Calvin Robinson
Moderator Christian Forum
I save all of my old portaband saw blades,knowing that someday I'll find a use for them.
I've had a storebought fiddle bow bread knife for several years and use it frequently because my wife bakes bread all the time. I've been wanting to make one of these knives but I refuse to buy one of the kits that are available. My biggest problem was how to make a blade that thin,.025", THEN IT DAWNED ON ME,use those old bandsaw blades.
I had to make a jig in order to grind the bevels in those 1/2" scallops,I ground the scallops on my HEG using a 3/4" wheel then using a 2" serrated wheel and a 400 grit Trizact belt (to keep from overheating the steel) I ground the bevels at 22 deg. to a zero edge. I made the frame/handle from a scrap of cypress left over from when I built my cabin 23 years ago.
This is a prototype and kind of rough looking right now,tomorrow I'll finish it up and take some better photos. I'll grind off the saw teeth and shine up the sides of the blade and put some kind of finish on the wood and replace the copper nails that hold the blade in place with some small brass screws.
The blade is 45Rc, I'm hoping this will be hard enough for a bread knife,I think it will.
I have a frozen loaf of bread thawing out right now and will do a real world test of this knife tomorrow morning when I slice some bread from my toast to go with my bacon and eggs.
I've had a storebought fiddle bow bread knife for several years and use it frequently because my wife bakes bread all the time. I've been wanting to make one of these knives but I refuse to buy one of the kits that are available. My biggest problem was how to make a blade that thin,.025", THEN IT DAWNED ON ME,use those old bandsaw blades.
I had to make a jig in order to grind the bevels in those 1/2" scallops,I ground the scallops on my HEG using a 3/4" wheel then using a 2" serrated wheel and a 400 grit Trizact belt (to keep from overheating the steel) I ground the bevels at 22 deg. to a zero edge. I made the frame/handle from a scrap of cypress left over from when I built my cabin 23 years ago.
This is a prototype and kind of rough looking right now,tomorrow I'll finish it up and take some better photos. I'll grind off the saw teeth and shine up the sides of the blade and put some kind of finish on the wood and replace the copper nails that hold the blade in place with some small brass screws.
The blade is 45Rc, I'm hoping this will be hard enough for a bread knife,I think it will.
I have a frozen loaf of bread thawing out right now and will do a real world test of this knife tomorrow morning when I slice some bread from my toast to go with my bacon and eggs.