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DIY stone knife. What and how to make a knife in the wild

Let’s imagine that you find yourself “in the shoes” of Robinson in a deserted forest region: you have almost nothing with you, and the nearest settlement is several days away. In such a situation, a knife is needed, but it is lost or bad people took it away. Without panicking, you immediately begin to think about the problem - how to make a knife yourself in the complete absence of tools.

How to make a camping knife from a piece of iron

First of all, you look around, hoping to find material for the blade. The blade can be made from stone, flint, glass fragments, bone. But the best material would be metal. Question: where can I get metal? It must be looked for near places associated with human activity. These could be high-voltage poles, railway tracks, abandoned villages, old barns, landfills. You need to take a closer look at doors and gates: iron hinges and awnings will be good material for cutting tools.

But here we will tell you, using a real example, how to make a knife from a less convenient piece of iron.

In one of the extreme situations, after a short search, this piece of iron and a couple of pieces of iron wire were found.

To forge a knife from this material, you needed a forge, an anvil and hammers. Bricks served as anvils and hammers. It took much longer to collect fuel and find the required number of bricks.

When everything necessary was collected, we began to build something like a forge. We dug a hole with a stick and even with our hands, taking into account the size of our iron workpiece. Crushed stone was poured into the bottom of the pit (pellets, pebbles, or any small stones could be used). The walls of the pit were reinforced with large stones: firstly, they did not allow the earth to crumble, and secondly, they retained heat when the workpiece was heated.

According to the rules, it would be necessary to dig two holes connected by a trench - one for the forge, and the second for air flow. However, this option has its own difficulties, so we limited ourselves to one pit.

It took about 10 minutes to build the forge (excluding time spent searching for materials). When it was ready, they lit a fire and began to burn the coals. Large branches were burned, but small ones were not thrown into the fire, since they do not produce coals, and excess ash would impair the flow of air to the burning wood.

While the firewood was burning, an anvil brick and a couple of hammer bricks were moved as close to the pit as possible. Naturally, we didn’t have pliers for manipulating the hot workpiece. Instead we had a hook made of wire. This hook was used to hook the workpiece.

When the coals were ready, we immersed the workpiece in them and waited until it heated to the desired temperature. The temperature was determined by color by eye, remembering that forging can be done in the temperature range from cherry red (770-800 0 C) to light red (830-900 0 C).

Having waited until the workpiece had finally reached its standard, they quickly removed it with a wire hook and began forging. First, we straightened out the curl that was supposed to turn into a blade. The workpiece was gradually forged on both sides until it was given a flat appearance. Only after this were the blades forged. To perform these operations we needed more than one heating. During the process, our workpiece looked like this:

When we forged the edges of the blade and brought the shape of the entire knife to acceptable parameters in our opinion, we began heat treatment of the product.

Heat treatment began with annealing. The workpiece was heated to the hardening temperature (light red color), then left to cool slowly in air. Annealing was needed to relieve internal stresses in the metal after forging and bring the metal structure to an equilibrium state.

After this we started hardening. First, we decided on the quenching medium: we had a fairly large container of water. But you can also harden it on soft wet ground or wet sand (of course, everyone knows how to wet the ground in the absence of water). Having prepared the quenching medium, heated the blade to a light red color, kept it at this temperature for some time and quickly dipped it into the quenching medium (we used water).

Then we took a vacation. To do this, one side of the slopes was cleaned from scale on the brick (to a shine) in order to control the temperature by the color of the tarnish on the slope. We placed our blade with the cleaned edge up on the remaining coals and observed the colors of the tarnish.

At first, the surface of the descent was painted a light straw color, which, as it warmed up, turned yellow, then yellow-orange. We settled on yellow-orange color: this color exactly corresponds to the temperature of 240-250 0 C - the tempering temperature. Having grabbed the workpiece with a wire hook, they dipped it into the same quenching medium.

This completed the important heat treatment procedure, and we moved on to the mechanical processing of the knife. We straightened the slopes and sharpened the blade on a brick. To ensure efficient sharpening, the brick was moistened with water and sand was poured onto it as an abrasive. And this is how the knife turned out:

Inspired by the success, we thought: what kind of knife is this that doesn’t have a sheath?! And we immediately started making these sheaths, because we already had the necessary tool. We found a piece of wood of a suitable size and planed it with our knife to the required length. Then, using a knife and a large stone, they split it in half lengthwise.

