Free 186 More Best Homemade Tools eBook:  
Get 2,000+ tool plans, full site access, and more.

User Tag List

Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: Dovetail knife

  1. #1
    Supporting Member Christophe Mineau's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    France, Brittany !
    Posts
    913
    Thanks
    825
    Thanked 1,687 Times in 481 Posts

    Christophe Mineau's Tools

    Dovetail knife

    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.





    186 More Best Homemade Tools eBook
    Last edited by Christophe Mineau; Dec 29, 2021 at 09:47 AM.
    Cheers !
    Christophe
    ________________________________________________________________
    Visit my Website : http://www.labellenote.fr/
    Facebook : La Belle Note
    All my personal works, unless explicitly specified, are released under
    Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license.

  2. The Following 7 Users Say Thank You to Christophe Mineau For This Useful Post:

    baja (Dec 30, 2021), Jon (Dec 30, 2021), mklotz (Dec 30, 2021), Paul Jones (Jan 1, 2022), Philip Davies (Dec 30, 2021), ranald (Jan 6, 2022), Tonyg (Dec 30, 2021)

  3. #2
    Supporting Member Philip Davies's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    Reading, Berks, UK
    Posts
    868
    Thanks
    1,184
    Thanked 1,019 Times in 342 Posts

    Philip Davies's Tools
    Exquisite! And remarkable that an old broom handle should have such a beautiful grain. I have never seen that in ash. I think you are right to support the blade with a ferrule. Mine does not have one and short grain loosened the blade eventually.

    2000 Tool Plans

  4. The Following User Says Thank You to Philip Davies For This Useful Post:

    Christophe Mineau (Dec 30, 2021)

  5. #3
    Content Editor
    Supporting Member
    DIYer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    3,056
    Thanks
    772
    Thanked 1,850 Times in 1,652 Posts


    Thanks Christophe Mineau! We've added your Dovetail Knife to our Knife Making category,
    as well as to your builder page: Christophe Mineau's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:




  6. #4
    Supporting Member Christophe Mineau's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    France, Brittany !
    Posts
    913
    Thanks
    825
    Thanked 1,687 Times in 481 Posts

    Christophe Mineau's Tools
    Thanks Phil !
    To be honest, it's not an old broom, it's even a brand new one. One day I was in a gardening store and I saw this outdoor broom with stunning handle. I had no need of a broom but I purchased it right away, I think I could have bite if someone would have put a hand on it before me ...
    I always have a look at the tool handles, it's often the axes or pick handles that are made out of ash and sometimes have nice figured wood.
    Cheers !
    Christophe
    ________________________________________________________________
    Visit my Website : http://www.labellenote.fr/
    Facebook : La Belle Note
    All my personal works, unless explicitly specified, are released under
    Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license.

  7. #5
    Supporting Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Posts
    635
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked 187 Times in 166 Posts

    wizard69's Tools
    You are most fortunate to find a wood handle of such character on a broom. I don't think I've ever seen a nice looking broom handle around here that wasn't being sold as art.

    As for the knife itself, what a piece of art. Looks fantastic. I'm missing with respect to scale though, a scale (ruler) in one of the photos might help with overall size. The knife looks small, almost pen like. As such I expect to see some really fine dovetails made with this set.

    Quote Originally Posted by Christophe Mineau View Post
    Thanks Phil !
    To be honest, it's not an old broom, it's even a brand new one. One day I was in a gardening store and I saw this outdoor broom with stunning handle. I had no need of a broom but I purchased it right away, I think I could have bite if someone would have put a hand on it before me ...
    I always have a look at the tool handles, it's often the axes or pick handles that are made out of ash and sometimes have nice figured wood.

  8. #6
    Supporting Member Christophe Mineau's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    France, Brittany !
    Posts
    913
    Thanks
    825
    Thanked 1,687 Times in 481 Posts

    Christophe Mineau's Tools
    Quote Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post
    I'm missing with respect to scale though, a scale (ruler) in one of the photos might help with overall size. The knife looks small, almost pen like.
    Thanks for the compliment Mr Wizard, I don't have the box anymore, but if I remember well, the box is around 240mm long.
    What I regret with the knife is the blade size, it could have been longer, but I am short in that piece of sweedish steel.
    Next time, I will do one for myself, probably longer.
    Cheers !
    Christophe
    ________________________________________________________________
    Visit my Website : http://www.labellenote.fr/
    Facebook : La Belle Note
    All my personal works, unless explicitly specified, are released under
    Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license.

  9. #7
    Supporting Member Philip Davies's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    Reading, Berks, UK
    Posts
    868
    Thanks
    1,184
    Thanked 1,019 Times in 342 Posts

    Philip Davies's Tools
    Quote Originally Posted by Christophe Mineau View Post
    Thanks Phil !
    To be honest, it's not an old broom, it's even a brand new one. One day I was in a gardening store and I saw this outdoor broom with stunning handle. I had no need of a broom but I purchased it right away, I think I could have bite if someone would have put a hand on it before me ...
    I always have a look at the tool handles, it's often the axes or pick handles that are made out of ash and sometimes have nice figured wood.
    I keep a stock of old handles. I used two today, on fullers I hope to use in the next few days. We refurbish tools for Africa. Nobody else wants to dispose of broken, surplus, or unwanted items. If I can realistically expect to pass them on to others, i keep them. I try not to hoard too much. Tools that could be used as weapons or for housebreaking, I destroy. The travellers call round at work to pick up scrap! So it’s easy for me to get rid of the rest. But it’s a long time since I bought a handle! Although if the tool handle has decorative grain, it’s usually too brittle for brooms, spades, axes. An old joiner I met at a Woodworking show 40 years ago had a marking knife made from a dining knife, bone handle. I copied him, but the one I posted on HMT has a machine hacksaw blade!
    Last edited by Philip Davies; Dec 31, 2021 at 12:40 PM. Reason: Supplementing.

  10. #8
    Supporting Member ranald's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2018
    Location
    Black Mountain Queensland
    Posts
    1,326
    Thanks
    988
    Thanked 361 Times in 253 Posts

    ranald's Tools
    I used to have a couple of drum fulls of handles and gave away when moving house recently. I shudder to think that my neighbour used them for kindling for his chicky babes (single ladies in their 80's and 90's) to whom he supplies firewood. They are too old/frail to cut kindling let alone wood. He used about 30 of 4 metre+ by 200 mm by 22mm Pine shelving for such. I really didn't want to know but I couldn't take everything with me. I could really use some solid shelving now. lol

    Years ago, I was working on a farm and a teenager commented on an unusual small mattock handle I had. I told him I made it from Eucalypt/ Corymbia Sp. and he said I could have bought the whole new tool for $15. " Ah, but they are of cheap Chinese steel with a cruddy handle and I like my old 'proper quality' tools". He heard but not sure if he listened. I like the quality of old tools made in US, England and Australia etc.
    Cheers



    186 More Best Homemade Tools eBook

  11. The Following User Says Thank You to ranald For This Useful Post:

    Philip Davies (Jan 7, 2022)

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •