would imagine.i sometimes still hear those old drop hammer presses runnin in my sleep.

Many, many thanks to all who responded. Should have known that the Tman crowd would be filled with knowledge about steel and how to get another piece of steel to go through it for pins, bolsters, etc. I'll probably try all or many of the methods suggested, but will wait for the first scale to pop off, then probably try to retrofit pins on the knives. Again, I appreciate all the help from those of you that responded here or in PMs. What a crew!

gryhkl. I use a Smith's flat diamond sharpener exclusively. It takes less than a minute on the 600-grit sharpener to get them back to razor (just by hand, no mechanical grinding). I've always been of the opinion that the very hard steel didn't dull fast, but was a pain in the keester to get sharp. For some reason, doesn't seem to be the case with these sawmill blades.

Jack

PING !

Jack !

I am transfixed ...I received the most amazing knives today.

How exquisite they are, graceful in form , so well made ! The grip shape to the handle is perfect for me. And I love the depth and beauty of the wood. You're right on the hardness of that wood.

Boy howdy, would I have loved to had these skinning my deerzie !

Well I'll sure get much much use from them both. Man, the edge you forged to these are ready for earnest work ! I can point the tip of the shorter one and skin will part before it even touches the hair

You went all out, Jack . I really like how you put your initials in the handle.

Well done , you are a master artist in many talents.

I am honored to have such beauty in usable art . Thank you, sir Jack, sincerely , from one artist to another.

Hope your day is happy, calm and peaceful ! Snowing here all day, gorgeous. A big wave from your Montana neighbor.

On the surface, face to the wind....

That top knife looks like my kind of knife. Nice job.

Those are great looking knives.

They sure are, snowy !

They look great just sitting on my desk as well as in use . The metal is quite sturdy , very durable I can tell. Nothing flimsy about these. The wood is hard as stone, but sanded smooth as can be.

PING...

Sharon - Glad you like your new utensils. I'll probably hit you tomorrow via email with other information...

Ryan, snowy - Thanks. Glad you like the knives. If anyone's interested, look at the "Knife" thread in the Crafts (for sale) forum. I'm basically trying to recoup some of the losses on sanding belts, drill bits, scarred knuckles, suture material for my fingers, etc.

Again, many thanks all....

Jack

Gulo
PM sent

Merry Christmas

Received mine today...great knife..it fits my hand great plus it sure does look nice sitting on my nightstand..
I'll be getting a few more in the future....

Very Nice Work!

I have used a Dremel tool with a small grinding burr to "drill" pin holes for my Handle pins. No loss of temper or re hardening of the blade..

Grind the hole in the tang then match the scales to the hole.

Use SLOW cure epoxy

Sure am having fun with my new knives, Jack ...

I was curious how they would do on something thin and easily torn, so I proceeded to take a tomato and gently but in great precision peel the skin , in smooth thin strips . No sawing, just a wee bit of pressure ...perfect !

On a sample of my art pencils, an oil wax based core of very expensive German made colours, I laid a base on nice paper, and took the point of the small one and made perfect hair lines through the wax base down to the paper, which would be perfect as whiskers in white, to white hairs glinting in sunlight . A wonderful way to get those light overtones. As scrimshaw on Ivory .

Now, I have my first knife set that can multitask- skinning, carving soft things, and art detail !

I am very happy

And we would wish you nothing less.