On one of the halves, a pencil (or charcoal) was used to outline the outline of the blade, leaving an allowance sufficient to freely remove the blade from the sheath. Then we applied our woodcarving skills, simultaneously testing the quality of the blade’s hardening and the comfort of its handle. The result is a blade bed like this:

We combined the two halves of wood and got a finished scabbard. They cut off a piece from the laces on the shoes and tied the two halves of the sheath together.

Such a sheath is convenient to wear obliquely behind a belt or by a belt loop. Thanks to the bend of the sheath and its sufficient thickness, you don’t have to worry about losing it.

In conclusion, we present the figures that accompanied us in the process of making the knife.

Knife specifications:

– knife blade length 135 mm;
– the entire length of the knife is 245 mm;
– butt width 4 mm.

Spent time:

– construction of something like a forge 10 min;
– burning coals for 20 minutes;
– blade forging operations with bricks on stone, hardening, tempering 30 minutes;
– operations of editing the blade slopes and sharpening 15 minutes;
– making a sheath 25 min.

As a result, in less than 2 hours we were able to make a knife without tools, using only materials that we could actually find. At the same time, the knife turned out to be not disposable, but suitable for performing various tasks.

Now, if you find yourself in extreme field conditions, you will not be confused by the question “How to make a knife yourself?”

Useful hiking tips:

In this video you will learn how to make a homemade sheath:

It was enough for Mowgli to acquire an “iron tooth”, and half of his problems were solved, which as a result brought him to the throne of the wolf pack. And this is not a joke: having a knife in a survival situation immediately increases the chances of success by at least 50%. But even if such a product is not among your things, you can make a knife yourself, and not only from metals.

The ability to build a knife depends on the available resources and the conditions of the area in which the person finds himself. Almost everywhere you can find natural material for making blades of various types.

You should pay attention to the rocks. Obsidian (volcanic glass), quartz, flint, and slate (layered material) are suitable for making a knife. The stone is split against the rock by hitting it at a 90-degree angle, resulting in a sharp edge that can be processed further or left as is. Such a product will allow you to cut a rope, finish off game, build an ax, etc.

In forests, flakes from hard wood (such as oak or conifers) are used to create a cutting edge. Such wood is characterized by good strength, which increases with the sharpness of the “blade” after firing. A wooden knife can be wrapped in a rag or other material to create a handle. The application is almost similar to the stone one - it is suitable for cutting a carcass and cutting a rope. It is better to have several of these products with you.

If you are near a river or other body of water, shells such as toothless shells can help. Half of such a shell has a good cutting edge.

In the sands, saxaul can play the role of a knife. It is also worth paying attention to the shells of turtles. This chitinous "body armor" consists of slate-like plates that can be adapted as a knife.

If you are a successful hunter and you come across a medium-sized animal, you can make a knife from ribs by sharpening one of the edges on a stone. Fibula bones are also suitable for this. In addition, sometimes other natural materials can play the role of a knife. For example, a sedge leaf will allow you to quickly peel a mushroom for boiling.

Now a few words about metal. Many people get into accidents without a knife, but with a sufficient amount of other materials. To make a blade in this case, it is necessary to select a pliable (soft) metal and process it with a heavy object resembling a hammer (for example, a large nut with an ax inserted into the hole, etc.). Processing is carried out on a flat surface (for example, on a flat stone), where the product is given the required shape and the cutting edge is brought out. The handle is made of wood. Of course, this is not a steel knife, but it will perform the household functions tolerably.

Any piece of metal or other material can be used as a knife. For example, a bent lid of a tin can, half of which is wrapped in cloth, or a long piece of glass, for which a rope or rag “handle” is also made. The main thing is not to get confused and show your imagination and ingenuity.

Let’s just say that a knife is an extremely necessary thing, and if it so happens that you find yourself alone with nature, you don’t have a knife, but there’s nowhere to go without it! Take advantage of the experience of our ancestors and try to make a knife from stone.

In theory, everything is quite simple, you need to find a suitable stone and process it so that it has a cutting surface.

