Marking knives that can make you money

a lot of woodworkers make pens or other small projects from kits because it's a great way to turn their scraps of wood into gifts or even into items to sell for profit today we're going to add another possibility to your weekend woodworking plans and you don't need a lathe to do it we'll be making some marking knives you can make one for yourself you can make a couple to give to friends or a bunch of them to sell either way this is a great project for a weekend afternoon and it's surprisingly fun here's what you need and i'll link to all this below the video you'll need some scraps of wood you'll need some sandpaper you'll need some double-sided tape and some 30-minute epoxy and some blades that's right we aren't making our own blades because frankly i don't want to spend the day grinding and heat treating and all that stuff instead i'm using some marking knife kits they are surprisingly inexpensive considering the quality of the steel and they come in three thicknesses from heavy duty to ultra thin they're pre-ground pre-drilled they're hardened to rockwell 57 and they even include the brass pins you have everything you need i'll link to them below this video now we need some fancy wood you can use any scraps you have on hand and if you planned on selling your knives that's a good way to keep the cost down and your profits up but if you really want something unique try some fancy exotic wood you can buy really small interesting boards online so shop around each knife requires two scales they must be 9 16 of an inch wide four inches long and somewhere between an eighth and three sixteenths of an inch thick depending on how slim you want your handle to be i cut mine on the band saw you could do this on the table saw but the thicker blade will turn more of your nice wood into sawdust and i'm just much more comfortable working with these small pieces on the bandsaw compared to the table saw while it might not be the most economical way to do it i can get four 3 16 inch thick scales from a standard three quarter inch pen blank so if your pen turn you have some of those on hand you can make some knife handles with it that's enough for two knives but some wood grain patterns do change significantly when you rotate the blank 90 degrees this leopard wood for example looks very different on the side compared to the face so does the zebra wood and because one of your scales from your blank will end up oriented differently from the other three you're going to get a mismatch scale in some cases so to solve this problem i cut up two blanks from each species of wood then i can take my two mismatched scales combine them together into a knife i get four knives from two blanks once my scales were all cut i decided to smooth them with some 80 grit sandpaper stuck to a piece of plywood i like adhesive backed paper for this purpose which i buy in rolls i use it all over the shop i'll link to it below as well i'm just removing any blade marks on the inside glue surfaces where i'm going to put the epoxy i'll deal with the outer surfaces later next i sand bevels on the ends of the scales at roughly 45 degrees i'm not trying to make sharp points i'm just thinning out the ends and this is just rough shaping with coarse paper i'm not worrying too much about making everything look perfect or smooth at this point next i put a strip of double-sided tape between the two holes on one side of a blade blank this will temporarily affix one of the scales during drilling align the end of the scale with the end of the blade blank and be sure it's centered along the edges a tap or two with a mallet will ensure good adhesion i previously chose a drill bit that fits into the hole in the blank in this case it's an eighth of an inch i want a regular twist bit not a brad point because the bit must auto center itself in the hole as i bore through the wood scale beneath the blank with those two holes board i attach the other scale with another piece of tape this time i'm mostly concerned with aligning the ends of the scales that are nearest the point of the tool if the butt end doesn't properly align i can easily file that back later but i cannot as easily correct a misalignment on the blade end of the knife with the second scale attached i return to the drill press and i use the holes in the first wood scale as references for my bit to bore through the second scale this process makes it really easy to get precise holes that align through all three layers as i remove the double-sided tape i'm careful to keep track of the scale's orientation i even label everything so i can get it reassembled in the correct order later by the way if you're using an oily wood as some exotics are you may wish to wipe the inner surfaces with denatured alcohol so the epoxy will bond well i suppose this should have been done before i labeled them but live and learn i'm using a good quality 30 minute epoxy that means i have about 30 minutes of working time it'll take overnight to cure spread a thin coating on each scale then reassemble