I have wanted to give knife making a try, but get a little overwhelmed with the process, especially the forging part. So I figured I could try simply modifying an existing knife to get my feet wet. I was buying a few odds and ends (Disposable Tools) at Harbor Freight last week and stumbled upon the ugliest Machete I have ever seen! Figured it would be a great project, if I could make this homely beast good looking I would at least be on the path to making my own blades. So I spent the $5.50 and learned quite a bit from the project.
Here she is a Harbor Freight Machete, that grip looks like a real blister maker!
My first re profile job, I used a fine 8” file, DMT Diafolds from course to xx fine and finished up with fine sandpaper on a mouse pad. I cold blued the steel also. I also reshaped the spine slightly.
On to the scales, I had a nice chunk of hardwood in my woodpile, I think it is cherry or oak but not sure? Traced the tang, cut them out with a jig saw. The tang had holes in it; I only needed to drill one additional hole for the hollow pin I made for a wrist strap attachment point.
Turned 3 brass pins from some brass rod I had and drilled one hollow.
I used two part Epoxy and put it all together and let it set in the vice overnight.
Roughed it down on a belt sander and made the overall width 1”
Then I contoured it to fit my hand perfectly using a $35.00 1”x 30” belt grinder from Harbor Freight and sandpaper.
Decided to throw on a few coats of Tru-Oil on the scales, here is the finished Machete.