To do this, the stone needs to be split into plates and sharpened if necessary. As tools for making and sharpening, you can use another stone, bone, animal horn, and anything else that can be used to give our knife the desired shape and sharpness; in this sense, it would be a good idea to practice in advance.

For manufacturing, it is best to use stones of the following types:

Slates- various rocks with a parallel (layered) arrangement of intergrowths of low- or medium-temperature minerals. Shales are characterized by foliation - the ability to easily split into separate plates. They belong to terrigenous or metamorphic rocks.

Flint- a mineral formation consisting of crystalline and amorphous silica (SiO 2) in sedimentary rocks. Often colored with oxides of iron and manganese in different colors, with smooth transitions between them.

In ancient times, flint fragments were used to strike fire, make weapons and household items (arrowheads, flint knives, etc.) In the Middle Ages, flint was widely used to create fire by striking sparks onto tinder using two pieces of flint, or one flint and a piece of other material (flint-pyrite, flint-steel). Later it was used in weaponry in wheel and percussion flintlocks.

Quartz- one of the most common minerals in the earth's crust, the rock-forming mineral of most igneous and metamorphic rocks.

Obsidian- igneous rock consisting of volcanic glass with a water content of no more than 1%, homogeneous volcanic glass that has passed through the rapid cooling of molten rocks. Volcanic glasses richer in water, which swell when heated, are classified as perlites.

You can make your knife a wooden handle (by tying the blade to the wood with string) or use it as such. The undoubted advantage of a stone knife is its sharpness; it is also not susceptible to corrosion, but in terms of strength it is not very strong; it can break from a fall or blow.

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In this article you will find, perhaps, the most necessary minimum of historical information about where such a wonderful and simple (as it may seem at first glance) thing like a knife came from.

We will go through the history of the appearance of the first knives, look in order at all the significant stages in the development of both the blades themselves and humanity as a whole. First of all, let's turn to our favorite Wikipedia. What definition does she give us of what a knife is?

What is a knife and its definition

A “knife” is a cutting tool, the working part of which is a blade - a strip of hard material (usually metal) with a blade on one or more sides. The design most often includes a blade and a handle.

In general, as we wrote at the very beginning, it doesn’t look so difficult, does it? On the one hand, yes...

On the other hand, humanity has been using knives since Paleolithic times, i.e. from the time of the “Stone Age” to the present day. The knife remains as relevant as ever, and even moreover, in the modern world a gigantic variety of types, types and uses of the knife have appeared.

In practice, we have the fact that the more knowledge and technology humanity acquires, the greater the variety of knives appears in the world. And it all started like this...

Stone Age knife: Neanderthals and their first knives

Here is, presumably, one of the first inventors of the knife and he lived about 2.6 million years ago.

Knives were made from bone, stone, flint flakes or volcanic glass

In the Stone Age, people made knives from bone, horn and stone, but most often from flint flakes or obsidian, which are essentially volcanic glass. They made them very simply - they took large pieces and crushed or broke them into pieces. Due to its structure, silicon, when broken, breaks into pieces with a fairly sharp edge.

It is clear that such knives were not bad at that ancient stage of development; they were sharp and did not become dull for a very long time. They also had several disadvantages inherent in any stone, glass and ceramics:

Nowadays, finding a knife “in Stone Age design” is not difficult. In this case, the knife is made of Damascus steel.

In the territory of modern China, for example, silicon and obsidian were so scarce that bamboo knives became widespread. But bone knives were common among the peoples of the far north until the 19th century.

Bronze Age: Spartan and Roman knife

And these are the legionnaires of the Roman Empire, which existed for 16 centuries.

About five thousand years ago, man finally mastered the mining and processing of metal, and began to make knives from copper and bronze. Actually, all of antiquity from the time of the ancient Hellenes (aka the ancient Greeks) to the ancient Romans and Byzantium is the triumph of copper and bronze over stone.

Knives of that time were most often solid cast

After the development of copper and bronze, empires were created, which in terms of territorial extent and duration of existence have no equal to this day. Knives of those times were mostly solid, but folding knives were also invented in the Roman Empire - the distant ancestor of our modern multi-tool and hiking knife.

Roman folding "army" knife. Spoon, fork, awl, toothpick, and God knows what else. II-III AD. Hello Swiss knives from the Roman Empire!