the handle according to your labels i also add some epoxy to the brass pins and they will align everything as i tap them into place in their holes the pins should pass through the back side where they'll be trimmed off later now i try to clean off the epoxy from the blade end of the blank if you have some xylene solvent this works really well to remove epoxy acetone lacquer thinner or even denatured alcohol will do a decent job as well i'm not concerned with the epoxy all over the handle i'm just concerned with it past the handle on the pointed end add a couple clamps and move on to your next knife when you've assembled all you intend to let them dry overnight the fun starts tomorrow and by fun i mean the sanding but first you must trim the brass pins a hacksaw will work a cutting wheel on a dremel will work even better whatever you use try not to mar up the wood too much or that'll mean more sanding here's the thing about sanding these epoxy sands easily so does wood but what remains of the brass pins and especially any of the steel blade that may be protruding past the scales along the edge of the knife that can wear out your sandpaper in a hurry so you may want to try some other options first a mill file is ideal for shaving off any metal but the epoxy will clog it up and you'll have to clean it with a brush frequently remember we're only filing down any excess metal to save wear and tear on the sandpaper if you have a belt sander you can save yourself a lot of work with it as well but this is not ideal for a couple reasons first you have to get your fingers pretty close to the belt and that's a good way to trim your nails a little shorter than you'd like and even at 120 grit my belt was pretty aggressive it's easy to take off too much and get a misshapen handle unless you're making a bunch of knives i'd look for another method maybe a rotary tool these little sanding drums are pretty handy i especially like how it allowed me to clean up the bevels which are harder to sand by hand this was really helpful especially on the butt end where the steel needed to be filed just be careful working on the end nearest the blade the sanding drum can leave some ugly scratches on the visible steel part if you're imprecise most of the work is just best done with good old sandpaper and elbow grease i start with 80 grit then 120 again self-adhesive roll paper is pretty handy for this as an alternative you could use some regular paper and some spray adhesive it's worth noting that while these knives are not razor sharp yet you may want to tape the ends making sure that the tape extends past the point so you don't accidentally jab yourself at first i'm only sanding the four flat surfaces with 80 and then 120 then i use a little piece of 220 to clean up the bevels by hand i don't bother with 80 or 120 on these bevels because they're so small and they're pretty smooth from the rotary tool anyway the reason i chose 220 for these was because that's the next grit i'm going to use for my flat surfaces followed by 320. again i'm doing the four flat surfaces first but then i finish up by rounding over the four sharp edges on the 320. finally i do some hand sanding with 320 to make sure i didn't miss anything especially on the bevels and to ensure the handle looks good and feels comfortable in my hand with no sharp edges by the way if you have a little epoxy on the blade ends of the scales you can shave it off with a sharp chisel i don't recommend using sandpaper here because it'll scratch your blade you may finish your handles with whatever you like i just let mine soak for a few minutes in a cup of boiled linseed oil pulling them out and wiping them off was the best part because this is the big reveal i love the light red and pink streaks in the tulip wood the red heart are very striking as well together i made nine knives in a few hours if i'd gotten set up and used a couple of jigs i could have cranked out a lot more but i'm not selling mine they're too pretty check out those links below and we'll see you next time for 100 year old company narex sure has some secrets like how can they make so many tools of such quality at such affordable prices and why didn't i know about this company's rich history before nerex is just full of surprises check them out at the link below this video wait don't go yet if you're new here please subscribe and remember to ring the bell i would really appreciate that give us a thumbs up or better yet leave us a comment i always read them and be sure to check out the latest issue of stumpynub's woodworking journal it's always packed with tips tricks and tutorials designed to make you a better woodworker

Channel: Stumpy Nubs

Views: 76,252

Rating: 4.9545979 out of 5

Keywords: woodworking, stumpy nubs, tips, workbench, table saw, scroll saw, drill press, quick tip, band saw, bandsaw, lumber, hack, hand plane, sharpening, tormek, worksharp, diamond stone, water stone, wood turning, bowls, lathe

Id: ZKpBQfArPOo

Length: 10min 23sec (623 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 27 2021