Dovetail knife

[Christophe Mineau]

As part for my dovetail making set I made as a present for my daughter, here is the dovetail knife :

I started with a piece of sweedish steel blade I have around, and I rough cut with an angle grinder an arrow shape.
I took great attention to avoid ruining the temper, so I frequently blowed compressed air on to the piece while it was hold on the vise.
Then I refined the shape on a high speed bench grinder, dipping the piece into water to cool it down.


I worked the dual bevels on the bench grinder, free hand.


And then I switched to the diamond stones, 400, 1000 and 2000 grits.


Finished the honing on the leather strop.


I turned a stylus shape handle out of a nice piece of curly ash (actually a broom handle, but by all means a nice piece of wood )
I turned on the metal lathe a brass ferrule.


And here is the finished product :



Note that the ferrule is capped, and has a square hole, the size of te blade shaft. I wanted the blade to be supported by the ferrule. This may not be necessary, but it gives it a nice touch.