Such a universal knife was indispensable for meals and especially for the constant marching life that absolutely all soldiers led. Every Roman soldier carried such a knife with him throughout his entire service, and perhaps later used it at home.

Please note that the blade of the knife is not made of bronze, but of iron. Iron was already known in the Bronze Age, although it was not used as massively as in subsequent centuries. At that time, it was much more expensive in terms of extraction and processing, but it gave greater strength and durability, and sharpness to the blade itself.

Iron Age knives: Vikings, knights and samurai

A still from the series “Vikings”, which tells about one of the detachments of that time and shows us the culture, life, rituals and way of life of the Vikings.

Vikings (northerners, sea robbers, a disaster for any merchants and conquerors, “the scourge of God” as they were also called in Europe), knights, samurai and ninjas - they all existed, one might say, at the same time, but on different ends of the globe.

Indian and Arab damascus, Russian damask steel, legends about living swords and legends about heroes - all this is the age of iron and steel.

The Iron Age is one of the bloodiest in history, both knives and humanity

Jokes aside, those times were quite bloody, although of course not as bloody as our modern times with nuclear bombs and nuclear cruisers capable of destroying entire cities in a minute.

Although in the Middle Ages most of the knowledge of antiquity was lost, some of it was nevertheless accepted by the barbarian peoples. For example, weapons related to iron processing. If we talk about quality, then it has dropped significantly compared to antiquity.

The average blacksmith of that time had an idea of how to forge a horseshoe or sickle from soft iron for harvesting. Such iron was not only expensive, but there were serious problems with the quality of the steel itself.

The Finnish knife is a typical representative of Scandinavian northern type knives. The Vikings had something similar.

The secrets of weaponry were passed on only to their students.

Each master had his own secrets and passed them on only to his students. It was also dangerous to make strong distinctions based on product quality. If your knives or other weapons were significantly better than those of other blacksmiths, then such a master could be “invited” to the Holy Inquisition to discuss whether you were dabbling in black magic, because... For some reason, other God-fearing blacksmiths do not produce such high-quality things.

As you understand, at that time they burned not only beautiful women and scientists, but also good craftsmen. A good sword could cost several villages along with their inhabitants. Legends were formed about swords, endowed with intelligence, magical properties and given their own names.

After the Crusades the situation changed for the better. The knights, having visited the Muslim east, gained access to knowledge that was preserved and increased by the Arabs (after all, these were previously Roman colonies, and the Romans respected knowledge very much), therefore the knowledge of antiquity was not lost in those countries. The East of those times was very advanced in science, art, medicine, and so on.

European knights, sharpened from head to toe like tanks in iron armor and who flooded the entire east with blood. They also made campaigns against Rus'. Everything, as they say, is for the glory of God, however, they did not offend themselves, along the way taking with them all the treasures and valuable things that they could capture.

Japanese samurai, on the other side of the world, were distinguished by extreme ruthlessness and bloodthirstiness, and repeatedly conquered both Korea and China. Moreover, Korea was attacked simply because it was on the way to China. It was a sin not to rob and kill for pleasure.

The tanto or Japanese knife is a legacy of the samurai that has survived to this day.

Iron Age knives were very diverse, ranging from shape, length and materials. In Indonesia, a curved knife with a sickle-shaped blade in the shape of a tiger claw appears - karambit, as well as the famous kris knife with a wavy blade in the form of a fiery tongue of flame.

A knife in Rus' is an attribute of a free person

In Rus' and Europe, a knife is an attribute of a free person. A slave or a Polonian does not have the right to have his own knife.

The knife of the Vikings and northerners is generally made with a wooden handle so that the steel does not burn the hand in the cold and does not slip in the blood when cutting game and fish. Let’s not forget about the Finnish hunter’s and fisherman’s knife, Japanese knives made of blue steel. All of them were also finally formed in the Middle Ages!

Renaissance: pirate knife and sea conquests

His Majesty's Royal Musketeers in Europe.

The Renaissance is characterized by several important points:

At this time, the sciences and arts were rapidly developing, the first industrial centers emerged, where metal processing was not the work of talented individuals (as was previously the case), but of entire craft and trade guilds.

Firearms are relegating knives to the background

The invention of firearms makes armor and shields so heavy and expensive that they are abandoned altogether. The Spanish conquistadors, armed with pikes, were among the last to use armor - the last legacy of the Middle Ages. The shell is very good against edged weapons, but heavy muskets, which replaced small-caliber arquebuses, penetrate even them.
The period of revival is the time of complete mastery of metal. Knives of this era are varied and stand out for their excellent quality.
The discovery of America, the development of trade and weak control of the colonies gives rise to such a phenomenon as the brotherhood of the sea. Board, pirates!

In battle, Spanish pikemen cover the musketeers from the reiters (cavalry with pistols).

Spain was undoubtedly the queen of the seas at that time. Their infantry, the most disciplined and powerful infantry of those times, was very effective in battle, which ultimately failed Spain itself. Such efficiency slowed down the development and adoption of firearms, which gave the British, French and Dutch a chance to get ahead.

Let's not forget that it was the Spaniards who discovered and conquered America - with crossbows, broadswords and pikes. It was believed that in a humid and hot climate, firearms were too unreliable.

Now directly about the knives of the Renaissance and sea discoveries.

The Spanish Navaja is a classic folding knife of the time.

One of the most famous examples of this time is the Spanish Navaja. She was born in the 15th century, when the authorities, due to the danger of popular riots, legally prohibited commoners from having edged weapons with a fixed blade. Only the upper class and the army had the right to wear swords and other weapons. Sailors' knives were often folding, because this type of knife could be carried anywhere with you and it takes up little space.

An example of a modern knife that has already become a classic.

Once knife production becomes widespread, there are so many options that making a choice becomes a bit of a challenge. Advertising, films and the press are so intertwined with each other in an attempt to realize and make money on the sales of blades that an ordinary buyer, not sophisticated in knowledge, must learn to understand the many intricacies of this area.

Should you choose a folding knife or a fixed blade?
What brand of blade did you use?
What size?
Which companies produce high-quality and inexpensive knives?
What cost should you expect?

We will try to answer these and other questions in subsequent articles. For now, I would like to give general, but no less important recommendations. The main thing you need to do in any case is to understand

For what purposes do you need a knife and in what conditions will you use it?
How much do you expect?

Formulate for yourself the answers to these seemingly simple questions (only you can answer them) and 90% of the work will already be done.

Please write in the comments below - was this article helpful? What did you like and what remained undisclosed? Ask questions, we will try to help.

How to make a stone knife yourself at home. A technique for making a knife from stone with your own hands. Stone Age knives in modern conditions

Stone Age knives were silicon or obsilian plates, slightly curved along their entire length (rarely straight) with a small “sharpened point”, and they almost never looked like knives in the modern sense - just oblong plates of various shapes.

Materials for making a stone knife:

Obsidian is a homogeneous volcanic glass that has passed through the rapid cooling of molten rocks. Obsidian can be found in the Aeolian Islands, Iceland, the Caucasus, Siberia and Kamchatka.

Quartz is one of the most common minerals in the earth's crust, the rock-forming mineral of most igneous and metamorphic rocks. 12 percent of the earth's crust is made of quartz.

Flint is a nodule of silica (SiO2) in sedimentary rocks. Often colored with oxides of iron and manganese in different colors, with smooth transitions between them

Shales are rocks with a parallel (layered) arrangement of the minerals that make up their composition. Shales are characterized by foliation - the ability to easily split into separate plates.

And so let's start, take a suitable stone, it should be one and a half times larger than the planned tool and not have cracks.

Hit the workpiece with a hard, smooth stone to create a flat surface. The blow should be struck at an angle of less than 90°. After a good blow, you should get a flat chip with a cutting edge; if this is enough for us, we can cut, since the edge turns out to be sharp.
If you want to give it a certain shape, then you should take a bone or hard wood and “plane it a little”, the main thing here is to be careful and not to rush into anything.
The handle can be wrapped with available materials (leather, fabric, young bark) or the resulting blade can be secured in wood or bone and wrapped in the same way

This is how stone knives are usually made in the wild. At home, you can chip off the edges of a stone blank with a small hammer. It is best to place the stone blank itself on a stable workbench or table, where you first place a piece of thick felt. On felt, the stone will not vibrate from hammer blows. The impacts themselves will be absorbed and the likelihood of unwanted stone splitting will become much less.

