USA knife maker survical handle tube

I have a friend that wants a "Rambo" knife. So I ordered the survival knife handle tube from USA knife. The slot in the end cap is .20 wide/ blade thickness. What thickness blade steel would anyone recommend? It's not like I can order steel that's 1/5 of an inch thick. I don't like the idea of thinning out the tang. But I want a snug fit, not a loose fit that I would fix with epoxy or in weld. 1/8th is too thin, 1/4 is too thick. But I'd rather thin out the tang using 1/4 inch thick steel. Suggestions anyone?



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So much for spell check not liking "survival."

But yeah, a survical blade....

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I ordered some of Aldo's 1084 a few months ago that was 3/16's so naturally when I put the calipers on it I expected something close to 188 thousandths. I was somewhat surprised to measure 200 to 203 thousandths though. Point is, you may want to call your steel supplier and ask if the 3/16 in your choice of steel runs thick. Might be worth a shot.

Thanks Matt. That makes sense. And here I thought I was getting a little something extra for nothing.

Thanks guys. I did some looking around at a few sites I buy steel from and found some steel that is BARELY bigger than the slot. I don't own a mill and do not want to risk filling the slot myself. So this will work I think. I have a friend that has his own mill that I'll most likely ask to do some work for me on these things if I end up making anymore.

In other news. I bought harbor freights version of the survival k ife to see how it went together. 5 bucks, so no big loss. The survival gear was glued to the inside of the tube, so good luck there. And the blade was sharp enough to cut butter, warm half melted microwave butter. But, it went together similarly to the blade I'll be making. So it may just be a 5 dollar mystery steel template now.

I'll post some photos when I'm finished.


Thanks again.

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Another possibility is if the local community college has a CNC program you could ask if they might have a student mill it down for you.

Rather than file the slot, you can likely just buy the slightly bigger stock and file the tang of the blade to fit snug. You shouldn't have to take too much off to make it fit.

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