The blade can be fine-tuned using pliers - carefully chipping and pinching small pieces from the working edge. It is best to attach the blade to the handle with epoxy resins, which can be stylized on top by masking them with strips of rawhide.

The advantages of a stone knife are that it is a very sharp weapon that is not afraid of corrosion and does not require sharpening. Disadvantages - fragility, afraid of falls and sharp blows, which can cause them to crack

Knives, spears and arrows fall under the category of bladed weapons. First, we will learn how to make the most necessary type of weapon for survival - a knife. The knife performs three main functions. A knife can be used to pierce, hem, or chop and cut. A knife is also an invaluable tool for crafting other gear for your survival. You may find yourself in an emergency without a knife, or you may need another type of knife or spear, so you can improvise and use stone, bone, wood, metal or other suitable material to make the blade of a knife or spear.

STONE KNIFE

To make a stone knife you need a sharp piece of stone, a striking tool and a peeling tool. A hammer is a blunt-edged tool used to break small pieces of stone. A flake tool is a sharp tool used to separate thin, flat pieces of stone. You can make a chipping tool from wood, bone, or metal, and a flaying tool from bone, antler, or soft iron.

To make a roughing knife into the desired shape from a sharp piece of stone (obsidian, quartz, flint or slate), use a hammer. Try to make the knife quite thin. Then, using a peeling tool, carefully work around the edges. This action will cause the “flakes” to come off on the opposite side of the edge, leaving behind a razor sharp edge. Use the tool to peel along the entire length of the edge of the future knife. In the end, you will have a very sharp cutting edge that can be used as a knife. All that remains is to attach the resulting blade to the desired type of handle or simply make a handle by winding rope or other suitable material.

The stone can make an excellent piercing and chopping tool, but it is difficult to get a good edge for cutting. Although, some stones, such as flint, can have very thin edges. In the next post in this series we will make a knife from bone and wood.

Do stone choppers man learned more than 4 million years ago. Archaeologists very often find arrowheads, knives and axes that are made of stone. And if in those distant times it was an important part of everyday life. And the future of an individual family or even an entire tribe depended on how well it was done.
Different materials were used for handaxes, but most often they were made of silicon.
Nowadays, this art has been almost completely forgotten and not many people can make stone axes. However, there are clubs and groups where like-minded people who are interested in archeology gather and try to restore this whole process, and there are even courses where, for a fee, they can teach how to make a stone handaxe.
It's quite funny to watch a group of people sitting and grinding stones on their knees. They are so passionate and completely immersed in this activity that they can spend the whole day doing it, because without the proper skill it is quite difficult to make a stone ax.

In words, it would seem that everything is quite simple. You just need to break off a piece of the required size with a strong blow of stone against stone and you’re done. But no, you have to, as they say, sweat and it takes a lot of time.

How to make a stone chopper

In order to do stone chopper, first of all, you need to prepare the necessary tools.
Since in those distant times people were not at all spoiled by convenient and reliable tools, in order to fully understand and experience the entire process of making a handaxe, we will use “non-prohibited” equipment.

If it does come to training and you try to make a copy of an ancient ax out of stone, then be sure to use protective equipment such as goggles and gloves.

Small fragments can get into your eyes and the sharp edges of the stone can cut you.

As in any business, you first need to select the right size stone, which we will process.

Therefore, by striking stone against stone, you can give it the desired shape that you like.

After all, a chopper is an individual tool that belonged to one owner. And by processing it by hand, the chopper subsequently acquired a shape such that the stone sat comfortably and securely in the hand.

Thus, our instrument gradually begins to take shape.

The edges need to be given a pointed shape, there is no need to strive for perfect “sharpening” now, this will be the next step. Now you just need to shape and roughly shape the hand stone ax

After the hand ax has been formed, you can begin to “sharpen it” and finely craft it.

In those distant times there were no tools, so processing was carried out with improvised means.

One of these tools was deer antlers, which were left in abundance after a successful hunt.
They are soft and durable and very convenient to bring to perfection.

With strong and precise blows you can “sharpen” the edges. If earlier, by striking stone against stone, large pieces were broken off and given shape, now small areas are removed and the future ax can be processed more accurately.